Page 84 of Rising Out of the Darkness (Divine Guardians Duology #1)

Declan

E lena’s shadows blew the doors clear off their hinges. Even though I was consumed with the blood lust for the man inside this room, I couldn’t help but swell with pride at the sight of her.

The sounds of guards calling for help rang down the hall, and I knew that we didn’t have much time. I cloaked the room with darkness, leaving just the glow of Elena’s freckles, the hum of violet over my tattoos and the fierce violet glow within our eyes.

“Nice to see you again , Brand.”

“Elena, I can explain—” Will pleaded, before Elena used her Tempest winds to blast him against the wall, knocking him out.

Her palms began to glow, and she took a step towards Brand. I smirked as he shifted on his feet, taking two steps back. “Declan, I don’t know what you heard, but it’s not what you think.”

My shadows tossed the small coffee table between us into the wall, and it shattered into pieces. “You’re saying my mate lied to me about you?”

His eyes shifted to Elena and she smiled wickedly.

Brand’s eyes shrank into slits and his upper lip curled into a snarl. Flames ignited from his fingertips as he set a blast of fiery heat towards both of us. At the same time both of us fired back our dynamis, creating a wall of water that doused his flame.

His mouth gaped wide, but the shock only lasted mere moments before he launched a dagger towards Lena’s face.

Coiling my shadows around her wrist, I pulled her towards me, but not fast enough to miss the iron blade that sliced through the shell of her ear before it clattered to the floor in the hallway behind us.

“I should have killed you that night!” he seethed, reaching for another dagger, but my shadows beat him to it, slamming it into the wall behind us.

“Which night?” Elena purred. “The one when you killed my mother, or just the other night when you tried to take me in the forest beyond the castle walls?”

A guttural growl tore through my chest at the information my Wildfire had left out.

“Y-you’re…that girl on the floor in Lostburrow. All those years ago…that was you, wasn’t it?” Brand’s chest heaved as shadows wrapped around his body, squeezing him tight.

Elena moved towards me, and I steadied her as she manipulated the shadows around Brand. He thrashed against the shadow bindings, groaning each time Elena constricted them, and his face began to turn a deep scarlet.

When a cry of distress fled from his lips, I wrapped a shadow around his mouth to silence him. “You don’t have to do this, love. Taking a life leaves a scar on the soul, no matter how much they may deserve it.”

Her brows pinched, creating a wrinkle as she tried to hold in her frustrated tears.

“There are other ways, it’s okay,” I whispered against her temple, wiping the tears that had fallen.

She lowered her trembling arms. Her shadows receded with them. Brand fell to his knees, gulping for air through his crushed lungs.

The clang of metal and boots of the guards finally filled the doorway.

Five guards began their assault of dynamis, and we both released ours in return. We dodged their dynamis left and right, while eventually knocking out three of them.

Lena suddenly shrieked, and I whipped around to see Brand had risen once more, his hand wrapped firmly around her neck. The dagger now in his other hand rising upwards.

With one hand I blasted turbulent winds towards the remaining guards, with the other I launched my shadows around Brand’s neck.

The guards tumbled to the ground, but Brand continued to squeeze the air from Elena’s lungs as her feet thrashed in the air.

Time slowed. She mouthed words I’d seen her use before when her anxiety overwhelmed her, just as her entire body came alight with white flame.

Brand’s screams tore through the room as I zephyred towards her and wrapped her in my arms. Unlike last time, I felt no sting of ice from her flames. Instead it felt like a calming warmth as I tore her away from Brand.

Residual flames flickered over him as he fell, convulsing on the floor. In a matter of moments his body went still.

Lena trembled uncontrollably. The guards on the floor stilled at the sight, but now scrambled to their feet to stop us.

I lowered my head towards hers and cupped both sides of her face. “We’re going to have to fight our way out of here, love.”

She nodded solemnly, igniting her palms in icy white flames.

Elena and I used shadows and flames to force our way out of the small room and past the guards. We ran down the hallway into the grand hall, all while dodging blasts of dynamis.

Just as we made it in, Liam and Killian came running in from the opposite direction. Liam blasted shards of ice towards the guards still chasing behind us. Both fell to the ground with a thud.

“Thank the gods.” Elena’s exasperated voice rasped inside my head.

The reprieve was short lived, as the front entrance of the castle swung wide open and in walked Alastor and my father. Behind them two guards dragged Clara.

Her swollen eyes met mine as she mouthed, “Sorry,” then met Lena’s eyes to do the same.

Three of the guards who were following us finally made their appearance, and four more stormed in behind us. Thank all five gods . They were from the Rebellion.

Lena ignited her palms in white flames, and my shadows burst free. Killian and Liam stepped beside us at the ready.

“Don’t make one more move.” Alastor’s deep voice filled the hall. In a move of dynamis I’d never seen before, he extended his hand, and Clara flew out of the guards’ hands and into his grip.

Killian cursed and launched a dagger towards Alastor. To which he zephyred away from just in time.

Damn.

The bastard had figured it out, our secret source of our dynamis. The question is now, how long has he known and which dynamis’ has he accessed?

“Stop right there. You know what I can do to her, Declan.” Alastor’s cruel smile drifted my way. “Let’s see to it that she doesn’t fall to the same fate.”

My shadows stormed in a cloud of rage around me, and I took a step forward. Two hands grabbed my biceps, pulling me back, one Elena’s and the other Killian’s.

“If you both come with me quietly”—his beady eyes shifted from me to Elena— “I’ll make sure Clara remains unharmed.”

“No,” I growled.

Father stepped forward, the scowl on his face deeper than the wrinkles across his forehead.

“She has committed treason, as has the Light Phoenix.” My father’s glare landed on Elena.

“I told you not to break our deal, child. Your punishment is already under way as we burn down that scum of a town you call home.”

Elena crashed to her knees with a cry that shredded my heart in two. “No!” she screamed, arms wrapping around her middle as she rocked back and forth.

Clara sobbed in Alastor’s hold, while my father’s face left me puzzled. Beneath the scowl, I swore I could almost see the gloss of tears forming in his eyes.

Alastor, on the other hand, was drinking Elena’s despair like a fine wine. Bastard.

“Put her down!” I yelled to him. “This is the last time I’ll tell you.”

I lowered my voice so only Killian could hear. “When I tell you, I want you to zephyr to Clara and get the Hells out of here.”

He shook his head, his eyes shifting from Elena to Clara and back. Worry clouded his eyes, as if the orders I gave were about to shift something within him.

“I’ve got Lena,” I whispered.

Killian’s eyes drifted back towards Clara’s, and I watched the air flee his chest when her tearstained eyes locked on his. There was no longer any hesitation in the man behind me. He turned to me with a blaze of fury in his glare. “On your signal.”

“What is your decision, boy?” Alastor’s grip crushed Clara’s arm, causing her to scream out in pain.

I slid down on my knees next to Elena and held her in my arms. Her breaths were shallow and her expression had gone numb from shock. “Love, I need you. I know this is hard, but we need to fight the darkness. Fight for your people. Fight for the ones you love.”

Her trembling chin lifted, her eyes met mine, and a strange calm settled over her. Behind the despair, something more dangerous ignited. Lena’s eyes hardened into a glare to the men behind me.

“Give me your hand. We’ll do this together. Let’s show them a little something they haven’t seen before.”

Intertwining our hands, we rose together and readied our stances. I took one last look at Liam and Killian, then the men behind me.

This ended today.

I raised our interlaced hands towards my father and Alastor as Elena’s shadows began to darken the hall. My lips twitched at the fear that widened their eyes. “Let’s light up the darkness, Wildfire.” She nodded, and I whispered to Killian. “Go.”

With a flash, he startled Alastor with a punch in the jaw, grabbed Clara and flickered out of the castle just in time to avoid the violet burst of light flowing from our fingertips.

“Hells!” my father bellowed as the blow from our power knocked them both back against the wall with a thundering crash.

The chaos of dynamis unleashed all around us. We dodged each attack, firing back with all our dynamis. None of us held back.

Alastor scrambled to his feet and launched a powerful flurry of lightning bolts towards us. I pulled Elena into my chest and told her to dig deep to create a blast of wind.

The hum of electricity sizzled in the air as the bolts approached.

“Now!”

A turbulent gust of violet light and shadows tore out of us, slamming into Alastor’s lightning with such force that it created a wave that knocked everyone in the room to the ground.

My ears were ringing as I came to and noticed Liam towering over us. His arms were waving and his mouth was moving, but I couldn’t make out the words.

Below me Elena lay motionless, blood dripping from her nose, but still breathing. Thank gods .

“Dec!” My senses slammed back into me all at once, and I jolted at the sound of Liam’s deep voice. “We’ve got to go!”

He helped me up, then I scooped up Lena into my arms. Before we moved, I frantically scoured the room for Alastor or my father, but turned up empty.

“Alastor zephyred them out of here,” Liam said, tugging my arm to get me to move.

We made our way past the hallways to the kitchen and out the back door. The stables were nearby, and thankfully our horses were still there when we reached it.

Neither of us bothered with a saddle. It took too much time, and we had to get to Elena’s town as fast as we could.

Once seated, Liam lifted Lena up to me and I secured her against my chest. We bolted out of the stables, heading towards Lostburrow.

As the sounds of hooves thundered against the ground, I grasped the reins tighter as a piercing pain struck through my chest. I knew one day this moment would come, they day I’d finally have to leave, but it hurt more than I’d ever imagined.

No matter what darkness had crept in to my home, it was still my home . The place where I grew up, the city that I loved, the place where I had made some wonderful memories with the ones I’d loved.

I turned back to take one last look, the castle became smaller and smaller as we galloped away. Glancing down to the beautiful soul lying against me, I realized wherever we were, she would always be ‘home’.