Scorched Treachery (Imdalind, #3)(74)

“Where is he?”

Sain said nothing in reply, the quiet that surrounded us only interrupted by the occasional echo of a drip of water. I turned to face him, his eyes wide as he focused on the bright white coffin that the mortals had buried Ilyan in when he resigned as their ruler, faking his own death, more than six hundred years ago.

I turned toward it, expecting to see Edmund standing right beside it, but the large hall was still empty. The room was silent except for my ever-increasing breathing.

I took a step into the room, Sain following as he cowered behind me. My bare foot accidentally slapped hard against the smooth stone of the floor, the sound echoing around us. I froze. If Edmund was down here, I had just given away our exact location.

“Ruuuuun,” Sain breathed out, his voice shaking as his whole body began to convulse.

His words were lost as my pulse quickened. I turned toward him, only to see his body shake, his eyes darkening into black and then fading back into green. His body convulsed beside me as his eyes flashed between colors, his mouth opening in a silent scream. Sain’s eyes widening as if his whole face was being stretched.

I forgot to breathe as I stared at him, the panic taking away my ability to process what he had said.

“Ruuuuun,” he repeated again, his voice deep and hollow.

This time the word sank in, it ignited inside of me and sent my feet moving in a panic; Sain’s body dragging behind me as his feet stumbled in a blind attempt to follow.

Our feet hit heavy against the floor, our breathing mixed with the hollowness of our steps. Each sound hit my ear, the urgency of each one increasing as we made our way toward what was now our only chance of escape.

“I’m going to hurt Cail, Wynifred.” I froze at Edmund’s voice, my feet coming to a stop only inches from the tomb that would lead us to safety.

“I’m going to rip his body apart piece by piece. Hundreds of years of disloyalty needs to be punished after all.” His voice was loud, his heavy breathing making the desperation, the madness, heavier in his voice.

I couldn’t move as I listened to him, as the echo of his words hit my ears over and over. I fought for control. I fought to recall the words Sain had said only moments ago.

“I am going to make him pay.”

“If you can get in,” I said simply, unable to control my mouth as I took the last step toward the tomb.

“You think a little fire can stop me? I will be back in there before nightfall, you little slut. Then I will do to Cail what I did to Rosaline. I will remove his soul from his body, as slowly and as painfully as I can.”

“No!” I couldn’t help the sound that came from my mouth. I turned around to face him, my fingers clawing at my thighs with the need to rip his eyes from his face.

Edmund stood at the entrance we had just come through, his smile wide as he watched my panic. His eyes flashed as he watched me, his dark hair loosened from its usual tightly gelled style, his hand dripping blood from where he had ripped the finger from his body.

This had been his plan. He knew I wouldn’t back down from this threat; he knew and so did Sain. Sain wrapped his arms around me as he attempted to keep me back, to stop me from attacking.

“Do not fight, Wynifred,” Sain hissed in my ear, the reminder of his sight from only moments ago barely grazing the surface of my panic.

“I will rip him apart, limb by limb, until there is no more blood to shed, until his soul has given up. I will take his soul, Wynifred, and I will use it the way I use Rosaline’s. I will keep it in a place you will never find it. Not that you will be alive much longer than he is.”

“NO!” I fought against Sain, his weak body using up the last of his energy in an attempt to keep me at bay.

“I would do the same to Talon…if he was still alive.”

I could hear Sain mumble behind me. I could hear him gasp as my magic surged under my skin, burning him on contact. But he didn’t budge. He endured the pain as he attempted to keep me safe.

Stay safe Wynny.

My fight left me as Talon’s voice echoed through my head, his words joining Sain’s in a jumbled mess that pulled the fight out of me.

I stopped struggling against Sain’s hold. I looked down to the stone floor of the catacombs, my eyes scanning over the tombs that littered the floor in front of us before I raised my head to look at Edmund.

Edmund smiled at the look in my eye, at the way my lips pursed. He believed he had won – that I would fight him now and he would win. He was a fool to think I was so easily predictable anymore.

I wasn’t who he still thought me to be.

I was Wyn.

My eyes locked with his as I sent my magic surging through the floor of the tomb, the ancient magic in the stone collecting with mine to supercharge the pulse, which hit in a surge that shot him straight into the air.

Edmund yelled as his body impacted with the roof of the tombs, the magic still surging through his body painfully.

I pulled Sain with me as I turned, the lid of Ilyan’s coffin lifting just enough to allow us passage inside.

Edmund’s screams died as we slipped ourselves through the opening, the magical barrier of Ilyan’s protection washing over me as I moved through it.

There was no way Edmund could follow us here. For the moment, we were safe.

“Wynifred!” Edmund yelled. I turned, my eyes peering at him through the gap in the lid. “I will make him pay.”