“Let her go.” Ryland’s powerful voice filled the air as he landed roughly on the balcony beside us. He leaned against a large pillar, his body obviously weakened as he continued to fight his father’s invasion of his mind. His body twitched uncomfortably, but his eyes were back to a bright shade of blue.
“Really?” Cail mocked, the heat continuing to move and grow inside of me. “You think you have enough energy to fight me?”
“I don’t...” Ryland panted, “but she does.”
The ball of fire within me grew to a tumult as my energy drained away, filtering out of my body. I could feel my magic move into Ryland, the power increasing as our magics intertwined with one another, growing stronger with their union. My magic drained as Ryland shot a ball of intense golden light toward Cail. The impact sent him flying, his body tumbling off the balcony into the fight below. Ryland collapsed to the floor, his body twitching as he sank.
With no wind to hold me up, I fell roughly to the ground as well, the heat from Cail leaving a terrible pain in my stomach. I crawled to Ryland, placing my arms around his neck when I reached him. He twitched again, and I forced his face up to look at me, thankful for his beautiful blue eyes.
“How did you do that?” I panted, the pain still lingering in my belly.
“I can do anything with you.” He tried to smile, but it was only a grimace.
Ryland reached forward and placed his hand on the skin of my stomach exactly where Cail’s hand had lain. I felt my magic swell and grow as Ryland pulled it toward him, stopping it right before it left me to join him. The warmth stayed there and took the pain away almost instantly.
“How...?”
“Anything... with... you...” He twitched again, his whole body was shaking, but he refused to take his eyes off me.
I reached my hand forward; he grabbed it, pressing my fingertips to his lips.
“Love... you… always…” His shaking became uncontrollable as his eye color began to fade. I watched in agony as Edmund took over.
“No!” I clutched his hands desperately. “Don’t leave me!”
“Always.” His voice was broken and wispy in my ear as he pulled my hand against the side of his face. He pressed my fingers roughly to him, his grip tightening in his fear of losing me.
“No!”
Before the change could complete, the balcony shifted and collapsed. I held tightly to Ryland’s hand as we were thrown over the edge, our bodies tumbling toward the fire-filled conflict that raged below. I swept wind to us, hoping the weak energy would catch us before we landed hard against the floor; instead, the wind flung us into a heap in the corner.
My body was entangled with Ryland’s as we collided with the wall, but I wasn’t there for long before Ryland grabbed me and shot me away from him in a surge of wind and energy. My body slammed into another wall, and I felt my back pop. There was no agony with it, so I stood, thankful that it had not broken again. I steadied myself just as Ryland landed in front of me, a wave of energy slamming into my stomach. I felt no pain; only pressure as the energy surge pushed me back, trapping me in place.
“Hello again, little pet,” Ryland sneered as he walked toward me, his black eyes shimmering wickedly as he laughed. I cringed away from his advance, but my body was restrained again by his magic.
“Not going to try to attack me with your weak magic?” Ryland was right in front of me now. He leaned intimately close to me, one hand resting on the wall beside my head. I could feel his breath against my face; feel his hip as he pushed it against me. He smiled wickedly, and I felt the bile rise dangerously in my throat.
“That’s okay; I have another idea.” His voice was a sickening purr.
His hand moved into my line of vision, his fingers twiddling together, small sparks flashing from the surge in his magic. The sparks he produced continued to grow as his fingers rubbed together wildly. In only a moment, a small dagger appeared in his hand, the small silver blade glinting wickedly in the magical light that flashed and pulsed around us.
“You love this body, don’t you, little girl?” He smiled wickedly. I couldn’t look away from the dagger that spun between his fingers. “You love the way it looks, the way it makes you feel.” He pushed his hip further into me; I gasped in pain at the pressure.
“Well, this body, it loves you, too.”
The dagger stopped spinning and my eyes flew to his with a glimmer of hope. It was pointless.
“But I don’t,” he said.
I didn’t even see the movement; I was too consumed with looking at his face. One minute there was no pain, and the next, the pain had moved beyond me. I screamed as the tiny dagger began to dig its way into the skin that covered my heart. I felt the warmth of my own blood drizzling down my chest as the dagger slowly worked its way into my chest, deeper and deeper, toward my beating heart.
“That doesn’t hurt, does it?” Ryland’s voice was so joyous; he enjoyed watching my agony as he tortured me.
“Ryland!” I screamed his name, my voice finding form as the pain grew. “Fight him, Ryland!” The evil imposter who restrained me only laughed as he dug the knife deeper into my skin.