The Rise Of The Morningstar (Eng. Version)

Chapter 46 - After Dark

Chapter 46 – After Dark

Somewhere between Angel Square and the Basilias, I finally lost consciousness. A protective mechanism of my body that was long overdue. I couldn't figure out how it hadn't shut down much sooner after everything I'd thrown at it today.

The heart in my chest was racing. So fast that under normal conditions I might have grabbed my chest. But my muscles were rigid as stone. My lungs constricted and I felt like I was choking. All I could do was sit in the dark for minutes, listening to Jace's feet on the ground, and waiting for my sanity to regain consciousness. It felt like I was beneath the frozen surface of a lake, unable to break through the ice.

Jace must have reached the Basilias because suddenly the sounds around us changed. His footsteps began to reverberate, the icy wind against my skin dissipated, and his breathing seemed to calm. As if relieved to have left the defenseless streets of Alicante behind.

My mind was still pounding against the frozen sheet of ice, so clear that most of my senses could discern what was happening beyond. It was as if every second I endured in the darkness tightened the knot around my chest. As if this alien feeling of panic was digging deeper and deeper into my body. Like a poison that spread further and further the longer the antidote was delayed.

Then, just as fear had reached my fingertips and made me tremble, my mind suddenly managed to damage the ice. A crack hissed, grating through the hard frost, and a mixture of screams and sobs escaping my dry tongue scratched my throat and made me gasp. A second later the ice broke into thousands of small pieces and the water from below pushed me up. My head broke the surface and my lids flew open.

Reality took a moment to focus. My lips parted breathlessly and I let oxygen rush into my hot lungs. I was shivering from the cold, having just jumped from such an icy death, but my body was burning with heat. My muscles were sweating, and I could feel the warm drops running down my neck.

It took me far too long to realize that I wasn't actually in Jace's arms anymore, I was sitting on a mattress. My legs weren't long enough for my boots to reach the floor over the edge of the bed.

I blinked and looked up. Jace stood in front of me. His chest heaved as if he were out of breath. We were so close that my knees touched his legs. But that wasn't what worried me. My brain couldn't bring itself to come up with a reasonably clear thought. Jace's wide golden eyes were fixed on me. He looked more than worried. His lips were moving ... but I couldn't hear what he was saying.

There was a loud, piercing beeping in my ears that had blocked out every other sound. I had just heard his footsteps moments ago ... His hands had gripped my shoulders. My body was still shaking beneath me. My lungs were still trying in vain to gasp for air. My heart was still beating way too fast.

I narrowed my eyes and focused on Jace's lips; trying to guess what he was saying. He spoke too fast. Too hurried. The knot around my chest only seemed to tighten. I shook my head vehemently and tried to tear myself away from him. At the same time, I raised my voice, but there were no words in my head. Even if I had said something, I couldn't be sure if he would have understood. I couldn't hear them myself after all.

Rarely in my life had I felt so helpless. Never to be exact. The fact that Jace was there and seeing the panic tugging at me only made things worse. I closed my eyes to avoid seeing him. Blake did this to me. The fear in my veins seemed to stop at the thought. Blake. The memory of his face in my mind's eye caused a surge of anger. Blake had exposed me; he had undermined my pride.

I wanted to do to him what he had done to me. Worse. I wanted to kill him. The desire flared up in me so fiercely that I flinched; surprised at myself. Was I really that vindictive? Who was I to want him dead? But he had wanted to kill me, wasn't that a valid reason? Everything I'd heard about Blake so far didn't really set him apart as a person to be missed.