Page 17 of Rising Out of the Darkness
I shuffled over to him, falling onto my knees as I grasped the cold bars. “Will,” I whispered, but his body didn’t budge. I tried again, this time a little louder. “Will!”
A few moments of silence passed as I held on to the bars. Slowly, his head rolled up, his blue eyes meeting mine. The light once within them had dulled. Staring back at me were cloudy, red-rimmed eyes full of sorrow and disdain. The heat of his glare caused me to fall back onto my heels.
“What do you want?” The bluntness of his tone startled me.
“W-what d-do you mean, Will? Why are we in here?” I paused to swallow down the fear that was rising within me. “Will…what happened, and why are you acting this way?”
My words must have snapped the final cord of his restraint because he rose to his feet with a snarl. I scooted a few more inches away.
Will’s boots thundered back and forth against the floor as he mumbled erratic words underneath his breath.
“Will—”
“NO!” he seethed, as the words I was about to say fell dead on my lips. “You! This is all because of you, Elena!” His knuckles turned white as he gripped the bars before tilting his head against the iron. He closed his eyes, mumbling more words under his breath. However, this time I could hear them. Every. Single. One. “This is your fault. It always is.”
Each word sliced a little deeper, and my trembling hand pressed against the piercing wound that tore wide open inside my heart. “What do you mean by that, Will?” I breathed.
A faint scoff left his mouth, his eyes still closed as he turned his back towards me. Will’s body slid down the bars until he hit the floor and slumped over his raised knees. “Your screams woke me out of Ascension just in time to feel the full impact of the blast of energy from your dynamis. Also, just in time to realize what you had done to my own.”
The creases between my brows furrowed. My anxiety built, and I wished he would get to the point.
“The entire room, everything around me, was engulfed in flames.” The bars of the cell clanged as he thumped his head against it with a heavy sigh. “Everything, including the assistant who had run in to help me.”
The iron links clinked together as I covered my mouth. “Oh, Will …” Tears began to well in my own eyes as I spoke softly. “I’m so sorry that happened.”
He turned his body towards me and banged his fist against the bars, startling me as tears streamed ran rampant down my face.
“Sorry? Dammit, Lena that’s all you have to say? All I’ve done since I saved your ass that day after school is take care of you. Picked you up after every mistake, handle the town after every one of your healing blunders. Made excuses for your panic attacks. And you know what? I did it. Everyday, because I was attracted to you. After yesterday…” He paused, his eyes shifting down towards my lips, then back up to meet my eyes. “I thought maybe for once I would have a reprieve from those burdens.”
The contents of my stomach churned as I stared back into the cold eyes of the boy I’d once known, his cruel words rotting every kind memory I had with him. Apparently, I didn’t know him as well as I’d thought I did.
“Then you went and turned me into…this!” His chains rattled against the iron divider between us.
“I—I didn’t mean to! I’ve never meant to hurt anyone. I’m so s-sorry!”
“Hells, Lena! They’re going to take us away from here. Today we’re both getting shipped out to the cities. I’ll be taken to the City of Ash, and you,Light Phoenix, you’re being sent to the capital, the City of Shadows. Apparently, the Prince is coming to escort you himself.”
“What about your mother and your s?—”
“Don’t you dare!” He screamed, shaking his head violently, before forcefully blowing out a breath of air. “Don’t talk about them. Ever. Again. We go alone, Elena.”
My mouth opened to reply, but he shoved away from the bars and fell into the farthest corner of the cell, ending our conversation.
I willed my body forward towards the bars. Wrapping my fingers around them, I whispered, “I’m so sorry, Will.”
Rising on shaking legs, I turned to make my way back to the tiny cot. From behind me, Will’s voice fluttered through the air.
“‘Sorry’ can’t fix this, Elena.”
Afew hours later, metal keys clanked against the lock of my cell. Will was no longer inside the other cell. After our encounter, I had cried myself to sleep. He must have been taken while I was out. I rose, tossing my legs over the side of the bed. With my heart pounding, I awaited my fate on the other side of the iron door.
It swung open as my back stiffened, hands fidgeting in my lap. Immediately, I knew the man who now stood before me wasn’t the prince. Ladies in town discussed the prince’s appearance in great detail, and this man didn’t fit the description at all.
This man was tall like the prince, but had long black hair pulled back in a messy bun. His skin was tawny, his jawline harsh, highlighted by the scruff of his short beard.
As he folded his muscled arms in front of his breastplate, the definition of his muscles became more pronounced. Glaring at the feather etched in the armor, I rubbed the same mark thatwas now permanently tattooed onto my skin. Realization hit me like a rock, and my breath hitched from the blow.
I was now the living embodiment of the Stallard line. A living symbol of the only thing that had brought the kingdom of Ehora out of our time of darkness and into a time of peace.
