Page 170 of Living Legend

My head was killing me. The throbbing pain was too much. I felt like my skull was going to rip out of my head. This sort of pain was foreign to me, the kind that caused your eyes to stay shut but also made you want to vomit. I tasted blood in my mouth and tried to press my lips together, feeling how dry they were. My head throbbed again, reverberating through every tiny pocket of my fucking brain. I tried to lift my arms and apply pressure to my skull with my hands, but I couldn't.

I couldn't move my hands, my arms staying still. I tried again and realized my hands were tied behind my back. I felt the throbbing return with every ounce of strength I tried to use to release my hands. My wrists cried out in pain from my useless attempt. Magic bound my wrists but I didn't know what kind. I forced my eyes open, my vision blurry and fogged. I lowered my eyelids and took a slow breath in and out, trying again. I took my time, letting my eyes open a small bit at a time.

The room came into view, furniture and colors slowly coming together. I gently moved my head, noticing I was on the floor, sitting on my knees. A large table sat in front of me, and I could hear voices scattered throughout the room. None of the voices were easily recognizable. The room itself was starting to become clear to me, though.

We were in a briefing room.

This was the same room we had been in when the ambush happened.

There were darkened marks on the table and the window was still stained with remnants of blood. All of that seemed so long ago, but every moment of it was so fresh in my mind. I heard a groan next to me and looked to my left, noticing Elise and Reese both in the same position as me, hands behind their back, sitting on their knees. Elise had her head slumped forward, but she let out groans of pain, letting me know she was eventually going to wake up and she wouldn't be happy when she did. Dark red, almost black liquid was coming down the back of her neck, while some of it had already hardened. I saw the slight glow of the magic dampening handcuffs around her wrists, but they didn't just shine a golden light this time. The light had an undertone of other colors, proving to me that other magic was at play here.

Reese looked like he was starting to blink but I couldn't tell. I tried to get a better look, but then a hand came down on my shoulder, intentionally pressing into my open wound.

"Ah, looks like this one is awake." I peered up at them. It was the same angel who had stopped me in my tracks. She wasn't looking at me when she was talking, though. I followed her line of sight, seeing another sentry coming towards her. Her voice was harsh when she spoke again. "Is she awake yet?"

Another female sentry shook her head. "Not yet. He said she would come to eventually." She snuck a glance over to me and nodded her head in my direction. "What are we doing with them?"

The first shrugged, still grasping onto my shoulder. "We were supposed to be waiting for them to wake up, but now–" She squeezed my shoulder, causing me to let out a grunt. "I'll have to let them know they are starting to come to." She shoved me away from her and walked alongside the other as they made their way across the room.

I darted my eyes around, searching every part of the room that I could see from my vantage point. I caught sight of black hair, long and wavy, from the top of one of the chairs at the table. The head it was attached to moved slightly back and forth, until those honey eyes locked onto mine. I widened my eyes at Natalia, who had her hands firmly planted face down on the table. I wondered why she wasn't doing more, causing some sort of scene. Her forearms were prone and I noticed the muscles ticking in her arms. She was trying to move her hands but something was keeping her in place. Something told me that dampening magic was also in place to keep any mental magic she had in check.

I was on the floor behind the chair at the end of the long table, but Natalia caught my eye again, tilting her head to the other side of the table. With some pain, I shuffled to the right, trying to see around the chair. My heart pulled in my chest, my breathing stunted in my throat. That cascading heap of curls were slumped over Dani’s shoulders and her head was tilted to the side. Despite the situation, she looked peaceful and fuck…she was beautiful. Even with the lengthy burn scars on her neck and the blood that caked her hands, she was someone I couldn't take my eyes off of.

Both her hands were cuffed to the chair, gold magic dampening cuffs with the colorful streams of magic curling around them, and a few sentries were watching her like hawks. I pulled at my wrists again, but yet again, I felt a sting of pain, as if the more I tried to release myself the tighter they got. I sucked in a breath, looking back at Natalia, who simply pressed her lips together, giving me a sorrowful look. She was at a loss for what to do.

A snort-like groan came from beside me, sliding my eyes over to the demon opening her eyes. Those gray eyes shot around the room, and she tried to move her arms, but they weren't budging. She shuffled from knee to knee, trying to wiggle her way out, but all she got in return was more agitation. The sentries around us started to notice her movements and most of them smirked at her attempts to break free.

"What the fuck is going on?" Elise barked, teetering on her knees again.

A male sentry grabbed her by her neck, stilling her. His eyes had the same lost, blackened look as the others, his auburn hair falling in front of his face. "How about you stay still before I make you?"

Elise made her eyes into tiny slits, curving her mouth into one of disgust. "How about you get out of my face, before I bite the flesh off yours?"

The sentry scoffed and pushed her back, letting go of her neck. He cracked his neck and made his way over to Reese, who was just now starting to open one of his eyes. He peered over at me and Elise, and then took in the rest of the room. The male sentry stood right in front of Reese, looking down at him with a smirk. "You finally awake, princess?"

Reese raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing. The male sentry bent slightly at the knees. "I asked you a question; it's only polite to answer." He grabbed Reese's face, placing his fingers near his cheeks and squishing his mouth together. Reese's eyebrows scrunched together as he tried to get out of the man's hold. The sentry let him go, but not without landing a hard slap on the side of his face.

"You all are so pathetic you couldn't even kill us?" Elise sneered.

Reese moved his jaw from side to side. "You really want to know why they didn't kill us?"

Elise licked her lips and ignored him, looking straight at her target.

The male sentry leaned against the chair at the head of the table, looking bored and unimpressed by her. "Change of plans."

I cleared my throat, taking one short look at Dani and then looking away. "Where are the others?"

The sentry looked at me, his dark, misty eyes unnerving. "Others?"

"The other angels. I would hardly think it would make any sense to just murder everyone."

A female sentry spoke up. "A chunk of them are in the Ethereal Bastille; others are having a nice little slumber in their rooms thanks to a healthy dose of sleeping magic."

"For that many people, you would need strong magic to project that kind of dormancy magic," Natalia said, pressing her fingertips into the table.

Another sentry chuckled. "Aw, are you jealous that you aren't the most powerful Enchanter, your Highness?" The sentry plucked a strand of Natalia's hair and twirled it around her finger, tugging so that the High Priestess winced from the pain. "Don't worry, once little miss Soul Seether over there wakes up, everything will go as planned."

At that moment, Dani made a soft noise that caught everyone's attention. It was like she was trying to swallow, but it just came out like short breaths. Her chest rose and fell in short bursts, but then she was awake, as if someone had jolted her with a bolt of lightning. She frantically looked around the room. Her hair fell into her face, sweat beaded on her forehead and neck, her hands clenched and unclenched. Her eyes found mine almost instantly, and I didn't know what to say when she looked at me like that. I had never witnessed that look on her face. The look of unknowing, it was so different from the look she had when I had taken her away from Cullen's body. I wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay, but I didn't know if that was true. If I said that, I would be lying to both of us.

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