Page 49 of Stolen Thorn Bride
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She’d wonderedbriefly how they would find the others, but needn’t have. The moment they passed between the gates, she saw the cloud—the storm that was not a storm, hanging low on the other side of the valley. Urging Aral forward, she clung to the harness as he broke into a ground-eating run, directly towards the center of the storm.
They were headed straight into the teeth of the creatures who had nearly ended Dechlan’s life. She had obviously lost her mind, or maybe… she had only lost her heart.
“Aral, find Dechlan,” she whispered, and he ran faster, as if he’d somehow understood her.
Or as if he grasped some urgency to her errand. Because as they ran, she felt a chill fall over her—the same chill she’d experienced when Dechlan had faced the lone wraith and nearly succumbed to its darkness. It wrapped itself around her heart, searching for a way in, and Kasia prayed Dechlan would be able to resist for just a little longer. Just until she could reach him…
She was peering ahead, searching for any sign of their quarry, when an icy blade stabbed deep below the edge of her armor.
Kasia gasped and glanced down, but saw no blood, no knife, no wound at all.
And yet, she knew it was real! Could feel as another wound was scored across her thigh…
Dechlan.
And suddenly, she knew exactly where he was. Even if she’d been blindfolded, she could have found her way to his side by the pull of their bond.
“This way!” Teeth clenched against the agony from the phantom wound, hands wrapped tightly around Aral’s harness, Kasia turned towards the beacon that was her bondmate’s pain.
With every step, the wintery grip around her heart grew stronger. But as the seething mass of shadows loomed over them, like a wave waiting to break, something deep within her rose up to answer.
For perhaps the first time, her power no longer lay dormant, as if afraid to show itself. Fueled by her desperation, it grew from a tiny, hidden ember to a glowing core of furious heat, spreading warmth to the tips of her fingers. And she could feel as it continued to awaken, baring its teeth and considering the world around her as if searching for threats to her safety.
And none too soon.
Aral came sliding to a halt as they reached the edge of the cloud, and Kasia confronted the truth of her enemy for the first time.
From out of the darkness, eyes shone—icy blue and gleaming with malevolent intent. And as they moved forward, she caught sight of wispy, almost translucent wings, draped over a hunched body that seemed not to touch the ground. She glimpsed a hint of claws, and felt an overwhelming impression of hunger.
Like all things, it hungered for sustenance. It longed to draw her into the darkness and consume her life’s energy, so that it could continue to grow and devour all that brought life and beauty to the world.
And it especially hungered to snuff out the bright spark of magic in her soul.
This was the burden Dechlan had borne for most of his life—the knowledge that this was what awaited his people if he failed. But he no longer needed to bear it alone.
Kasia had no weapon—no clear understanding of how one could fight an enemy with no muscles or sinews to sever, no heart to pierce. But as she and Aral faced the towering darkness before them, she instinctively reached for the burning, untried power within her. With nothing to guide her but instinct and desperation, she shaped it with her will until she held a bright, unquenchable flame of pure magic in her upraised hand.
Callum, Fionn, and Nuala appeared at her side, weapons held ready.
“What is that?” Callum was gazing at her with awe.
“My curse,” Kasia said softly. “My magic. Perhaps, if nothing else, it can light the way.”
She could feel the pull as her magic drained her energy, but she was angry, and it would not be enough to stop her.
As Kasia urged Aral forward, her three companions moved to take up positions around her, prepared to confront the wraiths in her defense.
But the moment they stepped within the cloud, the wraith hissed and recoiled. The darkness seemed to retreat, so they took another step, and then another. Before Kasia could shine the light of her magic on it fully, the wraith simply vanished, with a high, thin wail like the wind through the eaves on a cold winter’s night.
She exchanged startled glances with Fionn, but there was no time to question their good fortune. The raiding party was still up ahead, and they were losing—surrounded by the shadows, unable to break free.
How she knew, she couldn’t have said, but she could feel the despair as they fought for their lives—for the safety of everyone at Northwatch Keep.
She could no longer hesitate. Everything might depend on it. “This way,” she cried, and raced towards the center of the swarm.
It was like being plunged into a nightmare, but she held up the torch she’d forged from magic and desperation and did not falter. Wherever the light touched, the shadows cringed and gave way, and so it was that she found herself at the heart of the storm.