Free The Chronicles of Fire and Ice (The Legend of the Archangel Book 1) by L.L Hunter Page B

don’t need to come with me. You don’t need to see this.”
    “ I want to. I’m not leaving you,” she told him, touching his arm. He managed a smile over Lakyn’s limp leg.
    “ How long have you known what Lakyn was up to?”
    “ I had a hunch from the beginning. As Dyston and I grew close, I began to notice things just by hanging out with the Blackbell brothers.”
    “ Is Dyston evil, too?”
    “ No, he’s the opposite. Although he has rebelled, and the Michaelites disagree, it’s for the greater good.”
    “ Why did he rebel?” she asked, curious. Before Jacob could answer, Lakyn groaned.
    “ We need to hurry,” Jacob told her, sprouting his wings. Kat gasped. She had never seen them before. They were as white as the clouds were when the sun hit them, and the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. He lifted off the ground and flew down over the stairs and right into a cell, dumping Lakyn’s body. He quickly jumped out again and locked the Iron Gate behind him.
    “ Why are you doing this?” Lakyn asked groggily.
    “ To protect the good of all angel-kind,” Jacob told him, slipping his fingers through Kat’s.
    “ There is no good anymore, only corruption and rebellion!” he spat, sitting up.
    “ Dyston only rebelled against his Task because he fell in love with her,” Jacob said. Lakyn laughed, and Jacob immediately regretted telling him.
    “ I always knew he was weak. That’s why his wings turned black,” he snickered. His laugh was sadistic.
    “ Come on,” Jacob told Kat. “Let’s go find the others.” And they left the cells hand in hand, leaving Lakyn behind.

    Dyston had the city skyline in his sights. He zeroed his gaze in on a cluster of three buildings, one of which had a tree on top. That must be the one, he thought. He flapped his wing tips, which pushed him higher into the sky, and landed on one of the rooftops. But what he hadn’t noticed was that someone was already there waiting for him. He felt pain in his left wing and his world began to blur. He dropped to his knees and prayed.
    “ Scarlett, send help,” was all he managed before everything went dark.

    It might have been pure luck, or the hand of God watching over Scarlett. While she was communicating to Dyston, Abel, her captor had been called out of the room. She struggled against her bindings again until she felt the heat of her Trait as it resurfaced. She felt the flames lick her legs first, and then her abdomen. They rose to her arms, then her shoulders, and finally, to her head. She didn’t scream in pain. It didn’t hurt, but the power was amazing. She felt strong. And then she heard it—Dyston’s voice. It was as natural to her as her own.
    “ Scarlett, send help,” he told her, and that was it, nothing else came after.
    “ Dyston?” she tried to reply, but still heard nothing, nothing but radio silence. Silence killed her. She knew it meant only one thing. He never ignored her. It meant he was in trouble. She concentrated one last time on the power of the fire inside her, felt it surge, and then she pushed against her bindings, and they snapped. She wanted to cry and laugh aloud with joy, but she knew this wasn’t the end of her battle. She still had to find a way out of the room before her captors returned.
    She tried the only door in the room, but it was locked. She tried heating up the metal, but it wouldn’t budge. The only way out was through the window. She walked over to it and looked down. She was really high up. If she jumped, she would die. She leaned back against the wall beside the window and thought. She hadn’t even been taught how to summon her wings yet, so she couldn’t fly. She looked back at the bed where she had been strapped down. Her captors must have lied about the bindings being made of Hell-Metal because they were completely melted and warped. Some of the molten metal had even dripped onto the floor. She made a mental note to research the Realms of Fire and Ice and their