Page 1 of The Dark Rising
One
Rhea
I’veneverembracedthepower of an Heir before, always kept it hidden from those that wish to do harm to me. Now though, my secret is out, and my promise to my mother is over as she granted me the release from it. Power swells within, warming me from the inside and flowing through my limbs. It’s nothing I have ever felt before, nothing I could have ever imagined. I look down at my hands, feeling tingles in my palm. Runa, as weary as she is, stretches inside of me, her heavy head lifting as she feels what I can.
My magic moves toward the wounds over my body, trying to start up the healing process with no luck. The cuffs of my wrists glow, stopping a lot of my power from helping as I try to move the focus of my magic to my wrists.This is more important than my wounds right now.I pull hard on my chains that are attached to the floor, needing to get free, needing to get to Kade. Letting out a growl, I yank as hard as I can, and it snaps. I feel strength course through me as I pull my hands apart, shattering the chain links connecting my wrists together.
“Impossible,” Darius breathes as he gathers back to his feet, eyes wide with confusion as he looks at me, at my hair still floating around me. It is possible, I’m proof of that.
I look him over, feeling his betrayal more than ever. The wounds on my back still burn, still scream in pain after what he did to me. I ignore the way his own Heir marks show at his neck, ignore who he is to me… what he doesn’t deserve to be.
Shouts echo around the hall as people start to flee for the doors, from the power and the dominance I’m expelling as they scream in fear. They scramble over each other, standing on those that get knocked to the ground, uncaring that their feet are injuring others. I move toward Josh and hold a hand out against his barrier, grunting at the effort to break it. Josh’s eyes are wide as they look at me, staring at me like he doesn’t know me. I ignore it and keep concentrating on the barrier. After one final push, his barrier breaks, and I rush forward, grabbing his chained hands. I put my hand on the links and pull until they break.
“Get the others,” I order him as he snaps out of his shock and we rush forward, regretfully stepping over Josie and Danny as Josh goes to our pack, and I head for Kade.
I can’t think of them right now.
“Stop her,” Charles roars, and I bare my teeth at him as I make my way to the steps. Guards rush the room and come at me, their swords drawn. Feeling the power coursing through me, I fling out a hand as a wave of magic pushes them back.
My body feels lit from within, my power pulsing and raw. Wild.
Charles grabs Kade off the floor, and my heart pounds as he shoves him down besides his seat on the dais, the Highers gathering around him. The Elites come next, and I stop and lift my hand again, making them fly through the air and straight into the hall’s walls. I continue and hit the first step of the dais, watching as Charles and the Highers begin to chant. They speak a language I don’t understand until a violet and black barrier forms around them, the colors swishing in and out of view in a circular motion.
Charles sneers at me, his face full of fury that makes me pause for a second, memories rushing through my mind of all the times he’s looked at me like that before.
Movement to my left has me coming out of my fear, and I come face to face with Darius. He growls, blade in hand as he looks at Charles and then reaches out for me. I dodge back, throwing my leg out and aiming for his torso which he knocks away easily in my state. Using the momentum, as soon as my foot lands on the floor, I bring my other leg around, spinning through the movement until my foot connects with his face. My back screams in agony as I waver on my feet before righting myself, but I feel the pleasure of hitting him.
Darius grunts, jaw clenching as he wipes blood from the corner of his mouth. He comes at me again, and I lift my fist, ready to spill more of his blood and get to Kade as fast as possible. He dodges my throw, and quickly drops his blade before his strong hands are gripping the tops of my arms.
“Rhea,” he barks, his fingers digging into my skin as I struggle in his grasp.
“Fuck you,” I breathe, my eyes alight with anger as I bring my hands up, ready to gouge his eyes out, but that’s not what happens.
My hands move toward his temples and my fingers press in. I feel my magic moving toward my fingertips as I’m frozen to the spot, unable to move. His eyes lock with mine, confusion and trepidation swimming in those green orbs as my power from within reaches his skin. The cuffs that are still on my wrists glow, sensing the power and trying to block it, but the power doesn’t stop, moving at a steady pace into him.
The markings on my skin fill with warmth, flowing through them like a gentle river as Darius and I are still locked in each other’s gaze. His pupils dilate, black leaking at the edges of his whites as those silver, glass-like specks float through his pupils. The light green of his eyes glow as my power rushes into him and I connect with… something.
I suck in a sharp breath as I feel my power floating through a thick mist, moving sluggishly, searching for something I don’t know of. Darius’s eyes tighten as if in pain, and my magic moves faster, rushing around inside of him, searching, until a pair of eyes show in my mind. I gasp as Darius jolts, a pained groan coming from his lips as he moves his hands down my arms, then gripping my waist.
His scent hits me harder than before. At one point, I wanted it wrapped around me, I wanted to bathe in it. Now… Now I want it far away from me, never to be near me after what he has done. Runa’s growl echo’s my thoughts.
My power becomes visible in my mind, like I’m watching what’s happening from inside of him as it’s surrounded by darkness. A small ball of ice-blue tendrils float toward those pitch-black eyes, hovering just out of their reach. Strands of my power float around themselves as the eyes get closer and fear courses through me as my magic doesn’t stop. I try to remove my hands from Darius’s head, wanting to let go, but I’m stuck.
The tendrils float from side to side, but don’t move forward as a muzzle and sharp teeth come into view, followed by a huge, black head. The wolf’s green eyes now glow in my power’s light as its nose stays inches from it. A cord of my power reaches out and caresses the wolf’s nose, and it lets out a low rumble as Darius grunts, but otherwise stays still, letting my power explore him. Runa is silent within me, her head cocked to the side curiously.
The wolf’s eyes close briefly before they reopen, looking directly at me as Runa lets out a small, confused sound. My breath catches as Runa comes to my eyes and we stare at each other. My strands stroke across the wolf’s head, so bright against the black, flowing behind its ears before it moves toward its mouth. My body sags forward against Darius’s chest, feeling the power within me suddenly draining. His fingers tighten at my waist as my forehead rests under his chin as we both stay frozen to the spot, just our chests rising and falling with every breath we take. The wolf nods his head at me once, a purr coming from him before he opens his mouth and swallows my power, pitching us in darkness.
Darius growls low, a gritted, pained sound mixed in with it as his fingers release my waist and he crashes to his knees, his hands immediately going to his head. I stumble back as I become unstuck, my breaths uneven as most of my power within me was absorbed by the wolf. As quick as it came, my power is fizzling out. I feel every bruise, every wound, every ache and every bite of pain running through my body. My vision wavers.
I take a stumbling step toward Darius as he peels his glowing eyes open. “You asshole,” I rasp. “I was too young to have caused the rogures, I was a child when they came to the lands.” I cough, and pain ignites my chest. “It’s impossible for me to have caused them, and it’s impossible that what you saw was the truth in that crystal.” He removes his hands from his head as he gets a foot under him, his eyes showing some kind of emotion that I don’t understand as he shakes his head. “You broke our vow, and I will make sure to break—“
“Rhea, now! We have to go.” My head snaps in Josh’s direction. He’s got the guys huddled together and starts removing the cloths from around their mouths. I look back to Darius one last time to see him mouthing something to me. No sound comes out, but I know exactly what he’s saying. My eyes widen at the one word. He mouths it again, his eyes fiercely on mine as confusion swirls inside of me. He growls low, repeating the word before his eyes scrunch shut in pain. I turn and aim for Kade.
I haul up the dais steps, holding back tears from the burning in my body, and bang against the Highers barrier, trying to push power into it. But there is hardly anything left. I call for more, beg for more, but nothing comes.
“Kade,” I shout. He’s still on the floor at the Highers’ feet. “Come to me Kade, now! We have to leave.”
“He’s not going anywhere, Lasandrhea.” Charles’s cruel voice pierces my ears. He moves forward and stops in front of me on the other side of the barrier. He looks me over, hunger in his gaze as he tracks my markings. “You are pretty, my dear,”
