Dawn of Ash (6 page)

I wanted to scream at the sound of her voice, at the way she looked at me, but the sound never came.

The sight melted away in an ember burn, leaving me standing in the middle of the hall, the low chatter of Ryland and his protégé still coming from somewhere behind me.

I stared ahead, my mind still trying to process what had happened, what I had seen. It had changed again, but this time, it hadn’t changed in the normal way. The sight was different. It was stronger.

More than the cloaked man, more than Edmund standing in the street, the way it moved was different. Like the first time Dramin had pulled me into sight, pulled me into the truth of my magic, it felt real.

Ilyan,
I called to him, needing his advice, needing his connection. Judging by the way his heart beat thundered inside of me, he had already seen. He already knew.
Did you see?

Come here, now.
He hadn’t needed to say it.

I was already running.

I moved at a dead run, my ribbon pulling against my sloppy bun as it trailed behind me in a bright line of color. I ran past the hordes of people who looked at me with a combination of horror and fear. However, my mind was still too trapped on that dark, blood covered street to even dwell on what was going through their minds.

I had one task—get to Ilyan.

Throwing up my shield, I ran past the thin, white line that covered the cobbles and through the barrier Ilyan and I had made to protect everyone inside.

The tension in my heart increased as the pressure of the barrier pushed against me like cellophane and a suction cup. It was hard to breathe, hard to think, but I didn’t stop. I kept moving, propelling my feet through the pressurized space and out into the open where fear and tension combined with the painful reality of what the world around us had become.

Within Ilyan’s barrier, the space still held shadows of the war we were stuck in, streaks of blood no one could remove, broken windows and shutters still waiting for repair. But it was clean, safe. Here, underneath the bright red glow of Edmund’s dome, trapped in the city he had designed to be a death sentence, the safety was gone.

Out here were silence and fresh streaks of blood. Out here were carcasses and remnants of life, burned out cars, and belongings scattered over bloodstained streets from when people had attempted to escape. Out here it was an active war.

With a tight knot forming in my gut, I took one look back to the cathedral. All signs of life were gone now, wiped out by the shield, leaving me looking at a cathedral and courtyard as broken down and devoid of life as the one I now stood in, exactly how it would look to Edmund’s men.

Can you show me again?

I knew what he was asking. I could hear his terror as he tried to play back over the sight, as his brain picked apart every change in a mad yet useless attempt to make sense of it.

I’m almost to you,
I said as I took off into the air, my wind and magic catching me as I jumped, propelling me forward and toward the heavy pull that Ilyan’s magic always gave me.

Be safe,
he whispered, his magic further filling me as he tracked my movements, as he traveled alongside me.

I welcomed it, pulling it into me, knowing I might need it.

It wasn’t safe out here.

Even with all the magic, there was no way to be safe. Our own men moved through the streets like ghosts, looking for survivors, for food, for any sign of Edmund’s guards as they patrolled the streets, groups of them attacking with no warning, even when shielded. The Vilỳs scoured for anything they could try to attack, like rabid dogs.

The faster I got to Ilyan, the better.

I let my magic carry me up toward the rooftops, the broken shingles and collapsing spaces stretching before me like some kind of deranged, rotting garden.

Speeding up, I kicked off the corner of an old wrought iron balcony, the ancient structure groaning and shaking underneath the pressure. I had already moved away from it when the sound of metal against stone reverberated through the crippling silence. The balcony crumbled to the ground, landing against a street cart, and the old, food vendor’s stand collapsed under the pressure.

Grinding, heaving, explosive sounds boomed through the dilapidated city, growing louder as bricks and wood continued to collapse.

What was that?
He was panicked, and so was I. With the sound of the crash, my heart had sped up, everything tensing in a violent agony. After all, if he had heard it, then so had any other living thing within a twenty-mile perimeter.

Great.

I’m fine.

I had done that a million times before, but this time, when everything was already tense and frightening, it had decided to collapse in the loudest racket possible, guiding everyone and their dog right to me.

Don’t even start,
I growled, talking more to myself than to him.

I wasn’t going to. Just get here.

Right. That was going to be harder than I had expected.

I could already see the black specks of the Vilỳs zooming through the streets below me, heading right to the noise, toward the now crumbled remains of seventeenth century architecture.

I should be happy that, at least for the time being, it had pulled their focus. I wasn’t an idiot, however. It wouldn’t last. I had learned the Vilỳs could track magic like nobody’s business. It was why I was so good at it, it seemed. Why all the Chosen were.

Minutes.

I had minutes.

Ilyan was right; I needed to hurry.

I could feel his magic ahead. I could feel his tension, his anxiety. I could feel his fear right alongside mine.

But I could also hear the Vilỳs behind me.

They are coming,
I hissed into his mind, my agitation pulling through each syllable while I tried in vain to move faster, knowing it was impossible. I had tried to outrun them before and failed.

Today would be no different.

I could attempt to defeat them, yes. But I already knew there were too many. I could feel each speck of their power as they streamed behind. I could feel their anger, feel their determination to destroy me.

My only chance for everyone was to lose them.

Ilyan!
I shouted, although I didn’t need to.

I am coming
. A small, black shape appeared between the buildings before me. The form of a man moved closer as he sped toward me, hair and délka vedení královsk swirling around him like the tail of a kite.

I watched him, my heart pounding, as he ran closer, his face coming into focus, his eyes madly searching for me, searching for what was coming.

Can you see me?
I asked, panicked. I could see through his shield—I had always been able to—but Ilyan couldn’t. That was one ability Ilyan didn’t have a prayer in.

No,
he responded, and my heart dropped.
I can feel you.

Just as he was about to collide with me, his arms opened wide, wrapping around me in an iron cage of comfort and security. I had barely felt him against me before he changed direction, his magic carrying us up like a shot, soaring high into the air, above the buildings, above the Vilỳs who continued forward blindly, for the moment, anyway.

“Ilyan,” I whispered into the hollow of his neck, the tension building as I watched the creatures stop, their bodies jittering around in a manic need to find the trail again.

“It’s all right, my love,” he growled in deep Czech, the sound lighting me on fire, even through the panic. “Just wait.”

I wrapped my arms around him as we hovered high in the blanketed sky, the planes from this morning still patrolling the perimeter in a slow circle like vultures waiting for the flesh to rot.

Ilyan’s arms were a sweet pressure against my spine as his lips pressed against the crown of my head, a calm wave washing through me. I didn’t understand how he could be so calm with those monsters seconds away from finding us, but he laughed right as a building several blocks away from where the Vilỳs had congregated collapsed.

The sound was louder than the small balcony mishap, as loud as the bombs that banged against the sky every day. It echoed around us, trapped inside the dome as it called the Vilỳs to it.

As one, they turned, flying toward it in a mad attempt to find a new victim, all thoughts of us forgotten.

“What did you do?” I asked as I turned toward him, my head craning to see him.

His hand left my back to gently push the wild strands of my hair out of my face, a mischievous smile spreading wide at the question, his magic gently setting us down on the roof of one of the many buildings of the city.

“Don’t worry; it’s not the first building I’ve torn down today.” His voice was gruff as his eyes danced.

“What?”

“It was coming down, anyway,” he clarified, as if that made it all better.

His wind swirled around us as it left, the two, long, golden ribbons of our royalty tangling around each other, clinging together as if they belonged that way.

As if they could not stay away from each other.

They couldn’t, just as we couldn’t.

We didn’t want to.

“Are you okay?” His voice was gruff and deep as he took my hand, our magic joining together, the burn on his skin against mine a comfortable warmth that moved into me as if it were a living thing.

Passion wrapped around me with heavy arms of love and commitment that made my knees shake. I drowned in the pleasant weight of the connection, of the adoration. The emotion spread as he moved closer, his arm snaking around my wrist and pulling me against him until all I could feel was him against me, the rest of the world forgotten.

“Ilyan,” I whispered, the tension of the last few minutes melting into nothing.

“Můj navždy.” His voice was rough and deep, his arms pressing me into him in perfect form, stomach against hips and shoulder against chest.

I fit against him in flawless harmony as he held me, looking down at me with a blazing light in his eyes, even stronger than the love he had gifted me with. It was strong, the promise of love and forever, of commitment that ignited something deep within me. It was a steady flame that grew, pressing against our already intertwined magic and exploding into tiny pinpricks of light, dancing blessings of the earth’s energy that ignited and swelled and sparked as the strength of our magic energized them.

The connection we shared transcended everything, which was probably why I was having trouble focusing on anything other than kissing him right then.

“Ilyan,” I repeated his name on a groan that was bred in passion, a plea of further contact I knew he couldn’t ignore.

He wanted it, too.

His lip twitched in response, mercilessly too close to mine, his breath hot against the tender skin of my lips.

I watched the smile in his eyes, watched the twitch in his lips before they pressed against mine, before his magic swelled within me and the lights around us grew. Colors popped in a kaleidoscope of light.

Ilyan
. I tried to get his attention, tried to pull away, but the effort was half-hearted, just as the silent plea inside his mind was.

“I missed you,” he whispered against my skin as he kissed my neck, his body pulling away from mine as his eyes caught fire. His hand was warm as it held me against him. “I was worried.”

“I can’t blame you for that,” I gasped, the lack of oxygen making it hard to think, or talk, for that matter. “I worry about myself sometimes.”

His smile faded into a low frown as he looked at me, his hand soft as the tips of his fingers traced over my face. “What happened?”

He asked the question despite knowing, despite the fact that he could pull the information right out of my head. I straightened, grateful for his comforting contact.

“I saw the wall fall,” I whispered.

“In sight?”

“I couldn’t tell that at the time.”

His body tensed against mine, his arms pressing me into him in perfect form, as the deep buzzing of his thoughts moved against me.

“So they are getting worse?”

I didn’t want to justify his question with an answer. Besides, seeing the wall fall and my subsequent breakdown was the least of our problems right then.

And he knew it.

What about the girl?
I didn’t want to say it out loud. I could still see her face in my mind. I could still see the white and red of her skin. I could still see her eyes, so dark and sad they took my breath away.

“Show me again.” His voice was much harder than I had expected it to be, the heavy tension ripping through me, and I fought the need to step away.

I probably would have if his arms hadn’t formed a cage around me.

Exhaling heavily, I placed his hand against my mark, gasping as the strength of his magic rippled through me, my knees shaking with the weight of his love.

I wanted to bask in the emotion, but I couldn’t, because I knew what was coming. I knew what I was about to see.

And I knew there was no way around it.

Moments after his hand made contact with my mark, the recall flared, bright and warm inside of me like a flame. The same scene played before us: the cloaked figure running, my vision following.