Scorched Treachery (Imdalind #3) Read online

  Putting the tablecloth into the water, I scrubbed the fabric before letting the majority of it trail away with the flow of the water. I held onto the corner, letting the white lace swirl through the freezing water. In only a few minutes, my hands had become a lovely red color, although I couldn’t feel the burning tingle of the cold. If my skin was threatening hypothermia, I had no idea.

  Everything inside me had heated when my skin touched the stone of the floor I kneeled on. I had always reacted to the stone of these caves this way. It was as if my magic sensed the deep magic of the world that was hidden somewhere far below me and grew in response. As far as I knew, I was the only one who did that, but there weren’t many Trpaslíks around to ask. It could be perfectly normal, and I would never know. Besides, it definitely had its benefits. My personal explosion factor increased by ten when my skin was in contact with the stone. Not like there were many things to explode around here, but it was still cool.

  “NO!”

  I jumped – like, full on jumped – at the disembodied voice that bounced into the air around me. The high-pitched scream shot through my body with electricity that perked every hair on my arms to full attention, my heart rate jumping with the speed of a twenty thousand volt reaction.

  “P-please, n...no,”

  The woman was back, which meant that whoever was torturing her was back too. They were close, close enough to find me. Close enough for me to find them. I didn’t know why my heart was thumping so wildly. It was either the fear of discovery or excitement for the battle. I narrowed my eyes as my muscles tensed, definitely excitement. I dropped the wet wad of lace down to the stone floor and perked my ears toward where I could only assume the voice was coming from.

  I took a step forward without thinking, my nerves on high alert, eager to attack. If only I could find her, I could end all this.

  “I...I...w-won’t t-tell you!”

  My head spun, the voice seemed to have moved from one area of the cave to another. This time, the voice echoed down a darkened hallway that led toward the dungeon. I looked at the dark cavern, my nerves mingling with fear. No way was I going down there alone. No way. For all I knew, that was exactly what they wanted. Last thing I needed was to run into someone in the dark and then accidentally collapse the cave with my magic. Yep, that would be just my luck.

  Why did this voice, this woman, only seem to appear when everyone else was busy? It didn’t make sense. I needed to get Talon; we needed to find her.

  “L-leave me a...alone,” her voice broke and stuttered as she once again begged for her life.

  The timber of her voice was so close to that of the little girl that haunted my dreams that my heart tensed in a reflex reaction, the contents in my stomach spinning uncomfortably.

  I made sure the tablecloth was out of the water and went to take off toward the sparring hall where the pull of Talon’s magic told me he would be, but my wet Chuck Taylors squeaked on the stone on the first step. I froze, waiting to see if the noise would alert whoever was down there to my presence, but the crying remained. The last thing I needed was to scare her off before I could get Talon, and we could investigate.

  I began walking again, moving slowly this time until the volume of the crying had lessened enough that I figured I was out of earshot, allowing me to take off on a dead run toward the training hall.

  The sounds of battle hit my ears before anything else, the grunts and explosions mixed with laughter as everyone enjoyed the spectacles of combat.

  I barreled into the large hall and wove my way through the small groups of sparring Skȓíteks, each group covered by the shimmering orb of a shield. I worked my way through them, looking like a fool when I jumped at an explosion that rocked against a barrier near my head.

  I smiled at the two Skȓíteks enclosed in the fighting space and made my way toward Talon.

  “Hi, baby,” Talon said softly when I ran up beside him. His face dropped at the look in my eyes and the transmission of my panic that I am sure he felt through our bond.

  “I heard her again. I think she is in the old dungeons.”

  Talon said nothing more before dragging me behind him out of the training hall and toward the underground spring.

  His feet moved quickly, his gait and cumbersome shape unable to be quiet as we bounded through one dark tunnel and another before arriving in the same large cavern I had just left, the dark entryway to the dungeons staring at us hauntingly.

  “Are you sure you heard the voice from down there?” Talon asked, his voice shaking, as he looked wide-eyed into the abyss in front of us.

  I could only nod. Talon was scared, that alone was enough to freak me out. I had never been down there, but Talon had, hundreds of times I was sure. The place was probably full of more haunted memories than crazy, flesh stripped skeletons. Although, I was sure there was a few of those too, there always were in dungeons.

  “You’re sure?” Talon asked again, and I felt my confidence waiver.

  “Of course I am not sure, Talon. Her voice echoes around like an Olympic game of Ping-Pong. She could have been a mermaid in the water for all I know.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Talon said, his voice still shaking, although less than before. “Mermaids don’t exist.”

  Talon took a step away from me, toward the cavern, and I could feel his magic surge as he put on a small shield. Dude, he wasn’t thinking about going in there, was he?

  “Talon?” I asked from behind him, my voice catching at the petrified anger on his face. “Baby, let’s go. We can’t hear her anymore; she’s gone.”

  I pulled on him, but he didn’t move. I waited, but he didn’t respond. His eyes stayed glued to the dark opening as if they had been sewn there. It was creepy watching him stare at something so intently. My heart rate began to accelerate to match Talon’s, the quick pick up triggering a warning inside of me. I didn’t know how much I could take, my heart was beating too fast, and even I was starting to feel some creepy vibe from whatever was down there.

  “Talon?” My voice was weak with the heavy vibe of fear that Talon’s stare had given me.

  I couldn’t do it. Like a wet dog, I shook off the anxiety that was trying to take hold of me and grabbed the sopping tablecloth from where it still lay on the stone floor by our feet. In one smooth movement, I threw it over Talon’s head, the wet fabric covering him with a loud smack.

  It did the trick. He howled and pulled the cold thing off him.

  “Let’s go, Talon,” I said, before he could get angry with me.

  His jaw hung heavily for a moment before his brain clicked back into place, reminding him of what had happened before I hit him with a wet tablecloth. That was the problem with being married to such a big guy; sometimes their brains moved a bit too slowly.

  Talon nodded and put the tablecloth in the basket, only to freeze at the sight of something over my shoulder.

  “What are you two doing here?” Ovailia spat with as much icy venom as she possibly could. I whipped around to see her standing before us, her feet moving back and forth as if she was walking in place, her long arms folded over her slender torso. I instantly moved back into Talon, content to let him take the lead and thankful when he squared his shoulders defiantly against her.

  I guess that was the one good thing about growing up with Ovailia; he was used to her. When you can think of someone as a tantrum-throwing toddler with a stinky diaper, their fits as an adult don’t truly bother you.

  “That is no longer your concern, Ovailia,” Talon said simply, his voice making it clear he didn’t feel the need to elaborate.

  “What?” Ovailia said, her voice airy with surprise. Why she was surprised, I had no idea. I had always assumed it would take pigs standing and walking on their hind legs to surprise her.

  “I do not need to remind you of Ilyan’s proclamation regarding who is acting in his stead, do I?” Talon wrapped his arm around me, pressing my shoulder into him.

  “No, I remember quite well,” she said
snottily, the airy confusion in her voice gone now.

  I stared at Ovailia intently, the nerves in my spine jumping sporadically. Something about the way Ovailia shifted her feet was freaking me out. Her whole body was screaming, liar! Run! I couldn’t tear my eyes from the icy blue of hers and the way her lips curled in warning.

  “Speaking of Ilyan,” Ovailia asked, her voice hesitant, “how is my dear brother?”

  “Wonderful,” Talon said, his voice pinched.

  Ovailia smiled but said nothing. Talon began to lead me out of the large room, the basket perched on his hip.

  “Oh and Wynifred,” Ovailia sneered the moment we had passed her, “I wouldn’t go poking around in corners if I were you.”

  “Is that a threat?” I hissed, my body pulling away from Talon as my magic surged angrily.

  “Of course.”

  I wanted to lunge at her, but let Talon’s strong arm around my waist serve as a warning. I let him drag me out of the roughly carved chamber and into the smooth stone halls that would take us to our room. I didn’t feel comfortable just leaving her there, but something in Talon’s body language begged me to.

  I complied, choosing instead to stick my tongue out at the stone wall that stood between us.

  Yes, sometimes I was just that childish.

  Chapter Two

  I wanted to curl up in a ball and go to sleep, but I couldn’t. Joclyn still hadn’t called.

  It was probably foolish of me to expect her to, but I considered her my best friend. I knew she thought the same, and besides, she had called me about everything else. They had been attacked. I didn’t even know where they were. It was getting hard to ignore that angsty, creepy crawly feeling that was working its way up my spine. She should call. Maybe I should call.

  I could call, but the way Ilyan was so hush hush about everything, made me question if I should. I was not sure I was allowed. Hell, I was sure I wasn’t allowed.

  So, I waited. I curled up in the blankets like a guinea pig and waited until sleep took me, the blonde girl and the Henry the Eighth wanna-be occupying my thoughts almost immediately. I watched the girl dance and the man laugh as he chased her.

  He laughed.

  He had never laughed before. He had never talked. I had seen his mouth move every night that I slept, but no sound had ever escaped.

  It was a dream and I shouldn’t have cared. But even in the dream, I was acutely aware.

  The image jumped and bobbed as I watched, the girl flashing from one side of the field to another, the man doing the same before he ended up right beside me.

  “We should go,” he said, his voice conspiratorially low.

  I would have jumped at the sound of his voice had I been in control of my body. But I wasn’t in control, and I could do nothing. My voice spoke on its own. The dream me smiled and felt joy, while inside, I only felt more and more panic.

  “Go where?” I said. At least I thought it was me. It came from me and sounded a bit like me, although the voice was different, more mellow, adult, not the electric youthful tones I had now.

  “Away,” he said as he turned to look at me, his blue eyes smiling. I tried to scream and push him away, but I didn’t have control over my arms. My body didn’t move. I could feel my lips smile, even though I didn’t want them to. I could hear my mind think about his eyes, the eyes of his father, royal blue.

  His father?

  It was my thought. I felt it form inside of me, but it wasn’t mine. It wasn’t true. How could it be? How could I know, how did I know?

  “We can’t get away,” that wretched voice spilled out from me again, even though I still fought to control the body.

  “We can run,” he said, his voice desperate.

  I felt myself screaming, but the body I was trapped in didn’t follow suit. Instead, the body smiled and touched his face. I screamed until my eyes flashed open, the silence of our dark room filling the air in the wake of my nightmare.

  I wasn’t sure what had woken me. Not the dream, surely? I always slept through those. But then, the man had never spoken to me before.

  I lay still, my mind pushing away the images of the dream while still trying to recall pieces of it. Why would I want to recall that? It was a dream, and I was not a Drak. My dreams had no meaning.

  “I understand.” I jumped as the voice came out of the dark. Even though I recognized it as Talon’s right away, I had not expected to hear it or the stress that lined the words behind it.

  “Only a week? Is it that unsafe?”

  I could tell Talon was trying to be quiet. The light from the phone lit up his face, making the deep stress lines look even darker. My heart clunked as his stress leached through our connection and into me.

  So that was what had woken me.

  “What about Ovailia? She has been asking questions...”

  Talon’s voice cut off as Ilyan interrupted him, his head bobbing in agreement with something Ilyan said. I pulled the blankets up around me as I watched him, fighting the temptation to go back to sleep. I wanted more information.

  Only a minute later he lowered the phone. The light from the screen went out leaving us alone in the brightening yellow shades of dawn that seeped in through the vent in the ceiling of our cave.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked, my voice startling him.

  “I didn’t know you were awake,” Talon said as he moved over to me, his weight indenting the bed enough to make me roll toward him.

  “Yeah, someone’s stress woke me up.”

  “Not mine surely?” he smiled as he moved to sit next to me, his arms draping over me as if he was locking me in place.

  He looked down at me, and my stomach twisted. I knew what the fire behind his eyes meant, what the deep surge of magic I felt tumble through me was leading up to. I smiled back at him, arching my back as I lifted my face to meet his, my lips pressing deeply against his.

  My magic surged violently at the intimate connection, our magic rejoicing as it met its mate and curled around each other.

  Talon lowered himself onto me, his body heavy against mine. I sighed as his hand moved up my arm to cup my face. His tongue dragged against my bottom lip before he left my lips and peppered deep, longing kisses along my jawbone and neck.

  I couldn’t help the moan that escaped my lips. I couldn’t understand where this was coming from, especially with the stress that had lined his voice only a moment ago, but I wasn’t going to complain. I was enjoying this far too much.

  Talon kissed my neck once more before he stilled against me, his breathing deep and ragged. I closed my eyes and savored the way our contact moved through my body, the way every nerve ending felt illuminated. I could have stayed like that for hours, but I could still feel Talon’s erratic heartbeat, and I knew he needed more from me.

  “Are you okay?” I asked again, changing the question to get the answer I really wanted.

  Talon shifted his weight, moving back to sit at the edge of the bed, his hand moving to cup my face. I looked at him, wishing he would answer, not even knowing if he could. His dark eyes glistened as more light filtered into our room, the sparks of dawn igniting around us.

  “Talon?”

  “I think I know who the crying voice belongs to,” Talon said, his bold statement making my arms and legs feel like lead. I hadn’t expected that. I sat up and leaned closer to him, my heart thumping, desperate for more information.

  “Who?” I asked, my voice only a whisper, the sound swallowed by my jumpy nerves. I could feel my magic skitter around inside of my skin, ready for a fight.

  “All day yesterday, only one person asked me about Ilyan’s welfare – several times, each more desperate. It was very unlike her to care...”

  “No!” I gasped. His statement combined with what he had said on the phone a moment ago putting the name in my head. “Not Ovailia! I mean, she’s wicked, yeah, but she wouldn’t betray him, not again.”

  “What would stop her from doing it again?” Talon asked sof
tly. I held my tongue. He had a point. Ovailia’s personality was not one that lent itself to loyalty; she would go where the chips lay thickest.

  “Besides, the crying we keep hearing, it is like she is fighting against the bind Ilyan placed over everyone to keep his location secret.”

  I could only stare and nod. He had a point. Ilyan had placed that little touch of magic inside of everyone when he first went on the run, hundreds of years ago. I shouldn’t be surprised it was still around and strong enough to keep Ovailia’s tongue at bay.

  “I’m going to go talk to her,” Talon said, his voice making it sound as if he was walking into a death camp, not simply speaking with Ovailia. I didn’t want to face Ovailia, not in the slightest, but I couldn’t let him face her alone. This confrontation would not be pretty.

  “Let’s go,” I said, trying to ignore the foreboding pulse of my nerves.

  I jumped out of bed and took the two quick steps to my dresser. I didn’t even look as I grabbed random items of clothing in my rush to leave: Styx shirt, red skinny jeans, black converse.

  Talon, now dressed himself, nodded once before moving toward the door, my converse squeaking as I followed him.

  Everything was tense inside of me. My muscles and magic were tight against my skin, just waiting for Ovailia to pop around a corner and attack us. Talon walked in front of me, his hulking form leading the way, his fists clenched to his sides. I wanted to reach out and hold his hand, but he did not need that kind of comfort.

  We had just passed the orchard when a loud robotic song began to play from the pocket of my jeans. I pulled the phone out to find Ilyan’s name lit up. On the screen was a picture of him and Talon from when they dressed up in some medieval armor they had found in a storage room.

  Now? She would call right now?

  I stared at the picture, a heavy need to talk to her temporarily clouding the fear of where Talon and I had been heading.

  “You should answer that.”

  “But, Talon,” I began, my voice laced with a whine.