Scorched Treachery (Imdalind, #3)(40)

“I showed you all that I have seen, Ilyan. There was no way to know…”

“Zastavit,” I said loudly, prickling agitation moved up my body in a ripple. I let it take over for one weighted minute before I released it. Unleashing my temper against Dramin would solve nothing.

“Does she wake?” My voice was a whispered breath.

“Yes.” My head snapped up at Dramin’s answer, hope running through me.

“Then we will wait,” I said, when a small feminine moan behind me pulled all of my focus away from Dramin and back to Joclyn. I spun around, part of me desperate to see her eyes open, her bright smile. But, she was the same. I dropped to my knees, pressing my hands against her arms as my magic flowed into her.

“Ne,” I gasped when I found it. She had a broken bone in her leg. The break was clean and ran right through her tibia, and I was sure she had not had it when we entered the training room.

“What?” Thom had moved up to kneel next to her head, and strangely, the anger in his voice was leaving, concern seeping through in a slow trickle.

“Her leg is broken,” I said, not willing to accept it myself.

“Broken?” Dramin leaned down next to me, his hand moving against her head. I could feel his magic move into her alongside mine, the heavy tendrils of the Drak magic cold against my own. He gasped when he felt it and withdrew his hand, his magic leaving with the loss of contact.

I wrapped the bone in a hard layer of my magic, giving it a strong internal cast to help heal it. I didn’t know how long it would take with her strangely vacant magic unable to do most of the work itself.

“What is he doing to her, Ilyan?” Thom moved away as he spoke, his fear at the power of our father obviously affecting him.

Edmund was torturing her, hurting her, intentionally. He had done the same to me more than a dozen times – every time he had somehow managed to capture me. It was his favorite game, causing pain.

He had tortured and killed mortals in front of me, hoping to break me or drive me mad. The only contact I had ever received from him had been meant to hurt me. Now he was doing the same to Joclyn, the only one my heart called to, the person I would protect with my own life.

Edmund had been hurting her, through Cail, for months in the nightmares, and I had held her as I took away the fears and wiped the anxiety from her mind. I had protected her in a way no one else could until I was able to find a way to make them stop. But now, Edmund had found a way to hurt her, really hurt her, in a place I could not follow.

Or could I?

“I need to get in there.” I stood quickly, ignoring the gasps from the men on either side of me, my focus only on Joclyn’s body.

“What do you mean ‘get in there’?” Thom asked.

“I mean, go into the T?uha and get her out. Wake her up.” I squared my shoulders, still unwilling to look away from her.

“Is that even possible? You can’t find the bridge.” Dramin’s voice was quiet.

“I will find it when I join my mind with hers, nemyslí??” I clenched my jaw, my mind working in preparation for what I was suggesting.

“This is ridiculous, Ilyan,” Thom pleaded. “’Jít tam. You would only be stuck in there. Dramin has seen her wake. We just need to wait.”

“Wait?” I scoffed at Thom’s reasoning. A few minutes ago, I had been content to do the same. But I could not stand by while she was being tortured. I couldn’t let that happen to her.

“Two hours there for every twenty minutes here. She has been trapped in that prison for six hours. They have broken her leg and hurt her enough to make her bleed internally. I can’t leave her in there. Who knows what else they have done, or are going to do? I don’t have time to try…”

“I can’t let you do this, My Lord.” I turned at the sound of Dramin’s voice, the desperate plea catching me off guard.

“I don’t know what else to do. You are her brother, Dramin. As her brother, what would you have me do?” I didn’t need him to understand, I could do it on my own. He was one of the first of his kind and Joclyn’s blood.

“He’s her brother…” Thom said just as the thought crossed my mind. I could see what he was thinking, I knew where this was going, and I didn’t like it.

“No, Thom,” I said sternly, hoping to stop the thought in his mind before he found his voice.

“It’s what our father is using to control the nightmares, correct?”

“Yes, but...” I began, but Thom swiftly cut me off. I could feel my spine prickle at the lack of respect, but I ignored it.

“Then it must be what he is using to control the T?uha.” Thom’s face was growing in maniacal intensity. I watched him closely, knowing I would have to put a stop to it soon.

“Using a blood connection is not an option,” I hissed through gritted teeth.

“I don’t see why not, Ilyan. It’s what Edmund is using against her. So, we can use the same technique to save her.”

“No, Thom. I won’t let that happen, not ever. It’s wicked, evil. Do you understand?” I spoke deeply. Blood magic was dangerous. The cutting open of hearts and souls to create stronger ties or to strengthen the bonds of what was once a simple magic was inhumane. She had already worn dark magic around her neck for months. I wouldn’t let her be objected to any more, not if I could help it.