All I Need ✔️

Chapter 91

This chapter contains violence and references to sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Third Person POV (Valery)

The man kept his sword at Valery's throat.

"You're one of them, aren't you?" he asked. "Like her," he said, gesturing to Callista. "You're marked."

Valery didn't reply, which the man took as a yes.

"If I see even a hint of a glow in your eyes, I'll kill you. How many of you are there?"

"Ten," Valery replied. It wasn't technically a lie – there were only ten women at the aviary.

"Ten?" the man mocked. "You can't possibly expect to take the fort with that. Unless this is some kind of revenge mission...that's what it is, isn't it?"

"Yes," Valery replied, trying to keep the man as in the dark as possible.

The man laughed. "So this is about Safania then. How is she? Does she miss me?"

A look of confusion flashed across Valery's face, which the man noticed immediately.

"Surely she must have told you? I figured that's why you were here – to get back at me. No? Who then?"

"What did you do to her?" Valery asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer, but trying to keep him talking to give her unit time to find her.

"First of all, I didn't do anything to her...at least not alone. And second, I could tell you, but it would be so much more fun to show you," the man said, sliding his sword down from her neck to the space between her thighs.

Valery, realizing what the man was referring to, felt a wave of nausea hit her. "You're a sick bastard. The whole lot of you," she spat at him with disdain. He smiled.

"I like you," he told Valery. "When the rest of the fort gets here and captures you and all of your little friends, I think I'll keep you for myself."

Valery felt rage boiling inside her, then a sharp pain at her side. She looked down to realize she was bleeding. The man had struck her in her side with his blade.

"You're lucky – that was a warning. If I see your eyes start to glow again, I will kill you," the man told her.

At that moment, the door swung open, revealing Kylie, another woman in the unit. "Valery? Are you..."

She stopped mid-sentence, looking down to see a dagger sticking into her chest. A crimson stain began to spread down her shirt. Her face froze in shock, and she crumpled to the ground.

"Kylie!" Valery screamed, not caring who heard her. Clutching her own wound, she scrambled to her feet and drew her sword.

"Valery is it? I'm Edward," the man said, introducing himself as though nothing had happened.

"You son of a bitch," she replied, raising her sword.

The two began to fight. Valery wanted to use her abilities, but she was worried about lighting the dry, wooden structure of the aviary on fire. So she battled using only her sword.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Edward knocked her to the ground, kicking her weapon away. He approached her, writhing in pain on the floor. At that moment, he heard footsteps and voices on the stairs leading to their floor. Realizing the people coming were the other elementalists, not the fort's soldiers, Edward decided to flee.

"Tell Safania that Edward says hi," he whispered to Valery, then smacked her head against the floor, knocking her unconscious. He fled through the aviary's window before the other elementalists arrived.