Page 95 of The Blade in the Ashes
“You won’t even try?”
I swallowed. “I have already.”
He froze, holding me steady as he looked down at me. I tilted my head, hoping my face expressed the apology I couldn’t bring myself to voice. He forced his gaze away from mine, sniffing deeply as he nodded to himself and tried to collect himself.
“Well, I guess that’s something,” he said with resignation, scraping a hand down his face. “Can we at least agree that wewerefriends?”
An aching kind of sadness pressed in on me, a deep pain that shook through me, sending familiar sparks shooting through my arms.
Friends, yes. One who wanted more and one who couldn’t give anything past what I already had.
“Wearefriends, Caldrius. That’s why you’re going to let me go.”
His lips quirked, tongue poking into his cheek. He glanced over his shoulder at the guards fighting with Dimitri and Nessira behind us. In the distance, torches were lit. The alarm drums began to sound, warning the guards of a threat.
He turned back to me. “Make it look convincing?”
Dimitri gasped behind me before groaning out in pain as Nessira screamed his name.
Caldrius’ pain wasn’t something I had expected or planned for, and part of me ached for having caused it. But I took a steadying breath and pushed aside that part of me. I locked her in a box in the smallest, most distant part of my heart, and I lifted my chin. I had to do this.
I’d been a prisoner for long enough.
From the day I entered this realm, someone was always eager to lock me inside those castle walls. Forced to dress how I didn’t want, act how I didn’t feel,marrywho I didn’t love.
I would do it no longer.
“Thank you,” I breathed for just Caldrius to hear. He nodded, bracing himself as I prepared to strike out.
I grounded my feet, flexing my fingers before clenching them closed into a fist. I readied my strength, prepared to drive up my fist, and took one single inhale.
And inside the very core of my being, I felt a spark.
Power lanced through me, sparking through my veins and erupting out of my fingers. Caldrius fell back, shoved by my magic, before I could ever physically land a blow.
He faltered, awkwardly, falling back several feet in front of me while I desperately tried to cling to that minuscule sensation of magic. I searched for it, desperate to feel it once more, but as soon as it had come to me, it was gone once again, leaving us both staring wide-eyed at my hands.
In time, we glanced up, meeting each other's eyes, and Caldrius didn’t bother to hide his proud grin.
“Best get moving, darling.”
He winked, and then he shifted, eyes darkening as the world around us came back into focus.
I lurched backwards, running away just as Caldrius fell back into his role of dark prince. He reached for his sword, allowing me a few seconds to put a believable amount of space between us, before curling his upper lip into a snarl.
“Get back here!” he roared.
“Thea!” Nessira rushed out of the arms of her guard, brilliant flames climbing up his legs as she did. Her foot snagged on a fallen branch, and her steps came rushed as she tried to keep her balance and run towards me.
A loud grunt echoed as Dimitri slammed the pommel of his blade against the temple of the guard he fought, and the latter fell heavily onto the ground.
He pointed towards the woods even as his body twisted towards Caldrius and the Hyraxian guards that were rushing after us.
“Go!” Dimitri ordered as the drumbeats sounded louder and louder.
Nessira pulled at my arms, tugging me backwards even as I protested.
I couldn’t leave him. Dimitri had to come with us. We had to help him.
