She looked just how I remembered - Perfect and simply beautiful. Of course she did. My eyes mentally eye rolled at how frustrating it was to look upon her perfection.
Isla gave me a large smile when she looked up from her desk, a pair of slim glasses atop her nose.
“Kida?” She tried to hide the shock from her expression, but I felt it. She either didn’t expect me, or didn’t expect me to come to her looking like I did. I was more than sure if was the latter, certain I probably looked a mess.
“Isla.”
“How good to see you.” She removed her glasses and indicated the chair in front of her desk.
I nodded at Wells, who had escorted me to see her, before taking a seat in the chair. It was hard backed and highly uncomfortable, probably intentionally done to keep the other person on edge the entire time. It was very clever, really.
It hadn’t taken me long to find them. After all, I knew if I found
As soon as we got in sight of the school, I dropped Blake’s hand, my mood sour. I couldn’t believe he had been following me. Again! Now that I had released my anger at Isla, the thought had come to the front of my mind again.“Did you really have to follow me?” I said, trying to contain the emotions in my voice. “I am not a child.”Blake gave me a sharp look. “Obviously I did. You keep trying to get yourself killed.”“I can take care of myself.”Blake grabbed my wrist, turning me to face him. Fire trailed along my skin at his touch. My arm jerked back away from him.“Apparently you can’t,” he growled. His eyes had darkened into a look I knew well. He was pissed off at me. “What the hell are you thinking going to Isla for? You can’t trust anything she says.”I sucked in a breath, trying to remain calm. It wasn’t working. He was really getting
The woman sitting in front of me stared with a cold, calculating gaze. Others had their hands over their mouths, shaking their heads in disbelief. Was it so hard to believe? “Are you certain?” the woman said, her voice sharp and clear. The power within her was almost overwhelming, and even her stare sent small shivers along my arms, leaving goosebumps to form behind it. I leant back in the chair, tugging nervously at my sleeve. I had been sitting in this chair for almost an hour now, and it was unsettling. Not to mention they had waited a whole day before responding to my request to meet. The girl was slowly dying and they had dragged me up here for what? Just to talk around in circles about the same thing, and never actually get anywhere with the conversation. They were wasting my time. Most of the time had been spent trying to find the words to describe what exactly Jaida and I thought was going on. Many on the Council had looked on in horror as I recounted
After I checked in on the girl, only to find out nothing had changed, I sought out Pollis in the dining hall, getting his fill of food. Many of the girls around him were staring openly, their eyes wide and adoring, not that he really seemed to notice. It earned me a few scornful glares when I sat down next to him and wrapped an arm over his huge shoulders. “Hey all-mighty one,” he joked with a giant grin. I glanced down at the mountain of food on his plate, taking one of his pieces of bread and shoving it in my mouth. “Ready for some training? “You know me,” I mumbled, crumbs falling from my mouth. Pollis laughed. “Ready for anything.” “Give me a minute.” I watched with a slightly sickened feeling as he shovelled some more food in his mouth, before standing. He towered over me, making me feel utterly tiny in his presence and worry entered my stomach. I hoped he wasn’t going to accidentally kill me. “Lets go.” We walked together to the training hall, but I stopped before enterin
After training with Raena and Pollis, I knew I had to go back and see the girl. I felt awful at having to call her ‘the girl’ and that I didn’t have an actual name for her. A part of me wondered if I had her name, and I was able to actually speak to her, that maybe she might respond to it. That she might wake from her strange sleep, but the rational part knew the problem ran much deeper than that. And the continuous thought that kept looping itself through me, was that I was running very swiftly out of time. It often stopped me in my tracks while I was studying for Alana, or training with Raena and Pollis, and made me feel an extra layer of guilt on the already mountainous pile that precariously lay on my shoulders. Taking a quick moment to myself, I stopped by my room to wash and change, hoping to rid myself of the horrid thoughts in my head. The image that had angered me the most was my own. A disturbing thought in itself. When I fin
We sat in the emptiness, my mind spinning a mile a minute. I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around the concept of where I was, or how I had gotten here. As if the memories that had once filled my mind had simply slipped from existence. In this place, wherever it was, time seemed to stand still. There was no way of knowing how much time has passed, if any had done so at all. All I knew, was the Elanora and the white light that filled the air around us. A dark sense of fear pressed in on my chest the more I tried to grasp our existence here. And a part of me instinctively knew that if we stayed here for much longer, we would never leave this desolate place. Elanora lay against my side, her head tucked right up against my hip. She had told me how she had been lured away with food, when a large man had forced her into a dark bag. The next thing she knew, she was in a small room and remembered a man with large, black eyes. As she spoke, her eyes had widened with fe
The voices washed over me like waves. It was the same things over and over again. How stupid can you be? Why didn’t you tell anyone of your suspicions? Why are you so rash? Do you realise what could have happened?I would have answered some of their questions if I knew it would change anything. But more than anything in my life, I was certain it wouldn’t. They believed they knew better and they were sure telling me their opinions on it now.After what felt like hours of allowing them to berate me, for I lifted my hand, ceasing their lecture. It was becoming tiresome. This earned me an outraged glare from Blake and a huff from Alana.“What does it matter?” I asked pointedly, glancing at each of them in turn. “Elanora is fine, I am fine. That’s the important thing, right?”Blake gave me a dark scowl, his gaze burning and intense. “Are you kidding me right now, Kida? That’s all that you have to say? You c
It felt like weeks had passed as I sat on my bed, my legs curled up underneath me. The blanket wrapped around my body was pulled tight, cocooning me in its warmth. Open books were spread out in front of me - pages and pages of words that seemed to just float straight through my memory. It was overwhelming. In vain, I had hoped that by reading some of the books Alana had given me, I would have distracted myself from what had happened and all I had to think about. But the words and the drawings were boring and difficult to read, and none of it made any sense to me anyway. In any case, books were not going to help me when it came to Tynan. I leant my head against the backboard of my bed, taking in a deep breath. My head thumped out a steady rhythm as a headache started to form behind my eyes from the strain of constant reading. My world was unravelling, and fast. The others had sent me to my room, ordering that I stay there until someone came for me. I had brist
The hawk-eyed woman, whose name I learned was Enda, stared me down, her eyebrows raised incredulously. They were so high they almost disappeared into her hair, something I found rather amusing. “Tell me again, what exactly you are going to do about her?” she asked me, her tone dripping with annoyance. I sighed, frustrated. “Her name is Elanora, and she will stay with me in my suite,” I responded smoothly, trying my best to keep the anger from my voice. It was difficult considering she had asked me with several times already, never using her name but always calling Elanora a ‘her’. It was driving my anger slowly upward, until I knew I would be unable to control it anymore. Once again, the council had demanded to see me, but the meeting had been going for hours now, around in circles. My stomach rolled in discomfort. I was starved. “That doesn’t really answer my question,” Enda reminded me, her voice pinched. Her frustration fluttered along my skin. I wanted to smile. I was almost en
My heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest and the darkness inside of me swirled, fighting to be released again. Why was everything always so difficult?Tynan had dragged me from the tent only for me to be met with glares of pure, utter hatred. Only fourteen of the hundred or so Dorcha Fae had survived my blast of power, most of them women. Each of them had the tell-tale veins snaking up their neck, but the only one with pure dark eyes left was Cillian. One I recognised, was the Fae who had been taking care of Elanora, Aoife.Just the thought of Elanora sent crippling waves of pain through me. I had let her down and failed her. She had suffered so much, lost so much and it was all because of my ineptitude.Aoife met my gaze, the only one of the Fae to not send death glares my way. Her eyes were red-rimmed and the shuddering sadness that enveloped me when she glanced my way, only added to the immense sorrow I already felt.Tynan pulled me along with him, his steps de
Rage and pain. They were powerful emotions that dwarfed anything and everything. And in that moment, they were at the forefront of my mind.The darkness I had kept at bay for so long, thrummed through my body, merging with my Spyrit and boosting my powers. Deakin wasn’t wrong when he said the darkness held so much power. But now I was going to use it against them.Before I could move, I was thrown backwards, launched through the air and landed metres away from the altar. Nyssa glared at me, her hands outstretched still after using her magic to send my flying, and a smug smirk lifted her lips. She had just signed her death warrant.Hurling myself forward, the manacles around my hands burned as magic poured into them, melting them, and freeing me. The Fae were running everywhere, some moving to intercept me, others running in the opposite direction.With a thrash of my arm, I threw power towards a group to my left, knocking them to their feet. It cleared my path as I ran full speed towar
When I woke, my head thumped out a steady beat and it felt like I hadn’t had a drink of water in so long. My mouth was dry and chalky. Pain radiated through every fibre of my being. My throat continued to burn as if I had tried to swallow a burning flame, the flesh sensitive every time I tried to swallow. The glow that had illuminated my skin, was snuffed out and darkness pressed heavily around me. The only sound that echoed in the small, metal cage was the sound of my own choked breathing. I wasn’t even sure if Cristian was still in here with me until I heard his soft whisper. “Finally, you are awake!” With a groan, I lifted my body up, leaning heavily against the warm metal. Now that I was accustomed to the darkness, I could make out the tiniest sliver of light coming in, the colour a deep red. “How long have I been out?” “Not long, maybe ten minutes,” he responded softly. I groaned, running my hand through my hair. Thank the Magicians I was only out for a short time. I knew as
When Cillian escorted me out of the tent, I could hardly contain the spike of adrenaline that surged through my body. Dozens, if not hundreds of men and women lingered around a grouping of tents pitched on an outcropping of stone. Just beyond that, was a small lake, the water lapping against the shore with each shift of the slight breeze. Each one of them, I assumed, were Dorcha Fae. It was easy to see why. Most, if not all, had the visible, dark black veins crawling along under their skin. Some were like Cillian where the veins had travelled so extensively that their eyes were completely swallowed by the black. Others were in between and some only had minimal black veins tracing along their hands, but not anywhere near their faces. I was oddly curious, but also terrified. What in the Magicians name had they been doing to cause such a disfiguration to their body? Whatever it was, I was more than sure that it would be nothing I would agree with. Cillian continued to drag me throug
When I woke, everything was shrouded in white. My body ached as I forced my eyes open, blinking rapidly, trying to take in my surroundings. Sitting up slowly, I took in the makeshift cot I was lying in and the soft blue dress that clung to my body. The thought that someone had changed my clothes while I was unconscious sent the darkness within me writhing in pleasure and my breath coming in gasps. I tried to move, but was jerked back by a large, metal chain attached to my wrist that I hadn’t even noticed before. It ripped at my shoulder, sending pain spasming through it and along my arm. A low hiss escaped my lips. Kida? A soft voice whispered in my mind. My head whipped around, cracking my neck as I was met with the deep, green terrified eyes of Elanora. “Oh, my Magicians, Elanora!” A sad smile lifted her lips as my eyes hungrily took in her appearance. All things considered, she looked healthy enough and unharmed. Dark circled clung underneath her red rimmed eyed as if she had
If there was ever a moment that I thought I might burst from my own emotions, it was now. Deakin’s kiss was ravenous against my lips, his tongue forcing its way into my mouth and battling for dominance before he sucked my lower lip into his mouth. A breathy moan escaped from my chest, causing my cheeks to flare with embarrassment at the pure sound of lust it held. It seemed to be the thing that snapped Deakin out of his haze as his movements stopped and he pulled back to stare at me. His iridescent gaze met mine, a look of confusion flickered through his eyes before they seemed to shutter and the darkness swept through them, taking him away from me. Deakin lurched backwards off me. A ripple of pure agony swept through my body in response. “What the fuck Kida?” Disgust clouded his features, sending another shard of pain slicing through my chest. He really knew how to affect me instantly. “You jumped me,” I said breathlessly, righting myself and brushing the dirt from my clothes a
We travelled for what felt like days without stopping, but I knew was merely only hours, until my eyes felt like they were about to fall out of my head. The sun had set long ago, and the almost full moon hanging in the dark, inky sky was a haunting reminder that time was running out. We didn’t have long to reach the desert before they sacrificed Elanora. It was the ever-present thought that hung in the back of my mind, continuously being dragged to the front. Time was slipping through my fingers. Deakin spoke very little as the time stretched out, seeming content with his own silence. I could slowly feel his magic starting to thrum back to life, its potency tingling along my spine, knowing that if he wanted to, he could simply incapacitate me. The rational part of my mind questioned as to whether it would work anymore, or if I was now stronger than his particular brand of magic. When I finally brought Midnight to a stop late into the night, my body aching with fatigue and my stomac
Leaving the mysterious Orion in charge of the two horses, I ran as quickly as I could back along the path and past the stables, only slowing down once the school came into view. It would look rather suspicious if I was spotted running around the school and in the direction of the dungeon no less. As I reached the final door of the dungeons, the two burly guards looked up, their gazes narrowing in at me. “I’m here to question the prisoner again,” I commanded, trying to force as much authority into my voice in the hopes that it would drown out the ever-growing levels of anxiety that were building within my chest. One wrong move, and all of this would be for nothing. The guards spared each other a look, before opening the door. I could feel their eyes burning into my back as I moved past them, a nervous energy sparking in the air that tingled along my skin and sent the hairs on my arm standing on end. It wasn’t until I had moved past the line of magicians along the corridor, that I
Halfway to the dungeon, I realised that I was still dressed in the infirmary gown. I was too distracted, too absorbed in the feeling that still lingered on my skin from Blake’s touch, to think about much else. But that needed to change.I took a quick turn and headed to my room, closing the door behind me as quickly as I could. Even though I now had the strength and control to be able to shut off my connection to magic, I was far too exhausted and overwhelmed right now. Every emotion from the passing students, guards and teachers had washed across my skin, making it even harder to think clearly.But now wasn’t the time to get lost within their emotions. I had too much to do.Moving swiftly around my room, I threw on a pair of riding pants and a shirt, sliding a jacket over my shoulders. My leather satchel hung from on the edge of one of the chairs and I snatched it up, shoving spare clothes and things I would need into it as quickly as I could.A tingling feeling washed over me, and my