Prisoner of Chaos (Redemption Book #4)

Chapter 47

Kyla

He would want this... but I don't know if I'll be able to do it for him.

We crawl through Sola's mirror to my bedroom mirror, and I don't even have time to think about how strange such a feat is because the only thing on my mind is the fact that I'll have to kill my own beloved father.

"Your father is headed north, almost to Erlund, but I don't know where the Dark Lord is, whether he is in Hyland or Erlund or somewhere further still," Rift says, he can sense where my father is because of drinking my blood. "I'm not going to wait long. If the Dark Lord is with him he'll be harder to kill"

"Yes, we need to get there as quickly as possible, but how? You can't trace like you used to so easily."

I walk over to where I'd hidden the dagger, hardly taking time to realize I'm finally back in the room I'd grown up in.

How different everything feels.

Yes, there the blade sits, and I recall the day Rift gave it to me. How he'd admitted why we'd met in the first place.

My hand falls upon the hilt and I clutch it, turning toward Rift who stands by my window, his expression somber.

"Rift," I murmur. "We must--must make it quick."

"He's in his beast form, are you sure you're capable of getting close enough for me to stop him without incinerating me?" Rift asks me, offering a hand to take the dagger.

"I have to," I say. "It won't be easy, but can you use your magic?"

"I can turn him back into his human form, but I'll need to Scourge someone if dark magic needs to come into play," Rift says, his voice stony. "I'm running on empty with Wes' leavings."

"Shit," I say, "maybe we should have kept him."

"That's what I was hoping we'd do," Rift mutters. "You're simply too compassionate, even for those who've so obviously wronged you."

I shoot him a look, but my brow is furrowed in anguish. Wes is the last thing on my mind right now and my heart breaks inside with every heartbeat.

"Rift," I whimper, and he wraps his arms around me.

I can't believe what we're about to do and I'm having such a difficult time with it, yet I'm fighting off feeling numb. It's as if I'm reserving my emotional strength for when it actually happens. The moment when we have to kill my father. An ominous sense of dread lingers in the air.

"C'mon, Kyla, let's go," he says. "We'll crawl through the mirror into Erlund, in that room you had."

"I suppose that would be the fastest way to travel," I say, wishing I didn't ever have to go back to Erlund after everything.

Rift withdraws from my embrace but keeps my hand tightly in his, his eyes glimmer amber as he walks into my bedroom mirror and we come out the other side into my room in Erlund.

It's so easy. Rift makes everything so easy. Damn. His mother was right. He truly is one of the most powerful beings in Axus. Besides the Dark Lord that is.

"Arlite!" I hear a shriek. It's Hanna, the nightshift maid I'd somehow gotten along with. "What sort of sorcery is this?"

"This is Rift, Hanna, he's a mage," I say as calmly as I can, taking a cautious step toward her. "We're here to stop the Dark Lord from burning your city with my father's help. My father has gone mad and is headed in this direction right now. I need you to not call the guards. We don't want anyone to get hurt if we can help it."

"They say you betrayed our prince," Hanna says, her voice hushed, her gaze darts toward the door as if checking for the imminent presence of others.

"Do you believe them?" I ask her, holding my breath, ready to stop her if she runs to get the guards. "Do you think I want war?"

Hanna tilts her head and studies my face with narrowed eyes. "You are supposed to be a monster. A Cursed. I was told all my life that those such as you with red eyes are innately evil, but in the short time I've known you, you've treated me better than any royal who has stayed in this castle." She shakes her head. "You're no monster, Kyla."

I let out that breath and her words warm me inside. "Thank you, Hanna. We're going to fix this."

Hanna's face softens and she bows to me. "Then go do so, Princess Kyla."

"I won't forget you," I say to her graciously. I climb up the window ledge and wince as the north wind blows in at me. The first flakes of a snowfall have begun to fall. I leap out and take my beast form as I do so. The cold wind of Erlund doesn't sting my thick beast hide as it does my bared human skin and I hover next to the window. "Get on my back, Rift."

Rift walks over to the window ledge and steps up onto it, leaping from it to my back. He grasps the ridge of my spine with his thighs and wraps his arms around the base of my long neck. "He's nearing the castle, head south west and you'll meet him head on in the mountains," Rift shouts over the wind.

Hanna rushes to the window and watches as I fly away.

A great shout sounds from the castle grounds and the alarm bells ring, but I fly out of sight into the beginning of a snow storm. As we continue toward the mountains the weather worsens and the sound of the wind drowns out the bells.

"At this rate I won't be able to see a thing," I roar over the wind at Rift. "How are we going to see him?"

"He's close, I can sense it. You're going to have to lure him toward you, is there a way you can get his attention?" Rift asks. "If he's in a primitive state of mind he could respond to the sound of another drakon."

"Okay, but you might want to cover your ears," I warn Rift.

"Got them covered," Rift shouts back at me.

My massive jaws open to emit a loud, clear, territorial drakon shriek.

A moment passes and over the blizzard my father's beast answers my challenge.