Page 121 of Stealing Embers
Eventually the Forsaken stops struggling and his body stills. Only then do I wrench my arm free and rise.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“Steel! Stop!” Aurora breaks free from Blaze and darts past me. Swiveling, I spot Steel punching the limp form of the second Forsaken. One hand is fisted in the front of the creature’s bloody and torn shirt, and the other jackhammers blows to what is left of its face—which admittedly, isn’t a lot.
The wet sound of flesh connecting with pulverized Forsaken face is a little gruesome, even for me.
Aurora reaches her older brother and wraps slender arms around his middle.
It takes him a moment to settle, but he finally drops the battered and broken body of the Forsaken. Taking in a shuttering breath, he engulfs Aurora’s slight frame. Bloody chunks of Forsaken flesh and brain matter are splattered on the stone wall behind them, but neither sibling seems to notice the gore surrounding or covering them.
Feeling a tickle along my wings, I cast a glance over my shoulder. Blaze snatches his hand back and shoots me a wide-eyed look—or rather a one-eyed look, as his right eye is swollen shut.
“I just wanted to see what they felt like,” he admits.
“It’s okay.”
“Those are wicked cool.”
Biting a lip to keep from smiling at the awestruck look painted across Blaze’s face, I fold the gilded feathers close to my body and turn, dropping to a knee in front of the boy.
“May I?” I ask before raising my hands to probe Blaze’s injured face.
He lifts one bony shoulder and drops it. Standing in front of me in his thin and ripped t-shirt, stained with drops of his own blood, he strikes me as both frail and fierce. His young-boy body is all awkward angles and thin limbs, but even with a swollen face he stands with his chest puffed and legs braced apart, ready to take on the world.
He is going to be a force once his body catches up with the warrior spirit living inside.
I gently examine Blaze’s face. I’m no expert, but I don’t think anything is fractured except maybe his nose. There’s nothing to be done about that now. A quick scan of his body assures me he’s going to be just fine.
Warmth coats the backside of my body a moment before Steel speaks. “Come here, bud.”
I shake my wings, hoping my body’s involuntary reaction to Steel’s closeness will slide off with the movement.
Blaze marches up to his brother and holds his fist out for a bump. After tapping his hand with his own, Steel wraps Blaze in a giant bear-hug—one that includes lifting the boy off his feet and a few hearty shakes.
“Steel!” Blaze squirms and bats at his brother. “I’m not a baby,” he complains, sliding me a covert look.
Aurora tugs on Steel’s sleeve after he sets his brother down.
“We can’t stay here. There are more of them.” Concern drips from her gaze as she wrings her hands.
He nods gravely. “Yeah, we know.”
“And we have to take that with us.” Aurora’s delicate finger points to the blue fire in the middle of the room.
Steel’s face is unreadable. I can’t tell if he knows what the orb is or not. Without answering her, he gives Aurora a brotherly pat on the head.
When he turns to me, Steel’s gaze ticks over my body, checking for injuries. I might only be seeing what I want to, but some of the tension leaves his ridged posture when he registers that I’m unscathed.
“Those are new.” He addresses me for the first time since we ran into the cavern, guns blazing.
I tilt my head in acknowledgement. “Looks like I’m full of surprises.”
His brow arches as if to say that’s an understatement.
I don’t disagree.
“We have to be ready to fight our way out.”