Page 147 of Of Shadows and Blood

“Elivienne.”

“I will support you,” I say, tears welling up in my eyes. “You have my unwavering passion because it matters and if we fail, we will try and try again.”

“Elivienne,” Cedric whispers this time.

I turn to face him. “Promise me yo—”

Cedric kneels before me, a silver and golden band with a black diamond in his palm. The two metals twist around one another with faint stars casted. My heart jumps.

“Elivienne,” he whispers, clearing his throat. “No amount of time will ever be enough. My love for you surpasses the limits of our life and I will be a damned fool if I do not make it known that you are more than a duty, a title. You are my soul. Find a star, I will gather it for you. Pick a task and I will do it. Anything you ask, my world is yours. My will is yours.

“Love can be fickle for some. It can be hard. But with you, everything is easy. I love you most dearly, Elivienne. Without question, without faltering, I ask you to be my wife. You always speak of my reign, but it will be ours.”

Am I breathing? Tears run down my face and I fall to my knees, shaking with emotion. Shaking with love. I nod and laugh through my tears.

“Yes?” he breathes. I nod again. Cedric reaches for me and pulls me to him and we fall to the ground, clutching each other. I breathe him in.

Chapter 42

When the light, undiluted from the heat of adversaries, shines upon us once more, then we shall dance the dance of our people again.

My fingers twitch, at least I think those are my fingers. Everything hurts and I realize I am crumpled on the floor. My eyes blink open slowly and I see figures pause in the massive doorway I can see from my eyeline on the floor.

Clarity. A clear vision. Feeling comes back tenfold, and I become acutely aware of everything. As if the world transformed color before my eyes. The red hue of my shift is so vibrant. How did I miss that? My sight moves to my hands and I try to sit up. The once subtle static that I seldom felt coursing beneath my skin is now an amplified hum. Bumps raise along my arms because power is surging within me with an electric charge.

My magic.

The memories. My memories. Our memories.

Our life. Our beautiful life. Cedric and I had a life together and it was ripped away. The glorious technicolor of our bond begins to light up like a road of iridescent shows in my mind. I can feel him alive and desperate for me, as if our souls cannot be parted another moment longer.

How was I ever okay? How was I able to walk away from him? As memories fly past, I must remember the purpose at hand for my power. Everyone in the room has paused and I spot a man in robes moving to exit at the back. Our eyes secretly meet and I recognize him as the cess before he lowers his eyes from mine, so as to not give away what he has done.

“Cess do no harm,” the man whispers before turning to the hall. Frenzied movement picks up beyond the doorway and I can hear commotion.

He freed me.

Now is the time for reckoning.

Breathing comes in jagged waves, each movement like a hot needle. They’ve noticed I’m alive, I can smell their fear. Vampyrs begin to apparate, I can hear their flights into the void and I scream out.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?” I hear Rolan roar across the room to the cess who has fled. My eyes flick to the dais, to my enemy and Rolan vanishes, taking his prowling wicken with him.

“No,” I mumble and spit, trying to turn over. “No.”

Sawyer, the traitor, is still dripping with blood and sweat as he slowly turns towards me, his eyes widening with knowing as guards approach. He turns away immediately, subtly, letting his head hang again between the two guards in the doorway who reach for their short swords. The wood creaking under my body is amplified with the sound of another heartbeat in the back of my mind. As if a screen was lifted from my sight and hearing and everything clicked into place.

Sawyer chuckles softly; I can barely hear it. He looks up to the men holding him and, with a feral smile, says: “I’d start running now.”

In their motion for their swords, I yank with full force backwards and I jump to my feet. The cess metal on my wrists melts away because like recognizes like. I cannot be bound by the curse which serves me no longer. Throwing my hands out, I blast silver light at the two guards and they fall to ash in the doorway.

Three Duresden guards rush in from the back and the cess who freed me now stands in the doorway with red magic balled in his palms.

He came back.

The cess begins lashing out at the soldiers, his white robes flying around in his movements. As much as I’d like to avoid casualty, we cannot allow them to terrorize anyone any longer. These are the males who bound and beat not only me but hordes of humans or vampyr who defied them.

The cess looks back at me and yells orders. “Go! Go! I’ll buy you time! The east tunnels!” The sound of more guards down the hall spurs me into action. The two guards back down immediately from his power, the cess wielding with battlefield training. He closes and holds the main doors shut with an invisible force to block out the guards from entering.