Ilyan (An Imdalind Story) by Rebecca Ethington

Author:Rebecca Ethington [Ethington, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780996463287
Publisher: Imdalind Press
Published: 2018-02-22T18:30:00+00:00

12

Two and a half years.

How could that be? I had just been dreaming, I had just left the torture chamber that Nastya and her purple star had created. I could still feel the burn roll through me, feel the heat on my temples.

I stared at her, blinking, as I attempted to speak again, to ask any of the million questions that were screaming in my mind. Nothing made it past the massive tube that had been shoved down my throat, the constant hacking and gasping causing the flesh to burn more.

“Don’t try to speak,” Kaye said as she stepped away from me, toward Katenka. “It will just hurt more.”

Kaye’s face was lined with worry as her and her mother stood by my side, focused on my arm and whatever had been causing the pain. I watched them curiously, my drugged thoughts trying to piece together what was going on.

Confusion spiked as I lay there, eyes wide as I groaned at her, desperately trying to convey the question I needed answered. At this point, I would settle for the opportunity to understand anything.

“We have to be gone before the hour ends and the guard changes,” she hesitated, giving her mother a look before she turned back to me, pushing her short hair out of her eyes.

She fixed me with a look with so much power, so much knowledge, that for a moment I hadn’t recognized her. I had seen her grow so much before, as we plotted through the night attempting to figure out who I was. To master my magic. Then she was worn in fear, grown in desperation.

Now, there was knowledge. There was power. It was a different kind of war-born maturity that dominated her now. There was a fight that I was sure was a deep part of who she was. She was a different girl than the friend I had seen hours before my magic had exploded and Nastya had…

The panic swelled again and I grabbed her arm, pulling her closer to me as my eyes screamed for answers. I wasn’t going to wait much longer and although I may not be able to order her around or make demands, I was certainly going to try.

The man I was in memory was certainly seeping through.

“I don’t know what I can tell you, Jan,” she sighed, pressing her hand against mine, her thumb rubbing against my skin.

It was then I pulled away, the contact sending me into a roar of frustration.

“Don’t be upset. I want to tell you everything,” I wished I could tell her that it wasn’t her words that had caused my reaction. “I just don’t have time… and I don’t know what they are going to do when they find out you are awake. If you know too much it could hurt both of us. I have my papers now, but I still don’t belong here.”

She sighed, her mother gave her a look

“None of us are safe here,” Katenka said, her voice more pained and haggard than I remembered it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.