Page 24 of Realm of Wind and Vines
Then he tightens his grip on my wrist again and abruptly flies us the final distance to the floating island. My stomach lurches as he practically tosses me onto the ground and then spins in the air and flies back to Isera and Orion without another word.
I hit the ground hard on my hip, the impact sending a jolt through my entire body. My shoulder aches from hanging by my wrist like that for so long. Waves of black rage and dark despair crowd down on me from all sides. I try to suck air into my lungs, but I can’t breathe.
Curling up on my side, I bury my fingers in the soft earth beneath me and grip it so hard that my hand begins to shake.
Draven’s words echo endlessly through my skull.
Because you ruin everything. You always ruin everything.
His hate-filled eyes as he glares down at me are burned into my mind. I can still feel his phantom fingers on my wrist. How his grip loosened. Can hear the sincerity in his voice when he told me that everything would be so much better if I weren’t here.
I try once more to drag air into my lungs, but the pressure on my chest from that black wave inside me is so intense that I feel like my ribs are going to shatter. I feel like I’m drowning.
I can’t keep feeling like this. I need to pull myself together. I need to snap the fuck out of this. Goddess damn it.
Summoning my magic, I create a warm sparkling yellow flame of joy in my mind and then I throw it out across the island. The first person I make contact with gets it shoved straight into his or her chest.
Pleasure immediately floods my body.
I gasp as my lungs finally expand and air fills them. Suddenly, it feels as if I’m floating on a perfect cloud. As if I’m wrapped in the perfect warm hug. I drink in that feeling like I’m starving. It helps force away the endless ocean of suffocating feelings that threatened to drown me.
While drawing in another deep breath, I finally unclench my hand and push myself up from the ground. Dark clouds churn in the sky above me, and the air tastes like a brewing storm. But inside my body, only that addictive pleasure thrums.
I don’t even know who it is that I am permanently changing with my magic, just so that I could get this burst of relief and pleasure.
And I don’t even care. I feel no remorse. No guilt. No shame. Nothing.
I feel nothing.
Goddess above, it’s so fucking nice not to care.
CHAPTER NINE
The rain starts when we reach the main city. Heavy drops fall from the sky. Slow at first. Then picking up in intensity. Harsh winds rip between the elegant buildings, creating a howling sound. Above us, the dark clouds rumble with thunder.
Pushing my wet hair out of my face, I tie all of my hair back in a bun so that I can see properly without the wind whipping hair into my face every few seconds.
The only good thing about this awful weather is that most people who live here have now taken shelter indoors, which means that we’ve been able to sneak through the city unseen. I glance over my shoulder, but only rain thrums against the wet stone street behind us.
“Rin should be in that building,” Draven says, and nods towards a tall red building on the other side of a massive open square.
“Alright.” I nod and then look from face to face. “Here’s the plan. Isera and I will go in alone and talk to her. She healed us after the Atonement Trials, and if she has tried to start her own rebellion earlier, she probably sympathizes with the two of usmore than…” I wave a hand at Draven, who has burned down her home, and Orion, who is just an all-around absolute menace in general. “Well, you.”
Draven stares at me, his eyebrows raised. I think his surprise has more to do with the fact that I formulated a plan for us rather than the actual contents of the plan.
But I just couldn’t get his exasperated words out of my head. His frustration about how he is always forced to come up with all the plans and make sure that all missions are running smoothly. He deserves better. He deserves someone who takes care of him too. Someone who helps take some of that massive weight off his shoulders. He deserves everything. And I intend to give it to him. Even though he still hates me.
“I agree,” Isera says.
Draven looks like he wants to shoot down my idea out of pure habit, but he apparently can’t find any actual flaws in it, because he just clenches his jaw and nods instead.
“Okay, good,” I begin. “Then we?—”
A loud clanging sound, like giant metal bells being rung, splits the air.
We whirl towards the large square to find a mass of soldiers in orange dragon scale armor pouring out of the door to the tall building.
“Fuck,” Draven curses. “She knows we’re here.”
