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Chapter 138
I had my hand against the marble wall, contemplating whether I should demolish it when a little boy’s giggle echoed down the hall.
It was a sound I used to find obnoxious, especially when I was knee deep in calculus homework and Zack only had his times tables to work on. Half of the time Dad would steal the sheet and sit hunched over at the kitchen table, mumbling about how math was different in his day. He’d quickly work through the problems himself, and Zack would pretend to listen while Dad explained how he got his answers. His squeaky laugh made it impossible to focus on my own work.
It was a sound I never thought I’d hear again.
My heart skipped a beat when I turned around and caught a glimpse of dark messy hair and a toothy smile that belonged to my little brother.
He was peeking around the corner twenty feet away, only half of his face visible. Another giggle and he vanished. The fading patter of his feet made my adrenaline spike,
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Iridian Chapter 139
“Rachel, Rachel, Rachel.” He shook his head in disappointment, but the truth was written across his twinkling eyes and malicious grin. “Hasn’t anyone ever taught you, the first thing you do after murdering someone is make sure they’re actually dead.”I tried to take a step back, to put some distance in between us but my feet were glued to the kitchen mat I stood on. The logical side of me latched onto the one explanation that brought us comfort, that this was another trick and that Dain’s blood-thirsty brother was still dead.We couldn’t find his corpse…“I saw your body. I saw you dead.” I insisted, forcing my voice not to tremble. As afraid as I was of Callum and the empty look in his eyes, I was too prideful to give him the reaction he was wanting.There was no way I’d imagined it, seeing Callum’s charred and blistered corpse. His skin blackened and rough o
Iridian Chapter 140
I sat straight up, and my eyes snapped open as awareness zapped me like a jolt of electricity. My hands went from grasping the silky comforter to clutching my throat, which was no longer being crushed but had a soreness that reminded me all too strongly of being strangled.Several deep breaths later and I realized I wasn’t in just any bed. The onyx sheets and pillows made of pure silk and softer than anything I’d ever felt before belonged to one person alone. Even his scent lingered in the room, but the traces of it I picked up were faint and quickly fading.The illusion of Dain’s bedroom was spot on, down to the cart of crystal decanters that sat beside the balcony doors.I wasted no time and pulled myself from the bed, wrestling with the blankets for a few seconds when my feet became tangled. His bedroom door was the same, and still creaked around the halfway mark.What wasn’t the same was everything else.The pale stone t
Iridian Chapter 141
The only thing my eyes latched onto was the sight of Adley’s tear-stained face. That was all that mattered, not the woman across from her or the corpse at her feet. Anger burned in her eyes, but it was the person it was directed at that told me this Adley wasn’t an illusion.Alexandria was smiling from where she stood in front of a great window overlooking the sea, clearly in some unnamed room of Dain’s castle. Her head was held high as she basked in Adley’s pain, which I didn’t know the cause of until I noticed the head of flaming hair fanned out across the floor.For a moment, I thought I was seeing my mom again, which made me wonder why Adley was both crying and snarling in outrage.Only when she gasped and turned her head in my direction did I realize it was my body I was looking at.“Rachel—you’re alive!” Her hand flew up to cover her mouth.When Alexandria noticed me, she tilted h
Iridian Chapter 142
Cheers filled the air and the music that had been playing increased in volume. There were people dancing again, the crowd moving and churning instead of standing still. I looked at Adley and said, “…the closest door, that’s what we need to find.”Both of us looked around, which was difficult to do crouched low to the ground. Only a handful of people even noticed us, and simply glanced down disdainfully before returning to their conversations. Thankfully, most didn’t have a reason to look down.“The doors to the courtyard, they’re the closest.” Adley nodded her head in the direction of the doors. “We can hide behind their dresses until we get close enough to make a run for it.”“Sounds good to me. I’d rather save my energy for when Callum comes back.” I said darkly, refusing to wince when the image of my little brother flashed in my head.The two of us kept low and weaved in bet
Iridian Chapter 143
We followed the curve of the room, forcing our way past people that tried to split us up. Whether it was on purpose or because everyone here was drunk didn’t matter, not when half a second apart could allow one of us to slip away. More than once I had to use my magic to separate the crowd. A simple wave of my hand had people stumbling backwards, moved by an invisible wall that kept them away.Just when we began to draw serious attention to ourselves, I found the escort with the missing button and the corridor he stood in front of. He stepped forward and opened his mouth to speak when two men in crisp looking suits pushed through the crowd. Both had blank expressions on their face as they charged our way.Without wasting any time Adley and I made a mad dash for the corridor. At the last second, I paused before running inside and faced the two men. Thrusting my hand out with my palm flat, I let out a blast of magic that sliced through the air.It hit the fir
Iridian Chapter 144
“Adley…” I spoke soft and slow, like I were coaxing a wounded animal from its den. “…I need you to come over here, now.”I begged her to listen with my eyes, but my attention kept straying to Ally. She was twitching beneath her veil of knotted hair, whimpering softly. My heart threatened to seize in my chest when I took a step in her direction and Adley’s stance turned defensive.“What—Rachel, no. We can’t…I can’t—” Her voice cracked like thin porcelain.It wasn’t weakness in Adley’s eyes but a slew of emotions that proved the sheer strength she possessed. Horror and anguish made the bright blue’s pale like brittle ice, while the stubborn refusal to leave her sister behind was a fire that glowed warm beneath it all.Ally began to say something under her breath, but her voice was wet and raspy. Adley jumped into action, unafraid as she reached
Iridian Chapter 145
The weapon of light I held in my hand sputtered out, and for a long moment we stared at one another. Our eyes conveyed everything words couldn’t. Every agonizing emotion we felt was on display, along with the flimsy excuses we told ourselves to cover the bitter, ugly truth of it all.I murdered her sister, her twin. We came here to rescue Ally and failed.Blame and agony were the storm clouds that rolled across her eyes, leeching the blue from the horizon until her iris’s turned a flat grey. There was something different about her, something that changed when Ally’s body melted into the iridescent stars that now hung in the night sky.It could’ve easily been a mixture of shock and grief, but a feeling in my gut told me it might be something more.My brain was running on overdrive, taking in every detail, yet I it couldn’t find the words to say. I wanted to snarl and throw myself out the window a second time when an a
Iridian Chapter 146
Thirteen tunnels circled the room with flickering torches in between. Choosing from them was going to be a problem, but that wasn’t the only one we’d have to face before getting the hell out of here. Each tunnel was incredibly narrow and would only fit the three of us if we went in a single-file line. The thought of being trapped while Callum, Nadia, or any one of their creatures raced for us made me feel a bit light-headed.What made matters worse was using any sort of fire power in such a confined space could hurt Adley or Apollo.Apollo stood at the very center of the cavern, a hand on his chin as he stared down each dark tunnel. Adley on the other hand walked the circumference of the room. As I paid more attention to her I realized her eyes were going blank every so often. It happened right when she’d pass a tunnel, though for some they remained normal.“This one.” Her voice bounced off the smooth walls, and she came to a stop i
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