Page 54 of A Court So Dark
The sound of voices made my head snap up toward the source. I froze, then knew I had to get out of there before I was spotted. Turning on my heel, I ran at full pelt, my bare feet slapping on the floor. I didn’t look back. I just ran, but a cry of alarm let me know that I’d been spotted.
I ran faster, arms pumping, that map I had created in my mind jumping to the forefront. I took one left and then a right. The sound of stomping boots and insistent cries to hurry up followed close behind me. I ran past a wide corridor, then skidded to a stop and retraced my steps. Left, I had to go left again. I kept going, and for a moment, I thought I’d made a mistake, then, a few steps ahead, I spotted Kalyll’s door and breathed a sigh of relief.
I’m almost there. Almost there.
The voices and the racket behind me were closer now. The Fae were so much faster than me. My human legs were failing me. For an instant, I considered blasting a beam of light over my shoulder to blind my pursuers, but I couldn’t risk it. I needed all the power I’d drained from Runik to break Kalyll’s prison. I couldn’t fail. If I did, I didn’t want to imagine what would happen. Cardian, whom I’d failed to kill, would make sure we paid dearly.
“Stop!” someone shouted.
There was a whistling sound, and as I rounded another corner, an arrow whizzed by.
“Oh, God.”
I needed to dig deeper. The next arrow would kill me.
“C’mon,” I urged myself, clenching my teeth.
Suddenly, I was moving faster, much faster than I ever had. Doors zoomed by right and left. I watched everything as if detached or caught in one of those dreams where you’re capable of impossible things. But it wasn’t a dream, I was really moving as fast or faster than Fae.
“Shit!” I exclaimed as I ran past Kalyll’s door.
Grabbing the doorjamb, I jerked myself to a stop, kicked the door open, and busted in. Kalyll was on his feet, expectant. No doubt his Fae sharpened senses had warned him we were coming.
“Daniella!”
“Stand back,” I ordered him, without stopping to consider the risks.
“What?”
I blasted the sphere, letting all the light pour out of me in one shot. My energy crashed against the prison. A horrible screeching sound pierced my ears as the two magical forces combined in a blinding flash.
I wrapped my arms around my head and ducked, bracing for an explosion, for death. But the sound quickly died out, and I opened my eyes to a diminishing glow that consumed itself, growing weaker until it disappeared with a soft pop.
For a nanosecond, Kalyll seemed suspended in the air, then the sphere completely vanished and he dropped to the floor. He landed on his feet and glanced around with wide eyes as he faced his freedom.
He barely had time to recover from his surprise when I crashed into him, wrapping my arms around his waist. Just as he held me back, the door burst open, and a host of guards rushed in. All along, the transfer token had been clenched tightly in my fist, so I wasted no time wishing us away to the first place that jumped into my mind.
As the guards reached out to grab us, we dissolved and left that awful place behind.
CHAPTER 19
KALYLL
Iheldhertightly,not caring that the guards were here to pull us apart. In my despair, I’d been sure I would never lay eyes on her again, and now, here I was, my arms wrapped around her, her warmth and delicious scent seeping into me.
I could die now, and I wouldn’t care.
But I would die defending her, killing every bastard who dared touch a hair on her head.
I started to pull away, but then the dank room that had served as a prison started dissolving around us. A familiar feeling washed over me.
Daniella had a transfer token.
Great Erilena!She’d done it. All by herself, she had freed me.
I always knew she was extraordinary, but this went beyond my imaginings. She was a force, a creature to be reckoned with. I held her tighter. Even as we materialized in a different place, I pressed my mouth to the top of her head and inhaled her scent. Her heart pounded against me, her desperate embrace a lifeline that gave me back the desire to keep going. I had nearly given up. I thought her gone in eternal sleep, and I’d seen no reason to go on.
“We’re safe. We’re safe. We’re safe,” she repeated over and over as if to convince herself that it was true.
