Page 77 of Of Blackened Blood (The Blackened Blade #3)

His eyes widen as I continue. “I remember her voice laughing behind me as pain seared up my back. She attacked me earlier after setting beasts loose in the forest as a distraction. She was going to get her contact, Croy, to lock me in a cell as revenge for killing her partner ...”

My gaze meets Isaiah’s as his brows pinch together. “He tried to kill me and the guys before. She’s a part of the group that attacked us.”

His fists begin to shake beside him, his shock and confusion quickly changing to anger.

“Please tell me she didn’t die by that blast. I want to make the bitch suffer for all the shit she did,” I manage to bite out, my own rage growing. “I’m going to take great pleasure in ripping the answers we’ve been looking for from her bit by bit.”

Isaiah’s eyes narrow in thought. “There were only a few corpses found around you and Valor ... but none were female.”

“ Fucking— ” I bite my lip, holding myself back as anger boils inside me remembering what she said and did to me.

“Did she return to the academy?” I turn to Isaiah, hope blooming with the thought of catching her.

Would the bitch have the audacity to come back and keep her cover?

If she thought I was dead, or wanted to finish the job off properly, there was a chance, right?

Isaiah shakes his head, annoyance pinching at his features. “There were reports of a female faculty member being missing. But I didn’t put the two incidents together until now.”

Mrs. Fleur, or “ Belle”, got away ... she probably returned to The Facility or the Domynions. Waiting for another chance to attack me and my Mates.

I clench my fists, my knuckles turning white. I’ll find the evil bitch one way or another and make her pay for everything. I won’t give up so easily.

“The blade you were stabbed with was coated with some type of black poison ...” says Isaiah, pulling me from my darkening thoughts as he drags a hand down his face, a sombre tone to his voice.

“It was touch-and-go with you for a while, Micai.” His shoulders slump slightly, a desolate look in his eyes as they meet mine.

Maybe that’s why I was in so much pain back then? It felt like a large burning poker was trying to slide through each and every one of my veins. It was pure agony. And it is a pain I will happily return to Mrs. Fleur tenfold.

Another thought niggles my mind with all of our conversation, my lips parting in question. “How would you be able to get information about the academy’s faculty?” My eyes narrow. “Actually ... how are you here right now? The dean doesn’t allow outsiders into the academy so easily.”

Isaiah sighs. “I heard the explosion ring out from town and made my way here as fast as I could.” He raises a bushy brow. “But I also have a couple of my own connections around here, Micai. I like being kept in the loop.” He drags a weary hand down his beard before continuing.

“After the explosion, the dean suspended the academy for the rest of the year. He decided that the academy was no longer safe for the students with the beasts attacking and the barrier being breached. It’s been closed the past two days, and most of the students have already left and returned home.”

His eyes flicker to the ground, looking hesitant to continue, and my brows narrow suspiciously. “You’re leaving bits out. What are you not telling me, Isaiah?”

He gives me a wary look, confliction warring in his gaze before his beard bristles and lips part.

“The Council came three days ago after hearing about the explosion. Their people started their own investigation as the dean announced the academy’s closure.

A lot of the Council’s people were roaming around and searching the premises looking for ‘evidence.’ ”

His brows pinch together, his tone turning sour as annoyance enters his gaze.

“They concluded that the attack was due to a group of students. That it was an ‘outburst of aggression’ directed at the academy and that they wouldn’t stand for it.

” Another heavy sigh leaves his lips as his words slowly filter in.

What the hell were they talking about? How could it have been students?

I meet his sombre gaze. He couldn’t possibly mean my guys.

“No.” I shake my head. “Not them. They couldn’t ha?—”

My words cut off as he gives me a slow nod. “The Council took the boys.”

Those five words have me sinking back onto the bed, my emotions spiralling and heart racing as Isaiah continues.

“They claimed they were the ones behind this attack and want to further investigate whether they were behind others.” He shakes his head.

“They took them to the Council for detainment. Nobody could stop them, not even the dean.”

Detainment? As in imprisoned?

I try to pull myself out of the bed again, but Isaiah stops me, his hand blocking me from moving any further.

“I have to break them out!” I shout, panic joining my anger at the thought of them being locked away in some cell, lost and scared like I had been in my previous life. “They didn’t do anything wrong!”

They didn’t deserve any of this. I have to save them.

I try to move again, pushing against his large hand, but my body isn’t at its full strength, and I only shake him a little with each shove.

“I know.” Those small, simple words have me stopping and meeting his gaze. “If it’s one thing I believe: it’s in their innocence. I’ve spent more time training with you and them in their home to know better, Micai.”

My hands fall to my sides with the sincere look in his brown eyes. He means it.

My gaze falls to my hands, my throat going dry as my eyes blur with unshed tears. “What do I do? How do I save them?”

I lift my head to meet his gaze again, the tears breaking free and trailing down my cheeks. “They can’t be locked away. I need to help them.”

A conflicted look forms in his eyes while watching me, his hands flexing back and forth at his sides as his brows pinch the lowest I’ve seen them. “We’ll figure out a way, Micai.”

I wipe my tears, my anger slowly growing and overtaking the ache in my chest with the thought of them locked away. “Why did the Council target them? Why my men?” I grit out. “What sort of ‘ evidence ’ did they create to detain them in the first place?”

Isaiah hesitates for a moment before clearing his throat, an awkward grin lifting his lips.

“They may have caused a bit of ... chaos.” He drags a hand down his beard, a slight flash of amusement in his eyes as they fall to the window nearby.

“When you went missing, they went on a little rampage through the forest. They destroyed more than half the area inside the barrier before targeting the barrier itself, ripping it down completely.” His eyes turn back to meet mine.

“Those explosions and blasts were your boys trying to find you, Micai.”

My eyes widen as a small breath leaves my lips.

All that chaos and those crazy blasts and explosions, the ground shaking beneath me, and those loud roars ... they were all made by the guys?

They destroyed the barrier erected by the academy and destroyed the challenge area all to find me? All of it ... for me?

I rub a small spot on my chest that begins to feel warm, and it grows larger as I continue to think of all that they did, all the havoc they must have razed looking for me, knowing that something was wrong.

And the air catches in my lungs ...

Six years. Six years I rotted away in a small cell, with not one person ever finding me. I doubt anyone cared that I was even gone, let alone tried to search for me.

But not them. They didn’t stop.

They destroyed half a mountain, going on a wild rampage through the area, tearing down even a powerful barrier that was in their way ... all while looking for me.

A chuckle escapes my lips as tears begin to fall again. A different kind this time.

I rub the spot on my chest as it continues to swell with heat.

They never gave up searching, they never gave up on me.

I wipe my tears away. And I won’t ever give up on them.

A small shaky smile stretches my lips before I meet Isaiah’s gaze again.

“Unfortunately, the Council is hellbent on making them the ones to take the blame.” Frustration forms in his eyes as his brows draw downward.

“They’re trying to pin all the other attacks at the academy on them too.

Gods forbid they ever do their damn jobs instead of using the easiest available option as scapegoats. ”

They want to pin everything on my Mates? Like hell I’ll let them.

I pull myself up again, pushing his hand gently as I stand.

And this time he doesn’t stop me. I take a couple of steps, but before I can leave the infirmary, he calls out to me. “You can’t do anything with the way you are now, Micai. You need to rest?—”

“I need to help them,” I call to him, not turning back as I continue to leave.

“Who can you help like that ?” he answers, and I peer down at my body and my white nightgown before clenching my hands into fists.

I can tell that I’m not back to my full strength just yet, but I’m sure I will be soon.

Isaiah takes four large steps toward me while I’m distracted and is already by my side before I know it, raising his hand to block my exit. “Move, Isaiah. Those damn Council bastards can burn. I’m not wasting another moment. My men need me.”

“What’s your plan?” His arm doesn’t budge as I try to move past him, his big body blocking my way now.

“Running into the Council headquarters in your little morning gown, screaming for your boys to be let go?” He shakes his head.

“They don’t listen to those who don’t hold power, status, or can line their pockets, Micai.

” A bitter scoff leaves his lips. “You don’t stand a chance at getting past the front door, let alone seeing your partners.

There’ll be time for plans and the heroics later.

But right now, you need to rest. You’re only just awake after being fucking poisoned . ”