*Briella*
I watched Roy’s wolf disappear into the darkness, feeling panic rise in at the thought of being separated.
I had wanted to protest at first, wondering if splitting us up this way was a good idea. I was also surprised that Kryzen didn’t send back up instead of Roy, but maybe he didn’t want to be separated from . He might have thought that Roy had a better chance of convincing the guests to flee due to his princely status.
“You have a master plan, I hope,” I murmured quietly to Kryzen.
Kryzen still managed to flash his signature smirk, even though we were now in a perilous life-and-death predicant. “I think if we combine our powers, we can figure sothing out,” he said.
I was about to snap at him that it wasn’t really a plan when Kryzen’s eyes grew wide. He grabbed by the arm and pulled to him. I craned my neck in ti to see a dark mass hovering above us, its red eyes piercing through us.
My heart felt like it had stopped beating completely when the creature screeched. Kryzen wrapped his arms around , but it was nowhere near enough to protect us as the shadow swept us up in its cold, dark essence. I shivered violently as we were surrounded and felt our bodies leave the ground.
I cried out and struggled, feeling Kryzen doing the sa beside , his hand gripped firmly in mine.
“Briella!” he shouted, pulling back to him as we floated in darkness. He pressed into his chest and held tightly to him as we tumbled through nothingness.
I cried out as Kryzen and I both hit the hard ground, the air getting knocked out of my lungs.
“You okay?” Kryzen asked, pushing himself off the rocky floor and crawling over to . His eyes swept over as if searching for injuries.
“Fine,” I croaked out, trying to catch my breath.
“I must say I’m surprised to see the two of you here.”
Kryzen and I scrambled to our feet and whirled to face the familiar voice.
General Tian was standing on a slightly raised dais, smirking down at us, but his dark, depthless eyes were wide and surprised. The dozens of shadow creatures were looking at us hungrily. Their massless arms extended and contorted as if they were holding themselves back from sucking out our souls.
Kryzen stepped forward, placing himself between and General Tian, trying to shield from the other man’s prying eyes.
For a mont, no one spoke as we all assessed one another silently. Kryzen and I were well aware that if we made any wrong move, we would likely be dead before we could even see it coming. We were completely helpless.
I was trying not to tremble with fear as General Tian towered over us, his dark presence foreboding. I swallowed hard and decided that we might as well get any answers we could before we died. “What makes you so surprised to see us?” I asked finally, straightening and trying to sound brave.
I felt Kryzen stiffen in front of as if he thought it would be best for to just keep quiet.
General Tian’s amused glance fell to . He looked over, his eyes studying closely. Even though Kryzen had placed himself firmly between us, I could still feel the dark man’s sinister stare like a cold wind hitting .
General Tian raised an eyebrow and shrugged his thick shoulders. “Well, I just figured you might be too preoccupied with the little incident I planted at the ball to trace it back to . I suppose I should have expected the two of you would find out eventually given your lineage.”
Rembering the horrid night at the ball caused a spark of anger to form within . “We’ve always known,” I snapped. “We just didn’t have any proof at the ti.”
General Tian chuckled. “At the ti?” he asked pleasantly.
Kryzen wound an arm around my shoulders and squeezed in a clear warning. I ignored him, shrugging him off and stalking forward. “We have proof now,” I told him. “So you had best call off whatever plan you are brewing because you are going to be answering for enough cris.”
It felt good to say those words. I had been wanting to say them since the first day we t the general.
I was only slightly regretting my tone when his dark eyes flashed angrily. “Cris?” he repeated flatly, but I could feel the hot anger growing behind the single word. “I would hardly call an intervention against that foolish Alpha a cri.”
The shadow creatures started to shriek more loudly as if in response to his anger.
Kryzen grabbed by the arm and yanked back, again placing himself between and General Tian. His gray eyes were focused on the dark man, his expression almost calculating. “What do you an by intervention?”
General Tian glowered at Kryzen, his previous amusent completely gone. “Alpha Ray is a fool,” he practically spat. “I never expected the Alpha of the great Celestial City to be nothing more than a child. He is far too young and naive, overwhelmingly simple and easy to manipulate.”
Kryzen and I shared a look.
It was true that Alpha Ray was young, probably not much older than myself, but it definitely wasn’t unheard of for a man his age to take the position. It seed as if the previous Celestial City leaders were no longer around.
General Tian seed lost in his anger for a mont but quickly snapped out of it, smiling pleasantly with black glinting eyes. He started toward us, his boots clicking against the rock floor as he descended the few steps to our level.
Kryzen stiffened and took a couple of steps back, pushing even further behind him.
“Step aside, boy,” General Tian ordered.
Kryzen glowered up at him, his hand tightening around . “No.”
General Tian looked amused for a mont before anger flashed in his eyes. He shoved Kryzen aside and reached for , taking my wrist and pulling toward him.
“Don’t,” I hissed at Kryzen. I t his gaze, trying to speak to him through looks alone.
Kryzen gritted his teeth together hard, but I could tell he understood my look. We were currently surrounded by soul-sucking demon shadows that appeared to be under Tian’s control. He could have us killed at any mont.
“Wise boy,” Tian said mockingly when Kryzen took a single step away from us.
General Tian looked down at , a frightening grin spreading out across his face. He tsked as he looked down at . “Whatever did you do to your pretty dress?”
I looked down at the tattered ends that Kryzen had cut. Was that a rhetorical question? Did he actually expect to answer?
I assud the answer was yes since Tian had one eyebrow raised expectantly. I responded in a careful tone. “I’m not very fond of wearing dresses that restrict my movent.”
General Tian wasn’t expecting that response. He laughed loudly before grinning down at . “Well, I do like the alterations you’ve made.”
I stiffened when he lowered his hand and traced the skin of my knee.
I gasped and stepped away.
He swatted my hand as if I was a naughty child who tried to reach for a sweet. “I wouldn’t resist if I were you,” he warned.
I ground my teeth and shut my eyes, trying to block out the feeling of his fingers on my leg. They snapped open again when his hand started to trail up the hem of my skirt, his nails teasing my thigh.
I gasped and yanked my wrist away from him as hard as I could. He growled in outrage as Kryzen’s arm wound around my shoulders. We both cried out as swirls of shadows appeared around our feet, quickly wrapping around our legs and up the rest of our bodies to our necks. Kryzen had had a firm hold on my hand, but they were wrenched apart as we were each encased in our dark binds.
I lifted my head, stretching my neck as far as I could, fearing that if the shadows went around my head I would suffocate and die.
General Tian’s face was suddenly right in front of mine. I gasped as his black eyes bore into mine. He reached out, his longer fingers caressing the side of my face. “I’ve been searching for you for a long ti, Briella.”
My breathing was coming out in harsh pants as I pulled uselessly against the shadows. I managed to flinch away from his touch. “Why ?” I demanded.
He didn’t answer. He just continued to caress my cheek. His eyes darkened, and I felt his claw-like nails dig into the flesh of my cheek. “I’ve been searching for you,” he repeated. “But you decided to be a coward and hide away in the Embervale Realm. How did you expect to find you there?”
I had no response to that. What could I even say to that? He was talking as if he had known for a long ti, but I had no mory of this man before our initial eting during the ball. I searched his dark eyes, trying to make sense of the grim familiarity that swam in their dark depths.
Panic rose even higher within as I felt my wispy dark binds begin to tighten around my legs, squeezing painfully.
“Let her go, Tian!” Kryzen bellowed. “It’s you want! I am far more powerful than she is!”
General Tian ignored him. He gestured at a nearby shadow creature. I wondered what the signal ant until the shadows started to tighten around even more, causing a ripple of pain to flow through . I cried out.
General Tian tilted my chin up so I was looking up at him. “You’ve hid from for too long but no matter. I have you now, my dear, and I’m going to enjoy every second of our ti together.”
The shadows were so tight around my chest that it was getting harder to breathe. Darkness started to creep at the edges of my vision.
“Briella!”
My head snapped up. That wasn’t Kryzen’s voice.
Drius was sprinting toward us, a long sword poised in his grasp. He looked absolutely livid, every muscle in his body tensed as he propelled himself in our direction, his expression murderous.
“Drius!” I managed to scream. “Don’t! Get out of here!”
My best friend likely didn’t even hear as he dashed forward. He suddenly dropped the sword he was holding and shifted into his huge, dark-brown wolf form. He lunged at Tian with his claws extended, causing the general to stumble backward.
Tian glared daggers at Drius and motioned his shadow creatures forward.
“No!” I shrieked.
Kryzen used the distraction to start his escape, managing to free a hand from his shadow prison. He extended his palm outward, creating a purplish disc that he used to slice through the shadows surrounding him. He grunted when his feet hit the rocky floor. He hurried to , swiftly swinging his disc-shaped shield through one side of my cocoon, freeing .
I gasped as I fell into Kryzen’s arms, my whole world spinning violently. I struggled to catch my breath, wincing briefly as air and blood rushed back into my body.
I looked up and scread as the demon shadows dove right at Drius.
Reviews
All reviews (0)