55. Rhyland

Rhyland

55

A nger fucking burns in my blood like a raging inferno that won't be tamed. I'm panting like a beast, the air heavy with the smell of burning wood and ozone. Those goddamn Shades, the bastards that touched her, they're demolished now, obliterated. My might, unleashed and wild, turned them into ash and wreckage scattered all over the foggy wooded ground.

Trees that are left from my rage stand like blackened sentinels, their trunks split and smoldering, their leaves reduced to ash. I barely recognize this place now—a grim canvas of my wrath. The ground is scorched earth where my telekinetic energy ripped through it, tearing at the roots and soil. And the sky above— a witness to my onslaught—crackles with the remnants of the lightning I somehow commanded.

Each blast nailed those Shade fuckers dead-on. Watching them disintegrate into nothing felt pretty damn good for a second, but now there's just a hole where victory should be.

I'm hollowed out, scoured clean by the intensity of the magic I apparently wield.

What the fuck did I just do? How did those deadly volts answer my call like eager hounds at my heels? I don't recognize myself anymore. My hands still tremble from the power that coursed through them.

What have I become?

Erikapproaches me, his steps measured but sure on the wrecked ground. He's an island of calm in the tempest inside me—a loyal brother extending a hand through the tumult.

"Rhyland," he states, his voice even and determined. "I've never seen anything like that," he continues, his hand gripping my shoulder—a grounding force. "Not even from you."

I peer at him through eyes hazed by rage and an emotion too close to hopelessness. His silver stare locks with mine, sharp and lucid, piercing through the mess in my head. "You need to get this shit under control. Whatever it is."

His words help deflate the storm within. He's right. I need to leash the magic—now wild and unfamiliar—before it damn near controls me completely. I force my fists to unclench and my frame to relax. The energy simmering under my skin slowly settles as I breathe deep and release the lingering vestiges of that deadly tempest.

"I don't get it," I grind out as the final lightning sparks fade into nothing. "The skies—it fucking obeyed me."

Erik's hand tightens on my shoulder, grounding me further as I struggle to rein in this strange new power. "Since when can I command the goddamn sky?" I ask, anger and confusion still churning inside me. The scent of ozone hangs heavy in the air, echoing the havoc I've wrought.

"We'll figure it out together," he assures me. "But right now, you need to focus on calming down."

His words hit me like a goddamn rope tossed into a raging storm. I grip it like my life depends on it, getting my shit together for Dani's sake—for all our damn sakes.

Lucian strides over with Axilya and Faderyn on his heels. Their faces are a picture of worry and befuddlement as they scan the chaos we're standing in.

"Where's Dani?" Faderyn demands, his voice sharp. The mere mention of her name ignites a fury in me, and it's all I've got to wrestle that anger down. My hands ball into fists, then relax, over and over, while my teeth are damn near grinding to dust, my jaw popping from the strain.

Axilya's pale green eyes sweep across the clearing, searching every inch for some hidden hint amidst the ruin. Lucian's quiet steeliness is tangible even as he observes the scene, those dark brown eyes cuttin' through the chaos like they're on the hunt.

Before I can pull my thoughts together to spill the ugly truth, Lucian's got his lips moving, ready to lay it all out. But hell, if I'm letting him drag it out—not when every goddamn tick of the clock without her is a slice of forever lost to the void.

"She's gone," I snap, shutting Lucian down mid-sentence. My voice is rough, but it grabs everyone by the throat. "Someone, some voice—they took her."

"Took her?" Lucian's voice is laced with pissed-off confusion. "Who the fu—"

I'm on him before he can even finish, "I don't fucking know," I bark back. "Some...thing snatched her away." I lay it all out, everything I saw and the shitshow that ended with Dani just disappearing into thin air.

Lucian pales and doesn't say anything—it's a wise move. He's got the sense not to prod the raging beast that I damn well am right now.

I can't tear my eyes away from where Dani had been sprawled lifeless in my arms just minutes ago. That patch of earth is forever marked, the grass still bearing the bloody imprint of her body.

My fists ball up tight, her blood's metallic tang still clinging to my skin—a goddamn monument to how I failed her. Rage and grief war it out inside me, a tempest with no limits or reason.

Axilya's voice pierces through the turmoil. "What did it look like when Danica was taken?" she asks, her tone sharp with urgency.

I lift my head, locking eyes with her. Even fucked up as I am, I can see that same terror staring back at me from those light green eyes of hers. "Some golden glow was all around her," I growl, my voice rough as hell. "It lifted her off the ground..." My words choke off, and I'm slammed again with that torturous memory.

"Azrael?" Erik asks, his silver eyes narrowed in thought.

I snap my head, dismissing that shit instantly. "No. This was way stronger than that damn serpent."

Azrael's all about his shadowy bullshit, his lies, and his tricks. But whatever snatched Dani, something else shone like a blazing sun, full of power and authority.

I turn back to lock onto Axilya's intense stare. "You've seen anything like this around? Some force in this place with that kind of serious muscle?"

She shakes her head slowly, her brow furrowed. "No. Nothing in this realm could manage such a feat."

"Perhaps something...or someone...from Atheria?" Lucian suggests quietly.

Atheria—that legendary heavenly place that's been blocked off from all the rest—Dani's true home.

I scoff at the idea, a hard, biting laugh escaping me. "They haven't stepped in before—why the hell would they step in now?"

Understanding dawns on Axilya's face. " Because of Danica , " she breathes. "She has the power to cross between realms. Whoever took her must have tapped into that ability while she was..."

Dead. That goddamn silent word weighs a ton in the air. Dani had taken her last fucking breath in my arms right before she vanished. Some force had to make its move in that brief moment, twisting her realm abilities without her say-so.

"Remember Seraphina, Dani's guardian angel? She's got that realm-hopping trick up her sleeve. She popped into our world to see Dani before," Lucian remarks, connecting the dots with a hint of intrigue threading his voice. "What if she pulled the same stunt again just now?" His suggestion hangs in the air, hinting at a celestial interference that could change the game.

The reality of it drapes over me, cold and suffocating. It makes perfect sense they'd come for her, their child, scooping her back home when she died.

Lucian raises an eyebrow, the playful edge in his voice replaced by genuine curiosity. "So what's the play here? What the hell does this mean for us?" He crosses his arms, waiting for an explanation to piece together the implications of the unfolding events.

While my mind's spinning, Faderyn cuts in, "My bet? It was to save her. She's the one the prophecies are all about—she can't..." He hesitates, giving me a look like he's weighing his words before he drops the one that's going to haunt me to my grave: "Die."

I gotta get my head straight—she's in Atheria, or so we're guessing.

What the hell does that mean for me stuck down here? Are they gonna haul her ass back or what? Are they gonna cling on to her?

Fuck this. No way I'm letting this shit slide. She's got a damn destiny, and it's with me, right by my side. They better send her back. But the clock's ticking—how fucking long do I have to hold out before I lose my mind? I've gotta keep my cool and stay sharp. No way in hell am I losingDanibecause I couldn't keep my head straight.

The fog creeps back, winding around our boots like it's slinking home after recoiling from my unleashed fury.

As if on cue, Erik's there, cutting through my internal crap with his trademark blade-sharp insight. "You have to tough this out, brother. We can't afford to lose you too," he says. He's got that unyielding, no-bullshit look in his steel gray eyes—the one that doesn't waver—doesn't doubt. "For now, we keep our heads down until Dani comes back. Without her, our hands are tied." His gaze locks on mine, steady and unwavering, "She will come back, brother."

That's the lifeline I gotta cling to, keep it buckled tight to my soul. But damn, if that hollow emptiness doesn't creep back in, that dark abyss that I can't shake off.

The Whisperlings start their crap again, buzzing in my skull. I push back, "We gotta move, find some higher ground."