AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I flinched and turned away. “Perhaps I should return to the house, to start cleanup while you go speak to the mages.”
“You don’t want to come question them yourself?” Caleb asked.
“I’d like to try to maintain a cordial relationship with them and if I show up with the king, they may think I’m trying to sabotage them and view me as an enemy.” Not that they didn’t already think of me that way, most likely.
“She’s right,” Nico said. “Riddick, Caleb, you two come with me just in case there are shenanigans. You three can return to the house and the safety of the wards.” He turned to me, smiled, and said, “When I return, I’ll teach you how to improve your wards even more with little additional magic use.”
“Thank you. I would appreciate that,” I said and returned his smile.
Caleb shifted again and picked up Riddick and his dad, flying towards the mountain and the headquarters of the Council.
With a sigh, I spun on my heel and smiled at Triston and Percival. “Well, I guess we can return to the house and see ifthere’s anything to salvage and move whatever there is into the barn.” At least I had the barn still, so we wouldn’t have to worry about needing a roof over our heads. The last thing I wanted to do was go into town and stay in a hotel there. That felt like asking for an attack.
Triston scooped me up into his arms and started running while Percival took to the skies.
“Déjà vu,” I said with a chuckle.
Triston smirked. “Yes, it does seem like we just did this, doesn’t it?”
“Hopefully we won’t run into another creature on the way back like last time,” I said with a wide smile.
Turns out, I totally jinxed us, because the very next moment, a man in a black cloak ran out of the woods and slammed into Triston and I.
Chapter
Sixteen
Iyelped as I was knocked out of Triston’s arms and onto the hard rocks.
Percival roared and dove down, attacking the cloaked man.
My head spun as I pushed myself up into a sitting position. Rocks dug into my hips, butt, and legs, but I ignored all the pain as I stood. I had to help them.
“Ember!” Triston bellowed.
My head jerked up and fury filled me as the man ran at me, a hand raised with one of the stones between his finger and thumb. Clenching my fists, I froze the man and forced him to his knees, flinching at the crunching sound his legs and the rocks made, but he didn’t cry out.
“Who are you?” I demanded and walked forward, tearing the cloak’s hood back to expose him.
Kieran hissed at me, his eyes completely black and black smoke oozing from his skin.
“No,” I gasped. My hold on him broke and he darted forward, pressing the rock against my temple.
Pain exploded in my head and I wondered for a brief second if he’d blown my head off my shoulders, but as my vision swam, I realized that wasn’t the case.
Worse, I felt an angry, dark presence enter my mind, wrapping around it and clutching tightly.
“You’re mine,”the man in my mind growled.“You’re now under my control.”
“No,” I tried to shout, but my body refused to move.
“Ember? Em?” Kieran gasped. “What happened? What’s going on? How the hell did I even get here?”
“What did you do to her?” Triston demanded and punched Kieran on the jaw.
I wanted to tell them to stop. To leave Kieran alone, but my body wasn’t my own at the moment. Standing fully, I turned and headed towards the house, walking slowly.
“Ember?” Percival called.
