KDBookOnline
Share Us
“Why do you care? You should have left me back there. One less human to care about, right?”
His tongue clicked sharply as if a warning signal. “You’re right. It would have been one less human to worry about. If you were human that is.”
I felt my lungs collapse on themselves as if someone was suffocating me. I didn’t dare look at him. He couldn’t know. How could he have known? He wasn’t a mind reader...or was he? He did say he knew my father.
“I’m human,” I responded shortly.
“Whatever you say, little Genevieve.”
We walked for a few moments in silence. My mind kept replaying the images of the human girl through my memory. All the blood and skin, just hanging there. The way her ribs were pulled apart. How her breasts were cut clean off. I felt the bile rising in my stomach again I turned just in time to puke in a nearby bush.
I pulled myself up slowly, feeling dizzy and cold. Erendrial held out a handkerchief. It was black and silk, just like the trim of his jacket. “Go on, take it,” he said.
I did, using it to wipe my mouth. I shoved it in the pocket of my dress as we started back towards the castle. I couldn’t help but think of Lilian. “Is that what you do to humans for entertainment? Back at the dark court?” I asked.
He smiled. “Would you believe me if I said no?”
“No,” I replied coldly.
“Then why ask?” I didn’t respond. He nodded. “Ah, Lilian. You are afraid the same fate awaits her.”
Dammit, he was a mind reader. What the hell?
He laughed again. “As I said, Lilian Thomas is safe and contrary to popular belief, we do not treat our humans like that. Why waste a perfectly good warm body in that manner?”
I rolled my eyes. “So, you don’t sacrifice them to Azeer?” I asked.
“I didn’t say that, but that little display of ‘artwork’ you saw back there is only practiced by the fairies.”
A chill of disgust ran up my spine. I thought back to the young girl Gaelin and the others gave the fairies when they were transporting us from The Frey. I wondered if she met the same torturous fate. Her skin torn apart and eaten as she watched. I couldn’t imagine that type of pain
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“You’re welcome. Let’s keep our little outing from your ma—Gaelin for now. I am on thin ice since someone spoiled my perfectly executed plan and I don’t need him looking at me any harder than he already is.” He walked past me as we entered the city arches. The dark alfar followed him, not looking back in my direction.
I made my way to the room, changing my outfit and washing the blood from my skin. This was becoming a habit. When I exited the bathroom, Gaelin and Levos were standing at the table looking at a map. I walked over to them, taking note of their tense faces.
“They have to be coming from the south,” said Gaelin. “That is where our scouts last saw them. They wouldn’t have time to move everyone without tipping us off. We attack tomorrow. We’ll have the dark alfar take to the sky, creating a cover for our ground troops to move in. If we attack from the east and west, we will have them pinned with no hope of escape.”
“I agree,” replied Levos. “That is the best plan. I am just hesitant about our enemies’ abilities. The dark alfar have had little interaction with them. We don’t know what they are capable of. I don’t want to be surprised.”
“I agree, but we can’t let this opportunity to kill Otar escape us. This may be our only chance.”
I moved to Gaelin’s side, looking at the map spread out on the table. He wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed me on my head softly. I smiled up at him, returning my focus to the map.
I took note of all the different colored markers representing different infantries and attack teams. I looked at the southern border of the kingdom where Gaelin expected the attack to come from. My eyes slowly trailed up the map to the northern wall behind the castle. The room began to spin as my vision got hazy and spotted. Electric shocks zapped at the nerves in my back up my neck and then into my brain. I felt myself falling slowly. Gaelin caught me before I could hit the floor.
A vision of a battle commenced behind my fluttering eyelids. Light armies rushed to the southern border, but once they arrived, their enemy was gone. Ragamor flew overhead, searching for a threat, but there was none. Confused and angered, the troops return home only to be greeted with the castle overrun by massive wolf-like creatures on their hind legs. Body parts littered the halls. Blood stained every wall and every rug. The humans were ripped to pieces.
In the throne room, the king, queen, and princess hung from the ceiling with long red ulyrium spears piercing their hearts. A black-skinned figure sat upon the throne. His yellow eyes glistened and blood dripped from his claws. He wore the king’s crown. I saw Gaelin and Erendrial along with both light and dark warriors enter the hall. As soon as the room was full, massive explosions overtook the city. Each detonation propelled pieces of ulyrium through the air, cutting the army down. Then, everything went black.
Chapter 17
My eyes fluttered open, feeling like they were weighted. My head was pounding as if I had been hit by something hard. I tried to sit up—I was in Gaelin’s bed, I realized—but I was too weak. I felt like I had been to battle and back. Levos and Gaelin rushed to my side. They checked my eyes, tilting my face from side to side. I could see that they were speaking, but I was only able to make out muffled sounds. Suddenly, my ears recovered, and their voices boomed against my eardrums.
“Are you okay? What happened to you?” asked Levos.
I grimaced at the loud projection of his voice.