Page 39 of Of Nightmares & Fire (Elusive Umbra #1)
Chapter thirty-one
Kyros
“What the fuck!” I grind the words through my teeth as I throw my shadows out around me and Zinya. I can feel her magick pressing against me too, trying to calm the disarray. It helps minimally.
“Why in the pits of Zamiel is a Thunderbird attacking?” Zinya calls out over the shouts and cries of those around us.
I would like to know the same. The creature’s wings down thrust, generating a powerful wind that makes the loose sand beneath our feet fly into the air.
It makes it hard to breathe, much less see.
Their cries from the sky echo all around from the people gathered for the ceremony.
Thunderbirds are generally not found in these parts, let alone attacking humans.
Their sole purpose is to protect, to keep balance within the land, and to steer storms where they are needed most.
I’ve never seen a thunderbird in person before.
The depictions from tomes written by our ancestors, as well as paintings and statues of them, do nothing to serve them as they truly are.
The vast expanse of their four, X-like wingspan is incredible.
Their dark feathers have an almost luminescent glow even in the bright morning sun, while their yellow underbelly appears as though it has been dipped in gold.
Deadly claws reach low, threatening to pluck people from where they are, and many of them do just that.
The whole ghastly spectacle is in conflict with the sheer wonderment of the creature itself.
“I don’t know. Find Mavros! This wasn’t the plan, but we will use it to our advantage.
Let’s get the fuck out of here.” I yell, glancing over my shoulder at her.
She nods and runs in the opposite direction that I am heading—toward the last place I saw Astraea.
I grunt as I continue to use my magick to conceal me, giving me an advantage as I move through the crowd.
A scream catches my attention just as I see a body fly sideways. I curse, picking up speed, and I slide to my knees, catching Colette as she is cast aside like a discarded match. Her vibrant red hair spilling out around her like a spark from a flame.
“Where is she?” I ask as gently as I can manage, but my heart is racing and my shadows coil around me like black snakes of death…
Colette's round eyes track the movement, and confusion and realization battle for dominance across her features.
With another demanding grunt, I shake her desperately, asking again.
“If yo u know where she is, you need to tell me. Did you see? Did she run?”
“ Kellan .” She finally says, just as Zinya and Mavros cut through the shadows. Mavros’ shadows now join with mine.
“Keep her safe. Do everything you can to meet me at Dune Village just before Creshian.” I pass Colette to Mavros as his eyes burrow into mine, and he accepts the shocked handmaiden.
Questions and things that will have to be left unsaid for now cross his face, but I shake my head.
“The village, Mavros. Get there.” Gruelingly, he nods with pursed lips, and I level him with a promise in my eyes before I rend a portal right before everyone.
I couldn't say where we were meeting for risk of other people hearing, but he will understand where I meant.
I watch them all disappear as Mavros casts his shadows out over everyone to help them get away, and the screaming and disarray only intensifies.
I have to trust my brother to get them all to safety.
He has the sense to make sure the rest of the team is accounted for too.
As I step through the portal, I unsheathe my sword to prepare for a fight.
I know as soon as this portal shuts behind me, I will not have much magick to rely on, as it was never fully restored. I feel my energy depleting already.
The portal snaps shut, and I’m thrust into the darkness of the stables. The horses whinny and shake with my charged presence, but I don’t mask my power this time. If the guard Kellan wants to take Astraea for himself, then he will have to go through me.
It’s then that I see them. Astraea is wrapped in his arms, and hers are wound around his neck.
The pressure in my jaw intensifies as I clench it hard enough to crack the bones.
I sheath the sword, and what is left of my shadows leaps from my body without thought.
Astraea screams as they pull them apart, and I step between their bodies.
“Wait! Kyros!” She yells as the dark mist lifts the backstabbing guard up by his throat, and I watch with a curious tilt to my head, surveying the emotion in his eyes. Drinking it in when I see the terror fill them as he sees who it is controlling the magick that binds him.
“I should snap your neck for betraying her.” The wrath in my voice comes out with an otherworldly rumble as I bring my face nose-to-nose with him.
I make sure he feels the promise in my threat as I continue to squeeze him with magick.
“You just couldn’t stand it, could you?” His face is blotchy red and purple from lack of oxygen, but soon it will be void of all color when I drain him of his life.
I barely register Astraea pulling at me through my rage, satisfied enough knowing that she is here and unharmed.
“Kyros, please .” She doesn’t yell, scream, or hit me.
If she had, I don’t think I would have heard it at all.
But this? This soft whispered plea of my name?
Her delicate touch on my arm. It breaks through every hard wall I have.
I blink, and my magick falls away when I look at her.
Kellan gasps for air as the bastard falls to the ground.
On his knees, he claws at his neck as though he can open it further to allow more air into his lungs.
“I told you, I will end anyone who aims harm at those I claim as mine . His betrayal was his death sentence, and I’m the executioner.
” I growl, and I see her lips part with a shaky breath just before I look away from her, back to the man wheezing for breath.
I realize what I’ve just said, but it’s too late to take it back now.
My brows furrow as I look down on Kellan.
“He didn’t betray me. He saw an opportunity to get me away and out of harm's way and took it. You’re right, you know?
You did say that death would be dealt by your hand, but you also promised me that it would not land on mine.
Not only that, but you promised you would not kill innocents.
Kellan did not betray us. Spare him, I beg you.
If for no other reason but that. Please don’t kill him.
” She says gently, and again, it causes my chest to feel as though it is cracking open, leaving my heart bare for her.
It aches, and I want nothing more than to bury the pain.
Taking a deep breath, I continue to stare at the man at my feet.
His life hangs in the air between my ragged breaths.
“Kyros,” she whispers once again. The sound is like a caress to the exposed organ.
“Consider this your warning of what will happen if you so much as breathe a disloyal breath toward her. If you think you’ve had nightmares before— you’re wrong.
” The guard turns and spits on the ground before wiping his mouth and looking back at me with a look of disdain.
I don’t care enough to apologize. Something about the bastard just pisses me off.
“Thank you.” Astraea stops me as I turn to walk away, and I look down to where her fingers curl along the curve of my bicep.
“For not killing him, and for wanting to defend me. I haven’t had many people willing to do that in my lifetime.
” I stare at her for a long moment, more time than we honestly have to spare.
The blue in her eyes is like the clearest spring day.
Not yet bleached by the summer sun. Crisp and clear, gleaming with a bright radiance.
“Defending you was easy. It was holding myself back when you asked me to spare him; that was the hardest. I am not known for my restraint, Shula.” I watch as her fingers tighten on my arm and as an ocean of unshed tears builds in her blue eyes.
I stand here planted as though her touch is what roots me in place, and the tears that well in her eyes could very well drown me.
“Get me out of here, Kyros.” She whispers, and I nod.
“If he is coming with us, get him up. We don’t have much time.
We have to make this quick.” My chin juts out in the direction of Kellan, where he is pinning me with a sneer and rubbing at his neck where my shadows had him strung up.
Before I act on impulse and lift the princess into my arms and claim her fully here and now, I tug out of her grip and stride to the far stall where Khol is being kept.
I make quick work of saddling him and Eidola before guiding them through the dark stables.
The mayhem of everything outside the clay walls and wooden doors has the war-trained horses tense and ready for battle, but it's not a fight they will see today.
Today we will have to choose stealth. Getting away while the chaos is at its peak.
The deafening cry of the Thunderbird echoes through the air as I crack open the back stable door.
The Thunderbirds have brought the darkness of cloud cover with them, which will only aid us further.
“There.” Kellan points from beside me, and I follow to where his finger aims .
“That’s inside the palace walls. We need to get away from the castle.” I say while looking for other options.