I heard movement, but I wasn’t sure where it came from or if it was just the sounds I made as I fought against the hands of the men who continued to push me forward.
“Bring them out!” Cail yelled, and our pace increased, the men trudging through the forest until they pulled me beyond the tree line and into a large clearing where Cail had Joclyn restrained against him. I looked at her as I fought against the men, my fight all but gone as my weak body began to give out from the strain.
Joclyn caught my eyes, her silver eyes staring into mine for only a moment before moving away to the others around me. My eyes followed hers as I looked toward Ryland and Sain to my right. Their bruises were back, and Sain’s hair had returned to its wild tangles of neglect. Wherever we were before, this was different. I turned away from the two men to look at the groaning form to my left.
Talon.
My heart beat wildly at seeing him there, my urge to fight picking up for just a moment before the fingers around my arms restrained me. A hiss in my ear was the only warning I needed. I slowed my fight. I repeated to myself the words Sain had said only a moment ago. It was only a dream.
But if I was here, and I was aware…then shouldn’t Talon be aware too?
I struggled, but my plight stopped when a swift hand exploded against my cheek. I sank down to the ground, my voice a whimper as I cried into the dirt.
“Four,” Cail’s voice brought me back to what was happening, his icy voice stinging through me. I forced myself off the ground to face Joclyn. I did not want her to see me like this. “We hold in our possession two of your friends, your lover, and even your father.”
Her father? Jeffery? The man who had disappeared, who cued Ilyan in to her existence? I looked to where Joclyn so intently placed her focus. Her father. Sain was her father. But Sain was a Drak. He was also supposed to be dead. I gaped as I struggled against the hands, my movements weak as my mind tried to wrap itself around this new information. I looked between Joclyn and Sain, my eyes widening at the way their eyes met, and I knew it was true.
Suddenly the blood magic made sense. They had used Sain and Ryland’s blood to infiltrate Joclyn’s mind. It was why this ‘dream’ seemed so real. My soul was here, trapped here with blood magic. Everything was really happening.
“And who do you have? A protector? Someone who hasn’t even told you the truth yet.”
Joclyn tried to pull away from Cail the same way I tried to pull away from whoever held me, but it was no use. We were all held in place as Cail played whatever game he had carefully prepared.
“Let them go,” she hissed, her silver eyes narrowing dangerously.
“Why?” Cail snarled, his lips moving right against the soft skin of her neck, gently, like a lover. He pulled her against him, and she hissed between her teeth. Cail didn’t even seem to notice her reaction, his lips curling dangerously as he whispered something to her. Joclyn cringed away from him before Cail tightened his arm against her again. “We have the upper hand. We. Are. Winning. And you, you don’t even know what’s going on.”
Joclyn snarled as she fought against him. I wanted to cheer her on. She was so different from the friend I had left crying on the floor of the forest. Her demeanor was different, and her confidence strong enough to stand up to Cail. I wanted to yell at her to kill him, to attack, to fight, to change the game. She was strong enough to do so; I could see it in her eyes. If this actually was her dream, then she had full control over it. But she just stood there, letting Cail taunt her. Why wasn’t she fighting? I refused to believe that she did not know what was going on. I could see the strength in her eyes, the power that she held. She could do anything. I struggled against the man that held me, knowing it was useless, but desperate to try something nonetheless.
“Now, now, don’t go anywhere yet.” Cail’s voice broke through the forest like the hiss of a snake. “We still haven’t gotten to our game! You see, we have four people in front of us, and you can pick one. One, that you will not have to watch die right now. The others we will kill before you. You will not have to see the last die, but here is the clincher, whoever you choose will have to watch you die before we will release them from this nightmare and let them wake up.”
Kill? Die? This was a dream? Wasn’t it? They couldn’t kill us. They needed us. Bargaining chips, just as Sain had said. I looked toward Sain in a panic, desperate for answers, but he was focused on Joclyn, his body still as he studied her. “Who do you choose, Joclyn? Who do you want to watch you die?”
I fought harder as Joclyn looked between us, barely registering when her eyes met mine. If I had been on my own, I would have pleaded with her for answers, but my only goal now was to reach Talon. I didn’t care if this was a dream. I didn’t care that the deaths we were enacting were fabricated. I needed to be with Talon. I needed to feel the touch of his skin against mine.