Page 8 of Of Empires and Dust

The words were spoken in a whisper, and yet they echoed, moving around Ella as though resounding off walls.

Ella’s mouth grew dry, her heartbeat slowing to methodical hammering thumps. She spun, seeing only emptiness wherever she turned, a never-ending sea of black. The last time she had entered Níthianelle, she had been able to sense the souls of all the animals around her, been able tofeelthe essence of the world. Now, she felt and saw nothing.

“Mam?” Ella roared, lungs burning, eyes stinging. “Where are you?”

“No daughter of mine…”

It was her mother’s voice, of that Ella had no doubt.

“No daughter of mine lets the world control her.”The voice grew clearer, firmer.“You are strong, Ella. Just as you were then, you are now. You are strong.”

Ella continued to turn, searching the ocean of black and finding nothing. She let her voice drop to a whimper. “I don’t want to be alone…”

“You will never be alone.”

“Mam… what am I?”

The wolf howled in Ella’s blood as she asked the question, scratching at the back of her mind. She looked down to see claws lengthening from her fingernails, forged from white light.

“What am I?” she whispered again.

“You are a Blooddancer. A guardian of the gods.”

Ella’s heart stopped, the hairs on her arms and neck pricking. Those words had not echoed, not resounded in her mind like a ghostly whisper. They had been spoken aloud. They had come from behind her.

Ella turned slowly. “Mam?”

Calen joltedawake to the sound of Ella screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Mam!” Ella was writhing in the corner of the bed, her eyes open, white as clouds. Faenir stood over her, hackles raised, snout crinkled in a snarl.

“Ella!” Calen threw himself forwards from the chair, his knees cracking against the floor, the pain dulled by worry. He reached for Ella but yanked back his hands as Faenir snapped at him.

A deep rumble resounded in the wolfpine’s throat, golden eyes shimmering as he stared at Calen.

“Faenir…” Calen swallowed hard, reaching out tentatively, his gaze flickering from Faenir to Ella – who now convulsed at the edge of the bed against the wall. “It’s me.”

Calen stared into Faenir’s eyes, the eyes of the creature who had been ever-present in his life over the past five years. But something was different, something had shifted in the wolfpine.The way he stood over Ella, the way he protected her. Faenir would kill anyone or anything who dared to come near Ella.

In the back of Calen’s mind, Valerys roared. Pain seared through the dragon as he cracked his wings, trying to lift himself into the air. Calen urged Valerys to stay in the Eyrie, but doing so was like trying to stop a hurricane with his bare hands. He could feel the dragon’s talons raking the earth, wounds cracking and bleeding as he attempted to haul himself airborne. Valerys’s rage seeped into Calen, but Calen pushed back against it, his stare flickering between Faenir and Ella.

The door swung open behind Calen, bouncing off the wall with acrack. Footsteps charged in, voices shouting and calling.

Yana Veradis – Tanner’s partner – was the first to Calen’s side, her eyes wide with panic, her arms spread. “Ella!” she roared, looking from Calen to Ella to Faenir. She grabbed Calen’s arm. “What happened?”

Lasch and Elia Havel followed after Yana, Tanner just behind them.

“I don’t know.” Calen stared into Faenir’s golden eyes as he spoke. “I fell asleep?—”

“You fell asleep?” Yana pulled at Calen, cold fury in her eyes. “How could you fall asleep?”

“Yana.” Tanner placed a hand on Yana’s shoulder, but she swiped it away and pulled at Calen once more.

“How could you?—”

“This isn’t about me.” Calen cut Yana short, his voice like steel. “Or you.”

The woman’s mouth hung open, but she didn’t speak. Calen turned back to Ella and Faenir. Ella had stopped writhing and now lay still and slumped in the corner, her eyes closed.

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