Page 100 of This Dark Descent
“Shit,” the boy cursed as his eyes took her in. “Hells. Damien’s going to kill Rezek.I’mgoing to kill him.”
“A friend of yours?” Keirian asked warily.
She forced a breathy laugh and nodded. They’d come for her.
Reid slipped under her other side, and together they helped her to a propped-open door. Crickets sung a chirping song outside, carried in on a fresh night breeze. She breathed it deep. Then she stumbled, nearly taking both men down with her. Her body felt like stone. She could barely lift her head. Reid cursed again.
“Verillion,” she rasped. She might not have the strength to enchant the stone, but just having the magic inside her would help.
“There’s a field outside to the left,” Keirian said. “This is where I leave you. Can you manage her alone?”
Reid took all her weight across his shoulders. She could feel him straining to hold her. “That guard won’t remember anything,” he said.
Keirian released a relieved breath. “Tell Mikira to read the journal,” he said to Ari. “I left it on my desk. She’ll know what I mean. And tell her I love her. Now, go!”
Reid pushed out the door, and the cool air washed over her in welcome relief. A moment later he was lowering her in the middle of a field. Gold light pressed against her heavy lids, and she heard the snapping of stalks and felt the press of a plant at her lips.
It took effort to open her mouth and chew the verillion. She swallowed it and a current of power rushed through her so warm andstrong, she nearly wept. Gradually, her vision cleared, and she found Reid staring down at her like she’d just used his favorite shirt to clean up spilled tea.
“You better not die,” he said.
Her lips twitched. “I never knew you cared.”
“I don’t. I’d just prefer not to die with you.”
Her smile faded. “Damien?”
“He’ll be fine. Right now what matters is getting you home.”
A shadow moved over his shoulder. “Reid!” Her warning came too late. A guard wrapped a thick arm around Reid’s neck, while another drove a fist into his stomach. Reid wheezed, prying uselessly at his throat.
Ari tried to stand, but her body struggled even with the verillion. “Just let him go,” she rasped. “I won’t fight you.”
“I don’t think so. Lord Kelbra will want to speak with him,” said the second guard. She smirked down at Ari. “Right after Kyvin has another nice, long conversation with you.”
The name alone sent a wave of nausea through her. Panic erupted like a flare, and she reached desperately for the verillion inside her as the guard approached. Her body resisted the draw of the magic, wanting to keep it inside, but she forced it through the emerald ring, muttering a binding.
The guard chuckled. “Praying won’t save you, witch.” She reached for Ari’s arm.
Crush them, roared the voice.
Power snapped into place inside her. She seized the guard’s hand and bent it back, breaking her wrist. The guard howled. Using her as an anchor, Ari pulled herself to her feet and drove her knee into the woman’s stomach. Ribs cracked and she staggered, crumpling into a heap.
“What in the hells—” began the other guard. But she’d already ripped his arm away from Reid’s neck. She drove her elbow into the guard’s jaw, and he hit the ground hard, unmoving.
Reid stared up at her from his knees, one hand massaging his red throat. “I take back every insult I ever said.”
She smiled. Then the verillion ran out, and she collapsed.
ARI WOKE SLOWLY.Everything hurt. Everything was dark.
She started upright. Rezek’s men had found her. She was back in the cell—no. She was in a bed, not hanging from the ceiling. As her heart slowed, her eyes caught up to her surroundings. She took in the curtained windows of Damien’s room, where soft rays of afternoon sunlight trickled in. The familiar scent of gunpowder and aged paper worked its way through her like a balm, and for a few moments, all she did was breathe.
Then the pain of her sudden movements came crashing down upon her. Her body ached as though she’d been battered like a shirt left on the clothesline in a storm. Yet it didn’t hurt as badly as she’d expected.
She pulled away one of the many bandages Reid must have applied to her forearm, expecting stitches. Instead, she found scabbed skin and a little dried blood from where movement had pulled at the newly formed layer.
Carefully, she undid the rest of the bandages along her body. A couple of the wounds still leaked a little blood, but the majority of them were through the worst of it.
