Eyes of Ember (Imdalind Series #2)(103)

Slowly my pulse began to slow. My breathing evened out, and I let the song fizzle away. I wasn’t comforted. I wasn’t safe. I was still trapped in this hell that Cail had designed for me, but things didn’t seem so desperate. I needed to find...

What was it again?

That’s right.

Home. I needed to go home.

I stood and walked across the hall, my hand reaching for yet another doorknob. I froze, my hand still posed on the knob.

There were voices on the other side of this door.

The voices seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place them.

“It’s been hours. How is the progress?” The older man’s voice boomed. He almost sounded bored, like he was looking over paperwork.

“It is coming, master. I have guided her to where we want her and begun the process as you have asked.”

Master? Why did that phrase sound so familiar?

Suddenly the voice of the younger, scared man clicked into place – Cail. Which would make the older man Edmund. I shook my head in an attempt to clear the fog. How could I have forgotten them?

“Have you? Already?” Edmund sounded shocked now, pleased.

“Yes.”

“Very nice, Cail. I’m impressed,” Edmund said, “They have already begun to break their bond, I will continue to process before she finds her way back. Without the path back to her own mind, she will be trapped here.”

Break the bond? That sounded familiar. I moved one step closer to the door, pressing my eyes against the small opening, needing to see. Cail stood before Edmund who sat in a large ornate chair, his legs crossed as he played with an elaborate ring on his finger. But Edmund looked wrong somehow, almost like he was faded, or covered in wax paper.

“Do you think that is possible?” Cail said, his voice breaking with tension. “I have set a web to trap her inside my mind. There is no way to find a way through it without guidance.” Edmund didn’t even look at him.

I stepped away from the door to look around me. Cail’s mind. He had told me it was Ryland’s mind.

Ryland.

The bond.

“She has been brought here through the bond, meaning Ryland could find his way inside and lead her out. Break the bond and I destroy the path that got her here. She would be trapped here, her mind lost inside of yours with no way out.”

Everything clicked together and I covered my mouth. Something in me was screaming trap, danger, warning, but I still couldn’t quite remember why they would do all this to me.

“Are you sure you are up for the challenge, Cail?” Edmund asked, but Cail only laughed in response.

“I am sure, master. She is putting up quite an enjoyable fight.”

“You better give me a good show, Cail. Otherwise, I will unbind that little curse you put on your sister.”

I pressed my eyes against the opening again at the mention of Wyn, surprised that recall of her name had come so fast. I didn’t like how fuzzy this place was making my brain. I needed to get out of here.

“No!” Cail’s voice was loud, panicked, and unexpected. I would never have expected such terror to come out of him. Cail had taken a desperate step forward, the action causing Edmund to look up.

“Oh yes, imagine all that poison weaving itself away from her skin and into her blood stream…”

“Master, you…” Cail began to interrupt him, but was silenced with one look from Edmund. Cail’s hand flew to his heart in panic.

“Cail.” The strict tone of Edmund’s voice was like ice down my spine.

“Yes, master.” Cail spoke quietly, dejectedly, before his back straightened and his head turned to look right at me. This time I was sure he had seen me.

“Yes, master,” He said again as his lip curled. “Let the games begin.”

“Oh good. I will give you one month, Cail.” I barely heard Edmund’s voice over the heavy thumping of my heart. Cail turned and was walking right toward me, his eyes looking into mine. I couldn’t move. I had frozen in place, my hand still clinging to the doorknob.

I knew I should be looking around for some form of weapon, or trying to get away, but I couldn’t tear my eyes off of his black stare or the slight smile on his lips.

“Run, Joclyn.” I barely registered that someone had spoken before a hand wrapped around mine, another person dragging me down the hall.

I stumbled along for a few steps before turning toward whoever was pulling me away. My heart jumpstarted at the mop of dark curls bouncing in front of me.

Ryland led me from hall to hall, the long passageways changing to smaller rooms, and even apartments complete with kitchens. Everything about the space we now moved through was familiar, like a place I had lived in or visited once. I looked at them all in brief intervals, unwilling to take my eyes off of my savior for long.

Ryland could get me out of here.

Couldn’t he?

But what had Cail said about Ryland’s memory, or was it his mind?

I couldn’t remember.

Everything was fuzzing together again.

Finally Ryland came to a stop, his large hand pressing me against a damp wall as he looked around the corner we had just travelled around, obviously worried we had been followed.

I clung to his hand, wanting to cling to him, to apologize. But I couldn’t think of why I needed to apologize. Had something happened?