Soul of Flame (Imdalind Series #4) by Rebecca Ethington Read Free Book Online Page B

wrapping around me as he kneeled down beside me.
    “I h-had-d n-no re-reason.” Tears flowed from my eyes as I tried to pull away, his arms loosening just enough so I could look at him.
    “You did not mean to attack him, but you had a reason for what you did. You know you did.” Ilyan looked at me, his love and worry projecting through the deep blue of his eyes, but I didn’t see that. I only saw Dramin’s eyes when my magic had hit him, the sadness as he bid the world farewell. I only saw the magic as it flew from my hands, the last of Cail’s mind disintegrating around me.
    I clenched my hands into tight fists, my long nails pushing into the skin of my palms as regret and anger filled me.
    Ilyan must have felt my panic because he clutched me to him, his lips pressing against the mark on my neck as he held me. The aggressive shock wound through me in a surge of energy that took away just enough of my anxiety to give me a chance to control it.
    “You are strong, my love. You can fight it,” Ilyan reminded me, his voice a whisper.
    Emotions and memories ran through my mind as I fought the torment, desperate to regain the strength I knew was still hiding within me. At the same time, I danced with the urge to disappear into the insanity that had opened its arms to me.
    “Teď tiše, moje malá. Upokoj se, buď klidná. S novým úsvitem se svět změní. A když se změní, uvidíš, jaký bychom měli být, ty a já.” Ilyan whispered the words of our song to me, the meaning clear even without the tune behind it. His words broke through just enough to give me a jolt of strength, allowing me to banish the fears from my body.
    The pain and horrors scattered like light in the dark. I raised my head to my brother, my stiff body uncoiling as I moved to step toward him . I could feel the apprehension try to return, but I pushed it away, my need to see him compelling me forward.
    I reached out shakily to touch Dramin’s arms, his skin clammy under my fingers. With my skin against his I could feel what I had done. I had destroyed his magic, just as Thom had said.
    Just as I had feared.
    I hadn’t been able to stop it; the attack had controlled me.
    It was just as I had seen in the cave in Italy as I hovered over the pool of Black Water. When I had seen Dramin’s death.
    My body collapsed onto Dramin’s, my hands clinging to him as my regret and pain swelled and grew until a howl broke from my lips.
    Ilyan was next to me in a second, our song a whisper on his lips as he gave me something to focus on, something to chase away my terrors.
    “I s-saw this,” I sobbed as he held me, his song fading as I spoke. I let my magic flow into Dramin as I clung to him, his body feeling cold and lifeless against the heat from my power. In my first sight, I saw Dramin’s death. I saw the flow of magic, the way the life left his eyes…
    I just didn’t know it was me who would kill him , I said to myself, the words trapped where I wasn’t sure I would ever let them escape.
    “Show me,” Ilyan whispered, his breath hot against my skin.
    I closed my eyes, the vision coming to the front of my mind as I pushed it into Ilyan the same way I spoke to him.
    My vision came like a reel from a movie, flashes of white before the images of the sight came. I saw everything as he did, my body still as I was trapped in Cail’s mind, the yelling as I woke, and then the fire and the screaming. I showed Ilyan the stream of magic that I now knew had come from my hands, the slow fall of Dramin’s body. I showed him the way Dramin was tightly wrapped in white cotton, his face covered in a red handkerchief. My chest tightened as together, we saw the hole in the ground, the frozen dirt covered with snow. I wished I could look away as the next image came, the sight of me standing alone in an ancient cemetery, my face streaked with tears, the imagery fading to black as the sight ended.
    I gasped as the sight left, Ilyan’s footsteps moving away from me as