Imdalind 01 - Kiss of Fire

controlled pushed against us in the opposite direction, dragging us back down to the destroyed floor below.
    Ryland’s arms went limp and I tumbled out of them, heading down toward the ground, fast. My fear of falling only lasted a moment before Ilyan’s wind grabbed me and pulled me, sending me soaring across the room, straight into his arms.
    “It’s time to go,” he hissed in my ear.
    I turned from Ilyan, searching for Ryland. He stood across the room from us, his body tall and still as he looked intently in our direction, his eyes back to the colorless cast. He didn’t move; he didn’t flinch; he stayed still, just as his father commanded him to do.
    Edmund’s hand was placed on Ryland’s shoulder, the fingers curved aggressively as they dug into Ryland’s skin. Edmund seemed to taunt us from across the room, his stance just willing us to come and attack him. I knew we would lose if we tried, but I did not want to accept it.
    “Ryland!”
    “We can’t take him, Silnỳ,” Ilyan said. He wrapped his arms around me as he pulled me away from them.
    “No!” I yelled out in a panic, reaching for Ryland.
    “I can’t get him away from Edmund and get you out of here safely, Joclyn. You are my number one priority now. We have to go.” Ilyan grabbed me tightly around the waist, and jumped us back. Edmund had just released Ryland’s shoulder and Ryland was now advancing toward us surprisingly fast.
    “No! I can do it! I can save him!” I don’t know what made me say that, I knew I couldn’t. My heart beat wildly as I fought against Ilyan’s arm; my body, my heart, desperate to get back to Ryland.
    “I can do it! Let me go!” Ilyan held me tighter as I fought against him, my hands clawing uselessly at his strong arm. Ryland kept advancing as Ilyan restrained me, the members of the guard surrounding us again in an attempt to escape together.
    “Ryland. Ryland!” I screamed until my voice broke, my mouth filling with the taste of blood. “Let me go! Ryland!”
    Ilyan tightened his grip and I felt us take off into the air, the wind blowing against my skin as Ilyan took me away from the one person I wanted, the one person I needed.
    “Ryland.” I continued to fight, not caring if I fell. I needed him. I fought Ilyan, calling Ryland’s name in a desperate hope that he would change back, that he would see me and follow me. Our eyes locked as Ilyan flew me through a wide hole in the roof, the night sky swallowing us up and taking me away from him. But now, I knew it was too late. His eyes faded to blue just as we passed beyond the roof of the building, but Ryland only looked at me in confusion, no trace of recognition on his face.
    No matter if I came back, no matter how hard I would try, it was too late now. Edmund had erased every part of him.

    Thirty-Three

    I watched the fire that had embraced the building; I watched the purple and green flames lick the roof and reach their slinky arms up to the sky. I saw the red and blue flashing lights of the emergency vehicles that surrounded the mansion, the hordes of people who came, either to watch or to huddle around the ambulances in panic. I watched as the bodies became indiscriminate specks and the flames became tiny orbs of colored light. I watched as the building became nothing more than a colorless speck in the midst of the city lights. I watched as it all disappeared into the blackness of a starless, moonless, hopeless night.
    And through it all, I cried; my heart calling to Ryland as he disappeared from my life forever. I clung to Ilyan as my chest was wracked with sobs, my breathing ragged and broken. I drenched his shirt with my tears and any other gross secretions that joined my broken heart. He didn’t seem to care.
    Ilyan held me close to him as he flew us through the air, his arms holding me securely. In the back of my mind, I knew that he was singing to me. I could feel the rumble of his chest; hear his deep comforting voice in my ear. But I didn’t know what was being said; I didn’t understand what the words meant.
    “ Hush nyní dítě . Být stále , být v klidu .Svět se změní v novém úsvitu . A když se to stane , budete vidět , jak ty a já chtěl být .“ He sang it to me slowly, over and over.
    My tears slowed, but the pain didn’t go away. I had lost everything. My father had left me, only to disappear shortly after renewing contact. My beautiful mother had been murdered, a casualty of the war I had been thrust into.