Page 51 of A Court So Dark
He remained stubborn. Regardless, I pushed more healing energy from my other hand. When he felt it, he stood up with a jolt.
“Stop it, Dani.” This time his voice had a rumbling quality as he commanded me. This was Wölfe, through and through. He’d even called me Dani.
I wanted to give him a bit more, but he was standing straight in the very center of the sphere, keeping away from me.
“Hardhead.” I scowled. At least he looked better. It would have to do, for now.
The handle rattled at the door, then it whined open, revealing two gray-skin males wearing identical black uniforms. They had no hair, and small horns protruded from the top of their bald heads. Several ridges like exposed bone lined up beneath their cheekbones.
“Lady Fenmenor,” one of them said, eyeing me with distrust, “King Cardian requests your presence.”
A derisive laugh burst out of Kalyll. “King Cardian? What a joke.”
The guards ignored him, showing no reaction to the jab. Clearly, they didn’t give a shit about Cardian. They were loyal to Mythorne, I had to assume.
Contemplating my next move, I pondered the possibility of draining the energy from these two guards and using it to free Kalyll from the sphere. But then what? What would be our means of escape without a transfer token? I’d been counting on stealing Cardian’s token before he got away. That meant I had to go to him and hope I could still take it from him.
My decision made, I heaved an irritated sigh. “It’s about time. I was starting to get very bored in here. It was so rude of Cardian to…” I waved a hand in the air. “Never mind, I guess I understand his reasons. Let’s go.”
“Da… Ylannea, don’t go with them, with Cardian,” Kalyll said, looking terrified to let me out of his sight.
“As much as I enjoyed your company,” I said, acting as vapid as possible, “this place is repellent.” I sashayed toward the guards and waved over my shoulder. “It was nice knowing you, King For-a-day Kalyll.”
It killed me not to look back, but I walked straight toward the guards, past them, and left Kalyll behind. My heart twisted in my chest.
I’ll come back for you, Kalyll. I’ll come back.I sent the thought out, hoping it would reach him, hoping he knew I wasn’t abandoning him.Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.
I knew he would fret for me even more than he’d been fretting already. Even if I’d been frozen and nearly lifeless before, I hadn’t been in the bed of vipers the Unseelie Court was famed to be.
And I hadn’t been alone.
Whatever confidence I’d possessed the moment I decided to walk out with the guards, it vanished when I stepped out into the hall and found myself face to face with a hooded figure. The cloak and hood were woven with threads of silver and gold, and it seemed to shimmer as if enchanted with spells. The garment was long and flowing, and it changed colors as if to blend in with its surroundings.
Even if I couldn’t distinguish a single feature in the depths of his hooded cloak, I sensed piercing eyes drilling into my own. My spine seemed to shiver, sending tremors to the rest of my body. Of course, Cardian hadn’t trusted two lame guards to fetch me and deliver me to him. He’d send someone else, someone with a terrible aura of power hanging around them. Was this the sorcerer who had been torturing Kalyll? Something told me that he was.
“Friend of Cardian?” I said, shaking myself in an attempt to pass my fear as surprise.
He said nothing.
“My mistake, not the friendly sort, then.” I was acting like a total idiot, but I felt oddly protected by the shallowness I attempted to portray.
The guards marched ahead, and I ended up sandwiched between them and the hooded freak. I tried to sashay along, but the swishing of the male walking behind me forced my back into a stiff line. Layers upon layers of whispering voices seemed to sound inside my head, all of them seeming to pray to a god they knew wasn’t listening.
I shook my head, trying to clear it. Was it a past echo that lingered in these empty, dank corridors? Or was it something else? A spell from the male stalking behind me? I dared a glance back to quickly snap my eyes forward once more. There had been two glowing embers inside of that hood.
For the first time, I wondered if they were marching me to my death and not to Cardian.
“Are we almost there? I’m famished,” I asked the guards.
“Just a little bit further, my lady,” the taller one responded. He sounded reasonable, not like a murderer.
I hurried my step a little, getting closer to the guards in the front. If that creep behind me tried anything, I could jump the guards, steal their life force, and at least have a hope of defending myself.
Gradually, the floor beneath us grew steeper, and we moved upward as if climbing from the bowels of some hell. A bright light shone ahead of us, and I prayed it was the exit. In my mind, I quickly retraced my steps back to Kalyll. I went over the passages and turns we’d taken to ensure I wouldn’t forget how to find him.
I’ll get back to you, Kalyll.
I chanted the phrase inside my head over and over, aware that I was doing it to reassure myself, to reassure myself I would not die today, and that somehow, I would live to rescue Kalyll.
