Breaker (Ondine Quartet Book 4) (36 page)

They didn’t move.

The fire crackled, its vibrant warmth more demanding and powerful than the slow slide of sunlight.
 

But it still couldn’t melt the block of ice inside me.
 

Ian shivered. His face was so pale.

Cam pulled off his sweatshirt and handed it over.

“Here,” he said gruffly.

“Thanks.”

I added the extra layer around Ian, willing his body to jumpstart and fix what was wrong.

Minutes passed. His blood continued to flow and his scars remained bright and ugly against his colorless skin.
 

There would be no healing from within.

Julian and Cam gravely watched us through the flames, unable - maybe unwilling - to sleep for fear of the nightmares they’d see behind closed lids.

There would be no rest for any of us for a long time.
 

***

The thick canopy of trees shielded us from the glare of the sun. After so much darkness, the light felt overwhelming as if it demanded more than I could give.

We each took turns carrying Ian, but I struggled to keep up. Julian and Cam hadn’t endured days of repeated bone breakage and blood loss and the difference was now beginning to show.

Empath also sensed Ian had reached the point of no return hours ago.
 

His pain entwined with my own and it was unbearable.
 

Keep them alive. Bring them home.

Ahead, Julian and Cam kept up a steady clip and I focused on moving.

One step. Another. Another.

But this time, will alone wasn’t enough.

My crap knee gave out and I collapsed on to the knotted undergrowth, Ian’s weight sending an additional pulse of pain through my hips and joints.
 

If I had any energy left, I would’ve screamed.

I sat up, rested against the rough bark of a tree, and pulled Ian close. He sprawled across my lower legs, blood from his wound saturating the makeshift bandage.

Julian and Cam backtracked to us. I forced myself to say what I’d known for several miles.
 

“You have to go without us.”

It was another three hours to town. We couldn’t continue.

Cam stepped closer. “Here. Let me carry Ian —”

I shook my head. “You need to go.”

I turned to Julian, a silent plea in my eyes. He crouched beside me, his gaze flickering over Ian’s form.

Ian murmured something, his head twisting back and forth on my lap. Sweat poured from his pores and the stench of his blood had grown overpowering.

Regret and resignation flashed across Julian’s face.
 

His gaze returned to me. “You sure?”

I didn’t trust myself to speak so I simply nodded.
 

He stood. “We’ll call for back-up from town.”

Cam frowned. “But —“

“Come on.” Julian clapped his back. “If we push, we can make it in two hours.”

He broke into a run. Cam cast a concerned glance at me.

“I’ll be fine,” I reassured him. “It’s faster this way.”

“Keep your blade close, Irisavie.”

I managed a weak smile. “Never leave home without it.”

He turned and easily caught up with Julian. They descended the slope, weaving through trees until their lonely figures disappeared behind a thick copse of trees.

I closed my eyes. It was just me and Ian again, friends beneath a spring sky.

Birds occasionally cried, their wings skittering along the wind twisting down the mountain slope.

And all the while, his excruciating pain hammered against my Virtue.
 

I concentrated on cutting off all external stimuli. No whispering woods, no earth crying up at me or moisture murmuring through clouds and air.

I needed to conserve my energy for what needed to be done.

A faint heat pulsed in my chest. I’d forgotten about that magic.

It was a thread of old power, a connection to something more than this body and time, beyond light or dark.

Heat expanded from the Elemental Brand, soaring free after days of imprisonment.

Everything you need to reach me is within you.

My mind focused on that dim silver shimmer in the far distance.
 

And with my last reserves of energy, I screamed.

It was the screams I’d suppressed as I dug up my mother’s grave, the cries in dreams that went nowhere, the howl of betrayal as my friend tortured me.

It was a shriek of everything I had been and everything I feared I’d never be again.

VALEIL!

Nothing.

And then a brief, fluttering sensation of wings against my chest.

I slumped against the trunk. He’d bring the gardinels here.

“K…Kendra.”

His voice trembled like a leaf stirred by the wind.
 

I pried my eyes open. “Nice to have you back, Ian.”

The continued slow, internal bleeding had given way to sepsis. His body was literally poisoning itself, his systems on the verge of shutting down.

He was in agony.

He was dying.

“It’s gone,” he whispered. “I can feel it’s gone.”

“Good.”

The shirt we’d wound around him was soaked crimson.

“I hurt you.” Wetness slipped from his eyes. “I’m sorry…”

“Shh. Just rest.” I wiped his cheeks clean.
 

“Hurts,” he murmured.

His pain shoved against the edges of my magic, agonizing and relentless.

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to make it better.

“I’m sorry,” I choked out, wishing I’d gotten to him faster.
 

Wishing we’d done another movie night. Wishing for another day, another hour.

“You…” A rattling breath. “You…know.”

I’d caught myself in another lie.

I did know what to do. I did know how to make it better.

But I couldn’t. I
couldn’t
.

“P…please.”

His life essence slipped through my magic. He wouldn’t last another hour. A horrifying hour as death slowly, painfully, claimed him.

I gently touched his jaw.

“Hey.” That light voice had to belong to a stranger. “Remember that time we didn’t go to the Spring formal?”

“Park…at night,” he murmured. “Beautiful moonlight.”

He was hurting so much.

“You thought you could beat me at poker and I completely kicked your ass.”

“You…” he wheezed, “such…stubborn shit. Ch…cheater, too.”

“You kicked my ass at chess, though.”

A faint smile ghosted over his mouth. His eyes momentarily brightened, shining jewels within his pale, gaunt face.
 

“Yeah…you…were…“

I slid my dagger between his ribs into his heart.

Air crackled.

A surge of volcanic energy, primal and brilliant, punched me.
 

My head jerked back, body went rigid.
 

Fiery threads of infinite colors whirled before my eyes. A deluge of rich power smashed through my core and Empath ignited in my veins, drawing in as much of the new current as it could.
 

Ian’s life essence hissed and snapped, entwining and amplifying my Virtue, searing a devastating path of melted bones and scalding blood until I no longer could tell where I ended and the world began.

There was only a pure force shining with the hues of simple games and moonlit parks, stale chips and bad movies, and the comfort of someone sitting with me.

Another blinding flash of white and the energy vanished with the same ferocious quickness with which it came.

There was nothing left but Silence.

Loud and eternal.
 

It swallowed me whole.

TWENTY-THREE

It took twenty hours to return to Haverleau.

I floated in a sea of snapshots.

Gabe sitting behind the wheel, glancing at me with furrowed brows.
 

Tristan waiting for us, his eyes horrified. Flying through pale skies back to Lyondale.

Jeeves debriefing us, face drawn with worry, his tie crooked and suit disheveled.

Driving through Haverleau’s open wrought-iron gates.

The cold steel of the Governing House’s private clinic.

“Kendra.” Daniel’s warm eyes met mine. “I have him.”

Only then did I step aside from his body.

Daniel carefully laid Ian on a bed, his movements respectful and careful, and covered the mess of his body with a crisp, white sheet.

He turned to me. “Let me look you over, too.”

The world snapped back into focus.
 

My bones ached. My knee throbbed as if someone had taken a hammer to it. I hadn’t showered yet and the filth and blood of what had happened to us in GrandView clung to every part of me.

I didn’t care. I’d gone to a place where pain became irrelevant.

The Shadow had inflicted this on Ian. On me.

There were things to be done.

I shook my head. “Later.”

“Kendra —“

I walked away, a familiar figure by my side.
 

“They’ve received debriefing reports and are in the Governor’s office,” Jeeves said quietly.

Voices drifted down the hallway. Worried, indignant, outraged.
 

I opened the door and strode in without knocking.

Patrice sat behind the mahogany desk, raven hair, striking eyes, and haughty expression suiting the office furnishings far more than I ever had.
 

Several Council members were also present. They took in my appearance with reactions ranging from shock to absolute horror.

Marquisa Blanchard wrinkled her nose “Good gracious, what in the world —“

“Ian MacAllister’s ashes will be scattered in the same location as Haverleau’s chevaliers.” My voice was brittle.

Patrice frowned. Her gaze flickered to Jeeves. He looked out the window.

Marquis Rosamund scoffed. “A nix? Ridiculous.”

Nanette spoke up. “After what Mr. MacAllister has done for us, I believe Ms. Irisavie’s proposal is fair.”

“Fair?” Marquisa Genevieve recoiled. “Have you forgotten what his father did?”

“His father was unwillingly turned Aquidae. If you want to punish Ian for his actions, then the same standards must apply to everyone in this room. If you are kidnapped and unwilling turned, your children should also lose all right and privileges within our community.”
 

That shut her up.

“Augustin?” Patrice asked quietly. “What do you think?”

“I believe Mr. MacAllister has earned a chevalier’s funeral.” Jeeves finally looked at her, his face blank. “He may not have technically held the title, but his actions were those of a soldier. He should be honored as one.”

“I agree,” a voice said.

Julian entered the office, clean-shaven, hair still slightly wet from the shower. Color had returned to his face and a Healer had removed all trace of his wounds.

The visible ones, at least.

Patrice stared at her son. Her lips trembled. “You’re back.”
 

“I have the right to authorize any exceptions. I posthumously appoint Ian Macallister an honorary chevalier. His ashes should be scattered with us.”
 

Marquisa Blanchard cleared her throat. “Patrice, you really cannot—“

“Do not presume to tell me what I can or cannot do,” Patrice said coldly. “And in this office you will address me as Governor, Marquisa Blanchard.”

An uncomfortable silence descended.

Patrice’s gaze flickered from her son to me. “Ian MacAllister will have a chevalier’s funeral.”
 

I swallowed my pride. “Thank you.”

“Now, the rest of you, please excuse us. I’d like to speak to Kendra alone.”

The Council members looked mutinous, but filed out of the office. Jeeves was the last to leave.

I settled into a chair. “I need to stay in Haverleau.”

“That wasn’t the terms of our agreement.”

“I know. But the Shadow has declared a ceasefire for the other communities.”

I quickly explained the conditions.
 

“Haverleau will likely be safe if I leave. But you risk every other community in the world.”

Patrice studied me for a long moment. “Do you wish to return to this office?”

“I have no desire for any seat of power in Haverleau, Marquisa. I just want to end this.”

This had always been about me and the Shadow. Even if I remained in Haverleau to protect the other communities, I still considered myself Rogue.

What I needed to accomplish had nothing to do with the Governing House or the Council.

If Patrice supported my efforts, great. If not, I’d find another way to get it done.

“The cottage in the gardens is as you left it,” she finally said.

I stood. “And the ondine training program?”

“Are you still pursuing that—“

“You know what happened in Merbais and Fontesceau.”
 

She rubbed her brow. “I have no plans of cutting off funding or closing down the program, Kendra. Although I do believe there are other problems you may need to address first.”

“Such as?”

“Ms. Rossay.” Patrice raised her brow. “Wasn’t she developing the weapons program for ondines with Mr. MacAllister?”

My stomach clenched. “Did you shut it down?”

She shuffled a few papers on her desk. “Not yet. Officially, I am not aware of any program. But I suggest you handle that before the law requires me to step in.”

She’d dismissed me.

I left and made my way through the maze of corridors down to the basement clinic.

People stared, their figures blurring into a faceless stream of colors.
 

After fourteen days in the Grandview Hotel, seeing the luxurious marble and ebony of the Governing House left me repulsed.

As Governor, I hadn’t been able to find power within these walls and I’d blamed myself for failing to live up to my grandmother’s legacy.

But maybe I couldn’t find it because it didn’t exist here at all.

A commotion came from the far wall of the clinic.

Beside a covered bed, Chloe and Daniel attempted to hold back Aubrey. The contours and lumps beneath the white sheet indicated who it was.