Bound by Duty

Chapter Twenty-Five

Julia stepped down from her chair and walked toward me, gliding across the floor silently. It took all of my willpower to not step back, but I refused to show her weakness. She looked over my head and nodded. As I turned to look around, someone pinned my arms. I was struggling against the unknown Hunters, still trying to control the raging Keeper power inside of me, when fingers gripped my chin and I found myself eye to eye with the queen. The look in her eyes stopped me from doing anything. I could barely breathe as I watched red creep into her irises, like blood spreading across an ice cube. From inches away, she said, "You know nothing, you say? Are you quite sure of that, little one?"

She didn't even give me a chance to respond before she pulled my face all the way to the right and I almost fainted as I saw Bethany unconscious in Rhi's arms. I wanted to look at Micah, but Julia wouldn't allow me to move. She held my face, the pads of her fingers burning my skin while she forced me to stare at the limp body of my best friend held in the arms of my mother's murderer. There was nothing random about this. Realizing, slowly, that Micah had been a part of all of this, a whole new fire came alive in me. As the queen brought my face back to hers, she saw it, too.

"You didn't tell me she had violet eyes, Mikail. My, my, you are just the picture of your mother. I've never known anyone else to have those particular violet eyes. You are quite the prize, indeed." I opened my mouth to argue, to tell her off, to finally take a stand, and instead found her finger across my lips.

I gritted my teeth and bit the inside of my cheek as she continued to speak, my control waning and anger spiraling. "You see her? She is just a fragile little human. Do you see? LOOK AT HER!"

I had refused to keep staring at Bethany's slack form, but Julia turned my face back to her and held it until I opened my eyes.

She laughed. "This is my court. My kingdom. I make the rules here. If you want her to live, to go back to her happy little human life, then you'll tell me the truth. Do you have the Keeper power? Are you coming for me?"

With every ounce of pain, hatred, and anger I had, I removed all barriers from the Keeper magic that sat ready and waiting, and let her do her worst.

"YES!" I screamed, the single word echoing from every inch of the cavernous room as the queen and her Hunters were blasted away from me. No one saw it coming and I took the moment to my advantage. I dove for Bethany, hoping I could do some kind of damage to Rhi to free her from his arms. The balls of electric energy pulsed around my hands as I ran to him. Rhi hadn't moved, though a slow smile crept over his face. "Your little Keeper is no match for me, girl. Your mother should have known that." I wanted to end him for so many reasons, but he was holding Bethany.

"Give her to me. She doesn't need to be a part of this. You don't want to fight me," I warned him. I looked around and saw the Hunters closing ranks. Julia had righted herself and Micah still hadn't moved from his chair. His face paled further while his eyes never left Bethany. What a coward.

Rhi laughed at the same moment the other Hunters converged on me. I pushed outward with everything I had, at the same moment calling on the elements that had aided me at the theater. Blow them over. The wind storm that erupted split the ranks of Hunters and slammed them against the walls. I blasted at them as well, sending them flying into heaps. I kept moving toward Rhi. He stood staring at me, looking pleasantly surprised by my show of ability. He still held the prize though, and we both knew it. I kept blasting and pushing, and only when I got within feet of them, did the queen join the party again.

"THAT'S IT!" she screeched. Then, I was floating ten feet up in the air and couldn't breathe. I was gasping for air and clawing at my throat, trying to pull in oxygen from somewhere. There was nothing.