Page 29 of Eclipse of Fate
“The fuck is this?” I say, my voice muffled by my face being smashed into the cold ground.
“I can’t let you attack my brother, Trent. I’m sorry, but I need to hear from him what is going on. From Raelle.” Ambriel says with her hand outstretched, controlling her air magic.
"ENOUGH!" Power sizzles through the hall where we stand. The glow behind Raelle’s eyes brightens to an eerie intensity. Power brushes over me, and I feel the air magic release its hold on me. At the same moment, a gasp sounds off behind me.
"My magic..." Ambriel stumbles forward, her knees buckling and biting the hard stone next to me. "Fuck. Raelle... you...stop..." Alaric trembles and pants out the words. Looking down at Raelle’s white-knuckled grip on his hand. Raelle’s head tips back as a visibleshudder rolls over her. The look on Alaric’s face is anything but arrogant, for the first time since he's stepped foot in our lives. Fear enters his eyes as he looks from our queen to the group of Fae in front of her.
“Raelle. Listen, you need to calm down…Hey, remember why we came here? Dax is alive. We have to go find him. You have a plan. Get your emotions under control.” Alaric speaks in a whisper, a calm plea for her to stop whatever it is she’s doing right now. I’ve never seen a power like this in my life, written or otherwise. Maki’s wide eyes tell me he is likely thinking the same thing as me.
The air in the hall ripples with powerful magic. The charged feeling tingles across my skin and rolls over the group of us. When Raelle drops Alaric’s hand with a gasp, the magic is gone. She sucks in a shaky breath before her eyes roll back into her head, her knees give out, and she falls. Alaric is quick to move, though, and catches her before she hits the ground.
Ambriel is breathing heavily, and as I stand, I help her to her feet as well. I brush back the hair that has fallen into her face and take notice of the sweat that has built on her forehead.
“What the fuck was that?” Kait gives a voice to the question we are all thinking.
“Bring her to the infirmary. I want Ginny to look her over and see if she has heard of anything like that happening.” Alaric is stoic as he threads his arm under Raelle’s legs, lifts her, and begins walking without another word. My eyes narrow at his lack of commentary about what just happened. The way his eyes shift and he chews his lip makes me think that he knows something we don’t. And I don’t fucking like it.
Every one of us left behind looked around, our brows stitched together. The collective concern we feel is almost palpable. I linkmy hand with Kait and wrap an arm around the still weak Ambriel, and we follow behind Maki and Alaric as they lead the way to the infirmary.
Raelle has been asleep all day. Whatever magic she used clearly took it out of her. As troubling as it is not knowing what the fuck that was, we have all been there for her. Silently waiting for her to wake up. Though there were no arguments, there have been plenty of scowls passed between us. Ambriel and Alaric refuse to leave her side since she was brought to the infirmary, each of them taking turns watching over her. As much as it bothers me to leave her too, I need to do some research and see what I can find about whatever the hell that was this morning. I feel like I’ve been spending so much time in the library these days, my nose deep into a book as I look for answers. I wish Ma was here. She would likely be able to help me find the answers, and she would help me find the good in the situation. Though, as I think about it, I don’t know what kind of good can come of Raelle blacking out after becoming a danger to our group. It’s not like her to even raise her voice at us. Give us sarcastic banter, yes. But this?
The door creaks as it opens, and Kait walks in with a plate of food in her hands. A small smile pulls at the scarring on her face, and I give her my own defeated smile.
“Nothing?” She asks as she places the platter on the desk in front of me. The smell of cheese, meats, and fruit wafts through the room, and my stomach growls.
“Not really.” I plop a grape into my mouth. “Thanks for the food.”
“I thought you might be hungry. You missed lunch… and dinner.” I laugh at her then, because I’m quite literally always hungry, and she knows that, nevermind the fact that I’ve skipped the meals. She gives me a sad smile before she continues. “Look, I’m sorry for how I’ve been lately. I know it’s not an excuse, but things have just been weird between all of us.
Everything that we have been through… Melani, Dax, Ambriel, and Alaric showing up… even Cano… it has just taken its toll on me, and well… I’ve not been handling it well.” She steps closer. “You will always be my best friend, Trent. I love you like my own brother. You have to know that.” She swallows, waiting for my response.
I wait another beat, staring at her, before standing, walking around the desk, and gathering her in my arms. I hold her there for a moment and lay a kiss on the top of her head. When I pull her out at arms length, she looks up at me with relieved, thankful eyes.
“Kait, nothing could ever come between us and our friendship, because you are more than a friend to me. You are family, and you always will be.”
“Thank you. I needed to hear that.”
“Should we go see if Raelle is awake?” Just as I ask the question, the library doors open and Naza walks in.
“Maki sent me; Raelle is awake and asking to speak with you, Mr.Fornax-Ravendene.” Naza inclines her head, respectively, and Kait laughs.
“I guess that answers that question.”
Chapter twenty-six
I’ve grown used tothe cold dampness of the dungeon. My body is numb and complacent to the chill that surrounds me. It’s a new sort of hell I’m forced to live through. If one can call merely breathing another day—living. Luckily, or perhaps not so lucky, I get no more visits from the guards. Other than the delivery of the rot, they call food, and the murky liquid they try to pass as water.
It’s nothing but a new form of torture, one that aims for corrosion of the mind. Isolated from all the—manythings I used to take for granted in my life. My brain is forced to think about all of my failures, wrong-doings, and the things I wish I would have donedifferently.
I’m not sure how many days or nights have passed. Too many, but every time I close my eyes, I see her. I’m unsure if the sight of her is a delusion from the desolate prison. After what could have been weeks of physical torture, I still feel as though when I close my eyes, I’m reaching her. Sometimes I even feel a thrum of power trying to breach whatever drugs they are giving me. Like the soft caress of a warm summer’s night breeze touching my face. The glow of the moon bathing everything around in its silver light, and the stars looking down on me. But every time I open my eyes, I am thrust back into reality. Forced to realize that the stagnant air and darkness are my only allies.
I wake up in a puddle of cold sweat. The dream I was in felt so real, and I grip to it for as long as I can manage. As though I can feel Raelle’s hand gripping mine, the skin on my fingers blanches as I squeeze my hand into a fist. The iron cuffs rattle as I move to sit up, stretching my weak muscles. I strain my eyes to see around me, but it's of no use. The bleak dungeon is too dark.
When the sconces flare to life a moment later, I squint, turning my face away from the assaulting flames. My eyes are unprepared to take in the bright onslaught of light flooding the chamber. A moment later, stone and metal grind, as the door opens and a guard I recognize steps forward. Looking behind him, he says something to the one who stands at the door. Without a beat, the guard stomps away, the sound of his footsteps fading down the hall.
“Dax?” His eyes round at the corners as he spots me hunched in the corner. “Shit.” His familiar voice echoes in the chamber as he curses, closing the heavy door behind him and striding toward me. I urge steel into my spine, sitting as straight as I can on the floor of my cell, and I grit my teeth, waiting for him to cut into me or for his fist to fly.
His assault doesn't come, though.
