Kiono POV
The first blow shattered my jaw.
I didn't raise my psychic shields. I didn't lift my hands to block. I simply let the impact take me, my head snapping violently to the side as the taste of blood burst across my tongue.
Castel was a storm of pure, unhinged fury. For an entire hour, his royal chambers became a slaughterhouse, and I was the sacrifice. He unleashed telekinetic pressure on my flesh, using his fists, his boots, and his raw cosmic power to tear me apart piece by piece. He needed to bleed out his rage, and if it meant taking the beating of my life to keep his hands off my sister Eina, I would pay that price tenfold. I lay on the polished floor, my vision blurring into a haze of crimson, my ribs cracked, my chest heaving as a pool of my own dark blood slowly pooled onto the rug.
The door to the chambers burst open. Mell rushed into the room, his eyes wide with horror as he took in the horro.
"Fix him," Castel ordered, his voice cold, flat, and entirely drained. He had retreated to his massive canopy bed, sitting on the edge of the dark sheets, looking thoroughly irritated and exhausted by his own outburst.
Mell dropped to his knees beside me, his hands instantly glowing with the soft, light of restorative magic. The agony in my bones began to dull, the fractured cartilage fusing back together and the deep lacerations on my face sealing under the healing currents.
Castel watched the process with a dark, brooding stare. Once Mell finished closing the worst of my wounds, Castel pointed a hand toward the far corner of the room. "Bring Kris back after you are finished with him."
Mell paled, but he didn't dare argue. He walked over to where Kris's lifeless body lay on the floor, her neck still twisted at that horrific angle. Lifting her limp form into his arms, Mell adjusted his grip and prepared for the journey. To pull her soul back from the precipice of death, he would have to carry her physical vessel directly into the spirit world the shifting, dangerous realm known as Fantas.
Castel turned his hollow, eyes back to me, waving a dismissive hand. "You can leave, Kiono. I don't want to see you right now."
Spitting a remnant pool of blood onto the floor, I forced my freshly healed muscles to cooperate. I stood on my feet, swaying slightly as my equilibrium adjusted, and gave the king a silent nod. I turned and walked away.
Every single breath tore at my lungs, and my skin throbbed with a residual, burning ache. Castel had not held back a single ounce of his strength, he had genuinely tried to beat the life out of me. But as I navigated the empty, torch-lit corridors of the palace, the physical agony faded into absolute insignificance. I had something far better to look forward to.
I couldn't wait. I couldn't standardly walk out of the palace gates. Spotting a tall, arched window at the end of the hallway, I accelerated my pace and jumped cleanly out into the open night air.
The wind caught me, and I instantly triggered my telekinesis, uncoiling my aura to cut through the freezing draft. I soared through the dark sky, climbing higher into the northern mountain peaks, a genuine, unbothered smile breaking across my face the entire way home. The palace, the tyrant king, and the pools of blood were left behind in the valley.
Reaching the secluded ridge, I landed softly on the snow-laden porch and pushed the heavy door open. I rushed straight into the bedroom, my heart pounding with anticipation.
Astelion was fast asleep.
She was curled up in the center of the bed, wearing one of my oversized shirts. The magical disguise she wore during the day had dissolved completely in her slumber, revealing her true, breathtaking hair color the striking, vibrant strands of white and crimson splayed across the pillows.
I walked over to the edge of the bed, a soft, protective warmth washing over me. Moving carefully so as not to startle her, I slowly picked her up from the floor where she had drifted and placed her gently back onto the center of the mattress, pulling the thick blankets up over her shoulders. I leaned down and pressed a tender, lingering kiss against her forehead.
Looking down at her quiet, peaceful face, the heavy reality of our situation began to creep back into my mind. I stared at her, the dark anxiety tightening my chest. Was it really the best idea to bring her to meet my family? Especially my father? My father was a man ruthless if he saw her if he realized what she was he would use her as a weapon or try to eliminate her entirely.
"Is it bad I want to keep you locked away all to myself?" I said out loud, my voice a low, gravelly whisper in the quiet room. I reached down, my thumb lightly brushing the edge of her jaw. "You are the only person I look forward to seeing every day. My happiness. My heart."
Astelion shifted around in the bed, letting out a soft, contented sigh but remaining deep in her sleep.
Needing to wash the lingering scent of palace iron and blood from my skin, I stepped away into the bathroom and turned on the shower. The hot water scalded my bruised skin, washing away the remnants of Castel's fury and grounding me back into reality.
But the peace didn't last.
The moment I stepped back into the bedroom, drying my hair with a towel, the air in the room snapped. The temperature plummeted to a freezing zero.
My eyes widened. Astelion was no longer resting on the mattress. Her body was floating three feet off the bed, her spine arched in an unnatural line. Everything in the room the books, the chairs, the loose wooden cups was spinning in a violent, telekinetic vortex around her.
Suddenly, she screamed.
The sound was raw, agonizing, and entirely unhinged. Her eyes snapped wide open, but there were no pupils just two blinding, iridescent pools of pure white-hot light that illuminated the entire room. Her lips began to move at a frantic, terrifying pace, and she started chanting words I had never heard before an ancient, guttural language that vibrated with a dark, power I couldn't comprehend.
"Astelion!" I yelled, dropping the towel.
I rushed into the center of the vortex. Debris slammed into my shoulders and sliced across my chest, but I ignored the flying furniture, driving my weight forward until I reached her floating form. I grabbed her vibrating body, wrapping my massive arms around her to anchor her to me, wrestling her down toward the floor while the room continued to violently spin out of control around us.
"Wake up, my love! You have to wake up!" I shouted over the roaring wind of her magic, my heart hammering.
What the fuck was happening to her?
Desperate to break the connection, I pulled her face to mine and slammed my mouth onto hers, kissing her with a fierce, frantic passion.
The moment my lips touched hers, the blinding light in her eyes instantly vanished. Her eyelids closed, her body going completely limp in my embrace, and the telekinetic vortex died mid-air. The books, the chairs, and the shattered glass crashed heavily to the floor, leaving the room in a state of absolute silence.
I knelt in the wreckage, my breathing heavy and ragged as I cradled her unconscious body securely in my arms. I stared down at her pale face, my fingers trembling against her skin.
"This is bad," I whispered into the dark.