IMMORTAL SECRETS: THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - ACCALIA

I feel him before seeing him.

I'm leaning from the cottage walls I hide behind to sermize the distance to the tree line. The probability of me running there without detection is high, as the dragons in the sky are reeking havoc in the opposite direction. But then, I'm thrown backwards into the cottage wall. His chest is impenetrable against mine. His hands above my head pressed against the wood ensures I'm pinned. I wriggle from side to side, anyway, and thrash my legs in an attempt to throw him off me. He counters by puffing his chest, more weight against me, shocking me into losing a breath, and he locks my hips into place with the force from his. Instinctively, as if to will mercy from my eyes to his, I look up. Hatred darkens his hazel eyes; this is how Chandresh used to look at me, when he first stalked my dreams. But this isn't Chandresh ...

I am the girl his father verbally abuses, the girl he bullied for years, the girl he couldn't wait to dispose of, but he helped me escape. His demeanor is outwardly aggressive, hinting at only one possibility – he's here to bring me back to Solom. I should be worried and scared, not solely for these reasons alone, but also for the fire burning the village and the ice-cold water rising past my ankles. Nonetheless, all I think about is him kissing me in the tree. Relief washes over me.

Nicholas is alive!

I release a heavy breath then smile.

The darkness in Nicholas's eyes clears. Winter's breeze carries away his expression of hatred that twisted his features. The smile forming on his lips drawing hope in his eyes. But like the flick of a light, darkness invades his eyes and contorts his face again.

"Damn it," Nicholas spits. He pushes off me and retreats to the other side of the wooden cottage, from where he had come. He's standing with his back to the wood, same as me, trying to make sense of the bond we share, same as me.

Nicholas and I were the only two living amongst a quiet and peaceful world, when our eyes locked. Now there are cries for help and fearful screams under attack with fire cracking and damaging winds as this village is torn apart. As the sun begins setting behind the clouded sky, I hear the dragons soaring closer and closer to me, Zachariah and Dameon. I've lived with them long enough to identify their presence and to know they're here obeying Solom's orders.

Solom, I won't go back to his lies.

I consider running through the field, rising with flood waters, to the tree line where the Yunwi and the Darshan brothers had told me to hide. But I'd be in full view of Nicholas, and I'm not sure where his loyalties lay. From his hesitation, I'm not sure he knows, either.

Nicholas makes the decision before I can decide. Remaining on the opposite corner, he swings his arm backwards and grabs my wrist. He yanks me off the cottage wall to stand at his side. Unsure of his actions and from the squeeze on my wrist turning it purple, I don't resist. I watch as he leans his head forward enough to see his best friends. He watches, until he decides to run. He releases my wrist to interlock our arms, forcing me to run at his side.

With the dragon's back to us, Nicholas leads me to the forest where he releases me long enough to jump in the air and transform into a dragon. With his overgrown claws, he scoops me up by the arms. Far from Zachariah and Dameon, Nicholas flies me through the cold air but remains under the protection of the forest following a cleared path for walking. We dip and zag from left to right in between trees in the path then aim slightly upwards again to avoid crashing into branches. After a distance is achieved free of the chance from being discovered, higher and higher in the sky Nicholas ascends. When time has passed, the sun's last rays brighten the horizon, Nicholas descends back into the forest.