Page 127 of Rising Out of the Darkness
Exhaustion buckled my knees, but Nayla held me upright. “Let’s get back to the castle. I feel like I have enough to carry us all back.”
We took our time, stopping in the shadows every so often to catch our breaths. Clara still had some dynamis left in her well and used it during our breaks to heal us. It wasn’t enough to heal fully, but it was enough to give us the strength we needed to make it back towards the castle.
For safety, Nayla zephyred us all the way back to my room. They’d both stay here until they were fully recovered, then head back to their rooms in the early hours of the morning.
“Nayla, do you think anyone will discover what we did tonight?” I mumbled, fidgeting with my blankets.
“I’ll do everything in my power to bury any evidence of it being us. The villagers won’t give us away. My only fear is, if it leads back to them, I wouldn’t put it past Alaric and Alastor to torture the answers out of them.”
Clara’s head fell into her hands as her shoulders shook.
I rose from my seat and knelt beside her on the plush rug. As I rubbed her back in soothing circles, Nayla shifted on the couch to do the same.
“You saved lives today, Clara. It was a risk worth taking. One I would take every single day.”
She nodded in her hands, but muffled cries rumbled through her fingertips. “What if I saved them, only to sentence them to death?”
The ache in my heart broke wide and I pulled her into my arms. Nayla wrapped her arms around us.
“Clara, I promise to do everything in my power to keep them safe.”
Chapter 49
Elena
The clash of metal against metal filled the morning air as I made my way toward the ring. Liam and Killian were already sparring. I gave them a quick wave to alert them of my presence as I headed for the practice swords.
It had been two days since our escapade outside of the walls. Nayla had been doing her best to bury any mention of it, and so far, we had gone unnoticed.
Gravel crunched behind me, and I inwardly cringed. Will had been joining in my sword training since he arrived at the castle.
Every moment of conversation between the two of us had been filled with all his plans for us in the City of Ash, all the luxuries he’d shower me with, and all the protection he would give me. He talked as if it was a haven. All I saw was a gilded cage.
No matter how long he had watched me train, he still treated me like a frail being who needed to be protected instead of the Light Phoenix that I had become. Declan and the others had always encouraged me to find ways to do things for myself, empowered me to discover my own worth.
His shoulder bumped mine as he sat next to me. “What do you think?” He pointed to his sword, the pommel encrusted with tiny emeralds.
I scrunched my nose. “It’s a bit pretentious for practice, don’t you think?”
He simply waved me off, saying something about women not understanding the beauty of a well-made sword.
The lure of luxury had taken hold of him. Each day he was dressed head to toe in fine linen, every outfit covered in gold trim.
“Freckles, did you hear me?” Killian’s chuckles broke me out of my thoughts, and I thanked the gods for the reprieve. “Get your ass in the ring, let’s practice.”
I selected a sword from the bin, then made my way into the ring. Even with all the training with my father, the weight of the sword was still something that I struggled with.
I practiced a few movements while I waited for Liam and Killian to finish their sparring. Each swipe still felt slow and sluggish, and after only a few moves I could already feel an ache blooming in my arm.
“You’re getting better, little lady.” Liam circled around me to meet my gaze.
Shoving the sword down into the dirt, I folded my arms over my chest. “Stop trying to inflate my ego. Even all five gods can see that I’m not getting any better at this.”
With a roll of his eyes, Liam tilted his head towards the training ring. I trotted after him.
Killian dipped his head upon my approach. “You alright?”
“I will be.” My eyes shifted to Will admiring his sword in the sunlight. Killian’s lips pursed and he took a few steps back to allow me some space.
