Eyes of Ember (Imdalind Series #2)(101)

“Being sorry means nothing!” he yelled, slamming his fist into the wall by my head.

I jumped and tried to move away from him, but his hands kept me restrained.

“What do you want from me, Ry? I’m trying, okay?” I couldn’t help but yell. The anger and fear inside of me bubbled out, directing itself at Ryland.

“Trying to what, Jos? Not Listen? I’m trying to save you and you can’t even let me do that. Why did I even bond myself to you?” His words were loud and echoed around the empty room. I wanted to sink away into nothing. I had asked myself the same thing a million times because of the doubt that I had felt, the hopelessness that the Z?lství had caused me... us. Because of the pain, the torture, I had felt it all and asked the same question, but hearing it from him still hurt.

“Why did you?” I asked, my voice soft.

“Because I can’t live without you! I couldn’t see you with someone else, ever. I was hoping I could take Ilyan’s place if I sealed myself to you!”

“Take his place?”

“You can’t love him, Jos. He’s not the one for you. I am.”

I stared at him, my mouth hanging open. I loved Ryland, but he stood there admitting that he knew what I was born for. He knew what the mark meant. And he still bonded himself to me. I didn’t know if he did it because he wanted to protect me, or because he really did love me, or because he wanted the power.

“I love you,” he said, his hands strong against my forearms.

“Love me? Then why did you do it? You knew what I was. You knew I was meant for Ilyan. What did you have to gain...?” My words trailed off at the memory of the riddle Ryland’s possessed body told me on a roof top. It couldn’t be...

“No!” I yelled, pushing him away from me.

Ryland couldn’t have bonded himself to me for his own gain.

I repeated it to myself, almost willing the words to be true.

“Leave me alone!” I yelled as I turned away from him, his fingers curling around my forearm like a vice and stopping me in my tracks.

“Is that what you want? For me to leave you alone?”

“Yes!” I spat, ignoring the knife like stab in my heart.

“Wish granted!” He pushed me away from him as I stumbled, my head spinning as the room shook, another explosion sounded, this one closer and more aggressive then the last. Ryland swore loudly before grabbing my arm and dragging me through the manor.

We didn’t get far before Ryland shoved me into a closet just as footsteps approached. I moved my body into the corner as Cail yelled out, his voice loud in the tiny space.

“No!”

“Yes,” Ryland taunted him, his voice deep and menacing.

“How did you get here?” The level of fear in Cail’s voice was shocking to me. Why did Ryland’s presence scare him so much?

I felt the small paw of a rodent press against my shoulder before the full weight of the creature transferred onto my collar bone. I opened my mouth in horror, not daring to move, my body unwillingly taking in a shaky breath that I prayed was not audible.

“It is my mind, Cail.” Ryland said, I could hear the smile in his voice.

Everything froze as the rat walked across my back, his body tangling itself in my hair. I tried to keep my panic under control, my shaky inhale silent as he made his passage.

“Not for long.”

The tiny closet shook as an explosion rattled the space sending books and baskets onto me. I screamed and covered my head, hoping my voice was not heard through the fight that was waging right outside the door.

My breathing picked up into a pant as I began to panic. The explosions grew in number but moved further down the hall, Ryland leading Cail away from me and giving me a chance to escape. I wiped away the invisible tracks of the rat, my shoulders shuddering in disgust.

Without thinking, I broke out of the closet and took off back the way I had come. I turned into a hallway I had never entered before, hoping the two locked in battle had not seen me flee.

I was at a disadvantage here. I only knew parts of this mansion. I knew how to get to Ryland’s room, and most of the servants corridors of the upper levels, but the main living space and all the lower rooms were foreign to me. If I was going to get the upper hand I wasn’t going to find it here.

I continued to run down the hall, my feet slipping on decaying carpet at my increased speed.

A loud crash echoed in the space around me causing light fixtures to shake and pieces of plaster to fall. I stopped in my tracks at the movement, my pulse surging heavily as I waited, as I tried to figure out what course to take. I could hear it pulse through my ear drums and feel it move through my fingers.

“Don’t stop moving,” I whispered aloud to myself. But I still couldn’t move. Slowly I pried my feet off the floor and moved into a run, knowing that a moving target was harder to catch. I kept going until I came to a split flight of stairs, one side leading back up to Ryland’s room, the other side leading down to the unknown levels of the house. I stayed still for a second before moving to go down.

I picked up my pace as I moved down the stairs, my hand lightly grazing the dirt and mold covered railing for stability. I turned corner after corner as I descended, each level becoming more infested, more deteriorated, and more blood covered. Even though I knew that was what it was, I begged my mind to believe it to be paint. It was splattered everywhere.