Chapter 29

Azran

Ela’s hold loosens under my palm and her rage radiates through the bond as darkness threatens.

I tighten my grip instantly, digging my nails into her hand to keep her still.

Her eyes snap to mine and I shake my head almost imperceptibly as the torches are extinguished.

Calen’s words echo in my mind, but I remain focused on Ela to keep her rage at bay as the King leaves with his son and newfound ally, my brother. His name is forever tarnished, tainted, and rendered meaningless.

Alone once more, Ela’s fury explodes down the bond, relegating my heartbreak to a distant memory.

“Fucking bastard.”

I pull her to me through the bars, trying to keep her calm by brushing my fingers along her palm. There is no point in overexerting herself. She’s barely able to crawl as it is.

She snaps, pulling her arm free. “How can you do and say nothing?” Her whole body shakes with rage as the words leave her cracked lips. “Your own family betrays you and you don’t lift a finger?”

A snarl tears from my throat as her words pierce my heart like arrows, their poison seeping into my veins. Her eyes shine in response, relieved to find the monster inside me fighting to be unleashed.

I screw my eyes closed, willing my mind to stay in control.

“We need a plan, Ela,” I whisper through gritted teeth.

“You heard him. We’re out of time.” She bares her teeth at me. “If it were anyone else, you’d be trying to snap these bars in two. You’ve lost your edge.”

Acid runs through my veins once more and I can barely contain the bloodlust rushing through me. Her words have always hurt the most.

“When we’re out of here, he’ll get what’s coming to him.” I grip the bars separating our cells until my knuckles whiten. “I swear it.”

Her hands wrap over my fingers as Ela brings her face an inch from mine.

“Fuck your empty promises.”

We spend the next hour in eerie silence, Ela keeping her distance from my cell and leaving her words echoing in my head. Her ragged breaths reach my ears but I can’t make out her face in the darkness, only the mass of her body curled on the stones.

I instinctively reach for her through my cage when footsteps sound. The dungeon door creaks open, but she doesn’t move.

The faint light of a torch fills the dark space, revealing Calen. Wincing at the aggression, a growl tears from my throat.

“Enjoy the rest of your miserable life in here, brother.”

Blinded by the light, I can barely make out his features, but that doesn’t stop me from crashing against the cell bars with a roar.

“You piece of—”

The guard’s baton collides with my face.

“Shut your mouth, dog.”

Calen’s laughter sings in the air as pain flares in my cheek and blood drips from my nose into my mouth.

By the time I can open my eyes again, he’s gone.

Glancing towards Ela’s cell, I wait for another poisonous attack to leave her mouth, but she pulls herself to her knees instead, her fingers digging into the stone.

“If we’re going to die here, I won’t go without a fight.”

Her whisper is charged with simmering rage, twisting her voice into a darker one I barely recognize.

“Ela. Don’t.” I reach for her ankle, but my fingers only grasp at the stale air.

“Save your energy,” I snap.

Her dark laugh resounds, confirming she’s not herself anymore. In fact, she never has been, here. Maybe madness finally took her like it threatened to take me. She hasn’t undergone what I have in this life. Maybe her mind didn’t make it out of Airdan’s torture chamber.

She’s been going in and out of consciousness for days, barely able to utter a coherent sentence, and Calen’s visits might have just tipped her over the edge.

I follow her from my cell as she grips the metal door of her cage.

“Ela.”

Her head tilts back, her long hair falling over her scar-covered back. My eyes dart around the room in search for something to stop her as my rage awakens with hers, mixing with panic. Her pain erupts down the bond before she retreats into her darkness.

I’m losing her. She’s inches away and yet slipping through my fingers.

“Ela.” I clench my teeth, trying to keep my voice from trembling. “Listen to me.”

She doesn’t move, her hands still locked onto the metal railing. Energy emanates from her, dark spirals twirling in and out of her weak body.

Unintelligible whispers fill the air, and it takes me a moment to identify the source as Ela.

I call her name, over and over, in the hopes I will bring her back from the edge before she overexerts herself and dies in front of my eyes.

“I can’t lose you, Ela. Stop this.”

She feels dead through the bond. Life has left her soul, leaving only darkness and death.

The whispering of her name turns to shouting when her body starts shaking uncontrollably, but she doesn’t relent.

I’ve never hated her stubbornness more than I do in this moment. It will be her doom and mine, for I can’t live in a world she’s not part of. I won’t.

“Ela!”

Footsteps echo down the corridor and guards rush in, alarmed by the sound of my screams.

Relief takes me when the two soldiers walk in, their hands on their swords. They’ll be able to stop her. They have to.

They light the torches again, providing enough light for me to gaze upon the love of my life burning herself out. Ela’s eyes are rolled back in their sockets, her body shaken by tremors.

“Help her.” I grip the bars until my finger protest the pain, but I don’t let go. “Please.”

“I told you to shut your mouth.” The one with rings up his nose barks at me, aiming the tip of his sword at my face.

I’m about to snarl back when a hissing sound stops me. Faint light is streaming from Ela’s palms.

“What is she doing?” Pierced-nose advances on Ela’s cage.

“She can’t do anything. These walls are warded against her,” the other answers, although he unsheathes his sword, too.

The metal bars turn orange under Ela’s touch, and my eyes widen.

“Over here, bastards. It’s me you want.” I slam on the metal in an attempt to divert their attention.

Their gazes dart towards me as the bars of Ela’s cell sizzle and melt under her fingers. A moment later, she launches at the guards with a growl.

Her hands land on their throats, burning through the flesh and boiling their blood. Their screams are swallowed by fire and their souls leave their body as they collapse to the floor in a symphony of awful gargles.

I remain frozen in place, hypnotized by the fire dancing in Ela’s palms as she turns to me, her eyes dark raging globes in the night.

She moves before I do, quickly working through the bars of my cell.

When a molten pile of lava pools on the ground in front of me, she storms through the corridor.

Energy rushes through my blood like acid as I pull myself up and stumble from the cage, following her.

Still unsettled, I do my best to catch up, trying to keep my breathing regular and my stance steady.

I crash against a stone wall, barely able to stay upright as her shadow disappears behind a corner.

I’m losing her, but calling out her name is out of the question. We can’t risk more guards heading down here.

I instill strength in my legs, pouring every last bit of power I have left into them as I blink rapidly.

I catch up with her in a stairway and lunge at her, pushing her against the wall and forcing her to stop.

“Follow me,” I command.

Her dark eyes scan my face and her head tilts as the words register.

“No more fighting,” I say. “We’re getting out of here as fast as we can.”

She’s about to argue, but I silence her with a stare. Neither of us knows how long she can go on like this, and I’m certainly running on fumes.

I make my way up, glancing behind me every now and then to make sure she’s keeping up.

Shouts assault my ears the moment we hit the ground floor. We freeze long enough to exchange a glance and I break into a run, making for the kitchens.

Her footsteps hit the ground not far behind and that’s all I can focus on. She’s still running. She’s still breathing.

“Bring them to me. Dead or alive.”

Airdan’s raged-filled voice tones in the air, like it’s coming from all around us. I scan the corridor ahead and keep running.

“If I can’t have you, then no one will, Elanor.”

His voice echoes at full force as my eyes dart frantically. Whatever devilish magic he’s uncovered throughout his wretched existence is following us, entrapping us within the walls of his home.

We turn a corner and run into a small squadron.

Darkness instantly flares down the bond and fire flows on my right. The first two guards burn alive before they can release a breath, and my fist lands on a third, crushing a skull.

Ela is unleashed, burning through limbs and flesh while I hammer down my fists and smash noses and windpipes.

Moments later, I barge into the kitchens with adrenaline pulsing through my veins.

Servants scream as they flee before us and we make for the back door.

I hit the door shoulder first, smashing through the wooden panel.

The cold night air brushes my face and Ela runs past me into the streets of the capital.

My lungs are on fire, I’m seeing stars, and my legs are threatening to collapse under my weight.

I have no idea how long we’ve been running. It feels like hours. All I know is, we’re heading to the lower levels of Nyths and they’re still chasing us. Airdan will not relent, the whole city is waking up, and torches brighten our trail as doors swing open behind us.

Boots hit the paved ground, haunting our steps, and echoing at every corner.

Ela’s power has vanished from the bond and she’s fallen behind me. With each second, her ragged breath grows louder.

I stumble down a narrow street, exhaling loudly through my nose. Hope is slowly leaving me, and the same disillusion is taking Ela’s heart.

A faint light catches the corner of my eye down the alley.

With no time to second-guess myself, I crush myself against the wall and squeeze into a narrow passageway. Leaning against the wall, I grab Ela by the waist and pull her after me.

She collapses in my arms, struggling to suck in breath.

I scan the back alley we’re in for an exit or a hideout, but come up empty. Footsteps are closing in around us.

“Ela.” She lifts her head, revealing her crazed eyes circled in deep purple. “Your shadows.”

I hate myself for asking this of her after she’s given this attempt her all.

She screws her eyes shut, not hesitating for a second, and darkness floods the bond.

I pull her tightly to me, holding her up against me, willing every bit of strength left in my body to hers.

The footsteps slow to a halt.

Scanning the other end of the street, my eyes widen at the sight of guards whose heads are turned towards us.

I hold my breath, keeping as still as I can. If Airdan’s wards are as powerful as he says, there’s nowhere we can hide, and his soldiers can see right through the shadows.

I count the seconds, waiting for them to draw their swords and storm the street, until finally a reprieve comes.

“Keep moving.” A bearded Fae points in another direction. “Let’s go.”

Relief floods my veins as Ela rests her head on my chest.

My stomach drops when I can’t feel her heartbeat. Shaking her in my arms, I’m about to call her name when she looks up.

Darkness recedes and her hazel eyes meet mine. Her face bears the marks of her stay at the palace, and I can’t look any longer.

“We need to move,” I whisper.

Dragging her behind me, I move down the narrow passage, making for the other end.

I glimpse beyond the corner, only to find the street crawling with guards carrying torches. Backing away, I lean against the building, racking my brain for a way out of this madness.

Hair rises on my arm when Ela’s weight on my back disappears, and I turn.

Ela’s gone. She was here seconds ago, right behind me.

A gust of warm wind blows against my back as a pair of arms wraps around my middle and pulls.