Page 70 of Stealing Embers
“We need to get back to the academy.” Steel talks over Sterling’s protests and starts down the alley, his brother still in tow.
An impressive task—Sterling isn’t a small guy.
“Why aren’t we phasing back?” Greyson asks with his eyes trained on the place his brothers disappeared. A furrow mars his brow.
I rub my forehead. A headache is brewing. “Because of me. I’m stuck . . . again. We should get going.”
I start forward, but come up short when a fiery brunette steps in my path.
“What is going on right now?” Ash demands. “Why are you dressed like that? And when did you get wings?” Her voice gets progressively more shrill as she continues.
“The short answer is, I don’t know.”
Ash sucks in a deep breath through her nose and plops her hands on her hips. She narrows her eyes, not buying that answer.
“Trust me, the long answer is just an explanation of why I don’t know.” My headache morphs from a painful throb to a burst of heat. I wince. “Can we get back to the academy and talk about it there? I’m sure Sable is going to want a step-by-step breakdown and it would be great not to have to repeat the story over and over again.”
The anger drains out of Ash, but it’s replaced by an injured look. Heated agony stabs my forehead. I’m not thinking clearly. “Ash, I’m sorry. I think I just need to get somewhere safe and sit down or something.” Her form swims in my vision and I blink to clear it.
Are my eyes watering?
“I just . . .” Ash’s hands are clasped together under her chin. Her lower lip trembles and she sucks in a full breath of air. “It was my fault you were out here alone. I never would have forgiven myself if something happened to you. I’m so—”
I sink to a knee when a bolt of pain cuts from my head down the back of my spine.
“Emberly!” Ash shouts. Her voice is a muffled exclamation to my ears as the roar of an unseen blaze drowns out the world around me.
I squeeze my eyes shut as fire leaps and tangles behind my lids.
I’m being roasted alive.
Ash yells for help. Her panicked shouts barely register over the flames charring me from the inside out.
I’m dying. I have to be. There is no way to be in this much pain and survive.
But I don’t want to die—I want to live. So I fight against the pain. Forcing my lids open, I catch blurred forms running toward me. They zap in and out of focus like a staticky television screen.
Another wave of heat engulfs me and my neck tips back; my mouth opens in a silent scream as my sight fills with the spectrum world’s night sky—the beauty a sharp contrast to the agony rippling throughout my body.
“Her eyes,” someone gasps. I’m beyond being able to identify a speaker at this point.
Someone grabs my face and forces my attention back to Earth. The hands that press against my cheeks cool the inferno wherever they touch.
I press into the caress as my vision clears. Sapphire-rimmed teal eyes draw my attention even as pain continues to roll over my body from the neck down. I grasp for any bit of relief I can get and vaguely realize I’m not actually on fire.
“Deep breaths. In and out.” Steel’s face is serious, but not unkind.
“The pain,” I wheeze out on a labored breath. He can’t possibly understand what I’m going through.
His thumb wipes a tear that’s escaped from my eye. “It will pass. I promise.”
Despite everything, I believe him.
I suck in a searing gulp of air and bend forward. Folding as much of myself into his cool embrace as possible, I allow Steel to comfort me.
My body shakes with the force of the battle raging inside. The scorching heat makes a desperate attempt to overtake me, opposed only by the cool touch of fingertips on my face and arms.
My wings curve forward, cocooning both of us.