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“Let’s get closer then. See if we can spot any movement on the island.”
I looked at her like she was crazy. “No one can be on it, Mal. It’s the Glaev.”
She shared the same look of astonishment. “He can. He stood on it, back in Oryn. I saw him.”
Well shit.
“Alright, let’s get closer,” I conceded.
We darted across the beach to the next boulder nearer the Drift Island, pausing to glance around for movement, then sprinting to a space between two boulders next to each other at the curve of the bend. We pressed our bodies against the rock before leaning over to peer around the side of it. I could see where the sandbar met with the beach. The path itself was narrow and unaffected by the Glaev.
My spine shivered as an accented voice came from behind us.
“Hello, Diamond.”
Chapter Sixty-One
Kya
Ihad never feared staring into the face of death. I had always walked alongside it. But when those I loved were on that line with me, I was terrified.
At the sound of his gruff voice, Malina and I whipped around, our weapons raised, to find Daegel standing at the edge of the Rip. He didn’t have his hooded cloak this time, so I was able to see him more clearly. The blonde of his hair was short in length. It was cropped close to his head on the sides, while slightly longer on top. Those cobalt eyes, like the dark waters of the sea, were striking against the paleness of his freckled skin.
I blinked in wonder at how someone so alluring could be filled with corruption, rotted to the core.
We hadn’t seen him when we had darted from boulder to boulder, not when he was behind one himself. And beside him, with labored breathing and a bloodied face, Nikan stood with wide blue eyes filled with dread. His hands were bound, but he wasn’t gagged this time. My heart dropped at how close to the edge he was. One slip, one small push, and he’d be lost to the depths of the chasm forever.
Through the bond, I felt Ryker’s anxiousness at feeling my own trepidation.
My eyes flicked between my brother and the dark wielder. Daegel’s lips spread into a rueful smirk. He opened his mouth to speak, but Nikan beat him to it.
“Mal, get Kya out of here. You don’t understand what he is. What he’s capable—”
Daegel struck Nikan in the jaw, and blood spurted from his mouth as his head was whipped to the side from the impact. Malina and I advanced. I drew my magic to me, snaking it down my hand to my arrow.
“Now now. There’s no need for that.” Daegel held his hand up to us, the blackness of his dark magic swirling around his palm and fingers. We stopped but kept our weapons trained on him, my arrow, glowing with the energy, aimed right at his heart.
“Let him go,” I demanded. I would kill him where he stood but he was too close to Nikan. If he started to fall back into the Rip, he could take Nikan with him.
“Surrender yourself to me and tell your friend to drop her weapons, then I’ll release him.”
I didn’t believe him for a second. Even if I did surrender, he would just kill them eventually anyway. I didn’t say anything, just narrowed my eyes in challenge. I could hurt him and he was outnumbered.
Daegel huffed. “I would expect nothing less from a fierce little thing like you.”
He placed his hand on Nikan’s shoulder, not breaking eye contact with me. With a wink, he squeezed and there was a crack right before Nikan’s howl. Even with how strong our bones were, Daegel broke his shoulder like he was cracking an egg.
“Let’s make sure you behave,” Daegel said with a malicious grin. He pushed Nikan backwards until the back of his feet were at the edge of the Rip, the rocks chipping away beneath his heels down into the endless abyss.
“Wait! Stop!” Malina screamed as we both advanced.
“Ah ah ah. That’s far enough.” He held his hand out and we froze. The dark magic from his hand billowed down to the ground. It blackened the sand in a semi-circle around him and Nikan, expanding out toward us.
My breathing quickened and my heartrate spiked.
“Godsdamnit. What’s happening?”Ryker’s voice demanded. I ignored him, too focused on what was before me.
Malina and I leapt back, away from the Glaev as it slowly crept outward, until it stopped. It had created a barrier around Daegel and Nikan, too far for any of us to jump across. Nikan was trapped between the Glaev and the Rip. My mind quickly reeled on solutions to this new problem.
