Free Reaching Retribution (The Prophesized Series) by Kaitlyn Hoyt

Ryanne’s a threat. If you can’t extract her magic, I’ll just kill her, and that’s certainly not the ending you want. It’s your choice,” Dravin’s threat lingers heavy in the air after he has left the room.
    Jedrek stares at the empty doorway for a few moments before he jumps up, pushes all the paper off his desk, and starts pacing the room as the sheets rain down around him. Stopping in front of the brick wall, he brings his arm back and punches the wall. I wince and move toward him. He clenches his fist and then slowly opens his hand, revealing a long jagged scar running along his palm. He turns around and leans back against the wall. I take a small step toward him.
    There’s so much emotion in his expression. His dark eyes are widened and glistening with memories while his nostrils are flared, and his mouth is set in a straight line. He seems very conflicted. With a sigh, he turns and looks directly at me. “I’m so sorry, Ryanne,” he whispers.
    “You can see me?”I ask.
    “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’ll find a way out of this. I won’t let him hurt you again,” he says quietly. He can’t see me, but he knows I’m listening. “I promise, I’ll do something. I’m so sorry about all of this.”
    I open my eyes and look around the room. Groaning, I sit up. My head is throbbing. I actually landed on the hard floor this time. Colton is sitting right beside me. “What? You couldn’t catch me?” I tease him.
    “I’m sorry,” he says as he helps me stand up. I sway a little and lean back against Colton’s chest. Whoa, the room is spinning. I feel hands wrap around my forearm as the dizziness fades. I blink the room back into focus and meet a pair of worried blue eyes. “Thank you,” I tell Logan.
    “What did you see?” he asks me.
    I step away from Colton and sit back down in the chair. “I saw Dravin and…Dr. Arden talking. I think the conversation already happened through.”
    “What were they talking about?” Tom asks.
    “Me,” I whisper. I explain the vision to everyone in full detail. I don’t leave out any information. I’m not sure of the significance of it all, so I need those with mage information to help me.
    “The Fates are after Jedrek?” Tom asks.
    “What does that mean exactly?”
    Colin turns toward me and explains, “It means that Jedrek is supposed to be dead. Dravin knew that he’d need Jedrek at some point, so he made him promise his life to him. A blood promise is permanent. You can’t break them without dying.”
    “When Dravin left the room, he said ‘I’m so sorry, Ryanne.’ At first, I thought Dr. Arden could see me, but I know he couldn’t. He promised that he’d find a way out of this, and he wouldn’t let Dravin hurt me again.”
    “You can’t start to feel something for him, Ry. There’s a chance that something could happen to him in the upcoming days,” Colton says.
    “You didn’t see the look in his eyes, Colton. I’ve only ever seen that look in your eyes before,” I tell him. “He doesn’t want to work for Dravin, but he literally doesn’t have a choice.”
    “ Let’s not think about that now. We’ll worry about that later. We can try to come up with a way to save him, but with the blood promise, it’s tricky. It sounds like Dravin was the one who initiated it. As long as Dravin lives, Jedrek lives. If Dravin dies, so does Jedrek.”
    “Does that work both ways?” I ask.
    “No, if anything happens to Jedrek it won’t affect Dravin.”
    “Why would he agree to a blood promise then?”
    “He’s supposed to be dead, Ryanne, but he’s not. It was his time to die, but he turned away from death and found a plan B,” Colin explains. “People will do anything to fight death. Immortality is very sought after.”
    “No one can live forever.”
    “That means nothing. If you could live past your expiration date, wouldn’t you try?”
    “I’ve died twice , Colin. I am living past my expiration date.”
    “No,