Page 4 of A Tempest of Intrigue (Tempest of Shadows #4)

CHAPTER FOUR

Ellery

I struggled to regain control of my lightning as I ran toward the portal Ianto had created. His labored breathing followed me into the opening as we ran onward.

“Holy shit,” he muttered over and over again.

After what I’d revealed, there would be a lot of confusion and disbelief, but I only wanted to see Ryker and reassure myself he was okay. He hadn’t been in the portal when I left, but I knew he wouldn’t go until he saw me leave.

I’d picked many battles with him and was sure I’d have many more, but this wouldn’t be one of them. If I’d remained, he would have too, and he was in far more danger than me, but every beat of my racing heart screamed at me to get to him.

I couldn’t shake the image of his bloody shirt and his wounded neck from my mind. If that blade had gone all the way through, I would have lost him.

A knot lodged in my throat as I pushed myself faster through the dark portal. A small beam of light started to form at the end before I ran out of the opening and into Ianto’s old encampment.

I skidded to a halt when the clash of steel and shouts greeted me, and I discovered chaos had followed us. Some guards had managed to enter the portal and chased the others into the woods.

I didn’t have a chance to get my bearings before someone on our side, I suspected Tucker, sprinted past me and crashed into a guard running toward a portal. If they escaped, they would know how to get back here.

While this wasn’t our main encampment, it was close enough that we couldn’t allow anyone to leave here. We also couldn’t have anyone learning how deep into the Revenant Woods we’d established our base.

Perched on his back, Tucker bashed the guard’s head into the ground until it crumbled beneath him. When he finished, he pulled the dagger from his sheath and placed it against the man’s neck.

I looked away when he started carving off the guard’s head. My gaze found Ryker as he used his sword to take out another guard, and three of our group pounced on the back of another; they took him down and beat him until he went still.

When another guard ran toward the trees and a portal she’d opened there, I threw out my hand, and a stream of lightning poured from it. I kept hold of the stream as the current encircled her waist.

Lifting my hand, the lightning followed my movement as the screaming woman rose from the ground. With a flick of my fingers, I smashed her back into the earth before lifting her and bringing her down again.

Before tonight, I hadn’t known I could do something like that, and while I marveled at the ability, it also unnerved me a little. The woman clawed at the light as she screamed until her eyeballs erupted from her head.

Feeling sick over what I’d done, I released my hold on the woman. The lightning whipped back and coiled around me to join the rest as Ryker struck down the last guard.

When the screaming and clashing steel ceased, an eerie hush fell over the deserted encampment… except a strange crackling remained. It took me too long to realize it came from the lightning surrounding me.

Closing my eyes, I tried to rein the power back in, but I couldn’t concentrate and was too rattled by the electricity still coursing through me to focus on controlling it. My hands trembled, and lightning shot between my fingers when I lifted them to my face.

My fingers fell on the soft material of the hood. It was then I recalled the material covering my features and eyes.

A strange disconnect ran through me as the world lurched, and nothing felt right.

I’m not real. None of this is real. It’s not me beneath the hood but someone else.

It was someone who could rope people with their lightning until their eyes exploded. Someone who was rapidly spinning out of control.

As panic built inside me, strangled noises escaped; I tore at the hood but couldn’t pull it free. Ryker’s bloody sword hit the ground with a clatter as he stalked toward me.

I pawed at the string keeping the hood in place; I was desperate to get it free and unable to do so. Unable to breathe, I couldn’t see as I became increasingly certain I was coming apart.

This power would take me over and destroy us all. I’d killed far too many tonight; I’d done what was necessary to save those I loved and to fight for Tempest, but so much blood stained my soul, and more would spill as the lightning flashed higher.