“Sad. I don’t think he can hear you.”
“Ryland! It’s me. It’s Joclyn. Snap out of it, please!”
He only laughed with increased malice. I screamed again, feeling the blood pool around the waistline of my tight pants.
“Ryland!” I panted between screams, calling to him, desperate for him to make a connection. “Remember the tree… the old guard… at the hospital… Remember when we… ran away…” I screamed and panicked as the pain increased. He only laughed as he looked at me through the depthless pit of his black eyes.
“Remember when you kissed me…” I tried one last time before my voice broke; my mind too dizzy and confused to focus properly. My head slumped down; I focused on my own heartbeat, hoping that Ilyan would find me, that someone would see me, before it was too late.
“Joclyn.”
My head rose slowly to see him—Ryland, blue eyes and all—looking at me. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything; I just looked at him. His eyes looked me over, stopping in a panic when he saw the dagger that still remained in my chest, his hand and my skin covered with wet, sticky blood.
“Oh, God, what have I done?” he asked as he released his magical hold on me and I fell into his arms. He held onto me tightly as his magic surged into me; I felt the warmth fill me all over as the dizziness retreated and the flow of my blood seemed to stop. I looked up at him carefully, the obvious request lining my face.
“We have to get out of here,” he whispered, not waiting for me to respond before he exploded into the air, my body still pressed tightly against his.
We didn’t even make it past the hole in the ceiling before the entire process was reversed. A gust of wind I knew neither of us 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, 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, Siln?,” 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.
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.
ThirtyThree