Last Stand (The Black Mage #4)(88)

“Don’t ever touch me again.” His chest rose and fell heavily as he hissed, “I am done playing games, Ryiah. You aren’t some cowering victim; you never were.”

“This isn’t a game!”

“I know your friends are out there.” The scorn was etched into every line of his face. “And I know exactly why you are here.”

“I’m not—”

My protest turned to a cry as Darren released my neck and used his free hand to produce a dagger.

“Fool me once,” he said, “shame on you. There won’t be a second time.”

Then he plunged the blade into the center of my raised palm.

For a moment, I just stared with disbelieving eyes. There was a faltering in my chest, a hitched intake of breath, and something as precious as hope shattered with the piercing sensation of iron.

And then.

Everything.

Was.

On.

Fire.

There was nothing to describe the way the steel cut through muscle and scraped against bone. The incalculable sting of a puncture and the betrayal in my chest.

“I wonder how much more it will take for you to break.” Darren pressed close as I fought back a sob. The pressure was doing terrible things to my insides, and it was all I could do to keep my magic at bay. “You can choose to drop the charade now, and fight…”

I took a shuddering breath. “It’s n-not a—”

His grip shifted on the knife, and I couldn’t breathe. All I could taste was hot metallic blood as I bit down my cheek to keep from crying out loud.

“Or I can continue until your screams bring the others out of hiding.” Darren’s lips curled in a sneer. “One way or another, I’m going to get my fight, Ryiah.”

A part of my hand was numb, plastered against the ice, and the rest was writhing in a gulf of fire and agony. It was hard just to think.

Fight him.

No.

Fight, or die.

I blinked against a wave of ever-mounting pain. I wouldn’t fight back, any defense would trigger something I couldn’t take back. My control was slipping, and I was afraid just how hard he would push.

He believes you are here to betray him. Fight, and you lose any chance of bringing him back.

“No.” The word tumbled from my lips, and it was nothing next to the scream that followed.

Darren twisted the knife.

Pain tore a molten trail up every part of my arm, and my screams singed the air as I fought the magic threatening to break.

“Fight me!” Darren slammed me against the wall. The back of my head hit rock, and I choked, struggling to breathe. “Stop pretending and fight me, Ryiah!”

His shout echoed my cry, but I could feel the shaking in his limbs.

Whatever he felt, he wasn’t immune. There was still a part of the boy I knew.

I just had to hold on, even if the pain was eating me from the inside.

“Y-you want me to f-fight…” I gasped; the overwhelming pressure was making it hard to speak. “B-because if I d-don’t… it m-might m-mean B-Blayne was wrong.”

“Liar.” Darren’s chest was rising and falling, but his fingers were trembling against my skin.

The pain was building, and there was a terrible pounding in the back of my head. Every instinct urged a defense, but something screamed at me not to move. Not yet.

“No.”

Darren still held the dagger trapping my hand; his other fist dug into my shoulder blade as he pinned me against the wall. But I could feel the erratic beating of his pulse against my own. He was slipping. “You are just a-afraid of the truth.”

“I already know exactly who you are.”

“I know y-you.” My voice cracked and I felt him flinch. “Whatever you t-think you b-believe, you d-don’t want this.”

I saw a flicker of something, and I pushed. “You want to s-save Jerar,” I whispered, “and you still c-can.”

I had him. For just a second, I could see the indecision in his eyes.

And then the pounding of footsteps and voices reached us.

Darren’s shoulders went rigid as his eyes shot to black.

“Ever my distraction.” Darren withdrew the blade and a cry escaped my lips. “And here they are, just in time.”

“Ryiah, Ryiah!” I could hear all three of their shouts echoing throughout the walls. They must have heard my screams.

Gods, no. Darren thought…

The king cocked his head to the side. “Looks like I won’t have to look for your brother after all. And is that Ella and Ian I hear?”

“Get out of here!” I screamed the words as Darren released me, stepping back to face my friends head on.

But of course, my panicked scream only made them come running.

I had less than a second to decide as magic crackled in his palm.

Fight, or watch the most powerful mage in Jerar take on my brother and two best friends. He had used my screams to draw them out, just like he promised.

Fight Darren. Or watch them die.

I launched myself from the wall and ripped the sleeve off my cloak, wrapping it as tightly as I could around my hand. The blood seeped through, but I didn’t have time to fix it now.

The Black Mage kept his gaze on the passage as the footsteps grew louder. “A bit too late, my love. We have a score to settle first.”