Crown of Cinders (Imdalind #7)(56)

The man moaned as he rolled over in an attempt to push himself into a sitting position, blood spraying from his mouth with a single cough, with a desperate gasp of air.

My heart tensed in a fear beyond what I knew. A desperate need to reach him, to heal him took control, but this girl stood in my way.

She needed to go.

“Your sight! I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for your stupid sight!” Míra’s magic flared as mine did.

Her power shot from her hand with more strength than I would have assumed her to have. More power than a girl her age should have. Then again, I was reminded when the pain from the blast moved into me, burned me, sending my voice into a scream in the tiny space, that her magic wasn’t all her own.

It was Edmund’s, too.

The darkness in her magic ripped into me, a weight of familiarity infecting me—infecting my brain. Memories and panic rushed through muscles and nerves, burning and tensing everything as I stumbled back, forcing myself to remain upright as I faced a tiny reincarnation of the man I was supposed to kill. The man I was ready to kill.

Pushing the emotions away, I tightened my jaw, narrowing my eyes as I faced the tiny girl. Her smile was wide, whereas her eyes were sad.

Joclyn! Ilyan’s voice rushed into my mind, his concern a warmth against my soul that began to soothe away the agony that was infecting me.

I let him in. I let him fill me, saying nothing. My focus was on Míra, on her rage, my magic bristling, ready for whatever else would come.

“You all said there was good in me. You’re liars! There isn’t any good in me, not anymore. Edmund saw to that!” Míra screamed as another attack shot through the air, sending feathers and papers flying again.

I deflected it, but not fast enough, not before it pushed against me, sending me stumbling back over the room, against the opposite wall, sliding to the floor beside Thom’s upturned bed and Thom, who lay underneath it, blood drizzling from his mouth.

“No,” I gasped, my exclamation unheard against Míra’s secondary scream of excitement.

With another jolt, she attacked.

I lunged behind Thom’s bed in an attempt to dodge it, my heart beating a million miles an hour as my focus shifted to Thom, to the limp and cold man who now lay beside me.

“I’ll kill whoever I need to so I can do what Edmund asked of me! That’s all that’s left for me now. You took everything else away,” I heard Míra scream, but my focus was on Thom.

I pressed my hand against his cheek, pushing my magic into him and quickly checking for life, for magic, for anything.

“Your death is all that’s left of me!” Dramin’s scream rose above the ruckus of the room, taking me by surprise.

I lifted my head in time to see him slam into her like a torpedo, sending them both down to the ground with a thwack.

Blood dripped down the back of Dramin’s neck as he held her there, his hands moving fast as he grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head. Little eruptions of magic fired all around them.

“I was told to kill you in order to save Thom. And I will! With my last breath, I will!” Dramin continued to yell as I ducked back down toward Thom, sending my magic into his heart as one little pulse of electricity.

The beat answered back, his magic a whisper.

A whisper more than what it had been for the last few months.

“Thom?” I asked aloud, confused by what I was feeling, by the way his heart rate sped up at the sound his name. That wasn’t normal, not for him recently.

“Don’t worry, old man; I will gladly take it!”

Míra’s scream pulled me from Thom as her magic ricocheted across the room.

Thom’s bed was pushed against us as I cowered behind it. The room filled with green light, and my gut twisted, knowing where the attack had landed.

His scream was loud in my ears as he flew into the air before hitting ceiling and wall then finally falling to the floor with a clatter of metal and stone.

“No!” I screamed, my magic flaring as Ilyan’s power flooded me. His ability rushed to my heart as the warmth of the air seeped into my skin to warm me. I could feel the power infiltrating me, bolstering me as the bond that connected us began to move closer.

I am coming, mi lasko, he whispered.

The image of the courtyard flashed inside my mind before I swatted it away, jumping over the bed like I was in high school gym class and rushing toward Míra. In two steps, my magic hit her, slamming into her gut and picking her up off the ground, blasting her into the wall across from us, the same as she had done to Dramin.

She deserved it.

Míra screamed, her magic moving to counter in a weak attack that I easily blocked. She stayed pinned there, staring at me, struggling against the bind, but she was stuck. The tears you would expect from a child her age finally replaced the monster the child had become. In that moment, she looked human, but I couldn’t trust that.

My heart ached as I walked toward her, forcing myself to remember that she was Edmund’s servant and not the child I wanted so much to protect.

“I gave you a chance, and this is what you do to me?” I was angry. I knew it, and I didn’t care.

I stretched my magic toward the girl, and Ilyan’s intertwined with mine, locking her in place. I was ready to destroy her or restrain her; it didn’t much matter which at this point as long as I did it fast. I didn’t have much time.