Page 7 of Hearts on Fire
He moved to hug me, but I stepped back, so he just placed his hands on my shoulders again.
I had to reply to him. With something like,“Nice to see you, too.”
But that sounded so shallow somehow. I swallowed hard, gathering my resolve before finally speaking.
“I’m glad…very glad to see you alive, Elex,” I said sincerely. “I feared you were lost or…dead.”
“I’m not that easy to kill.” His smile grew brighter. My knees went weak, my legs shaking. It was a good thing he gripped my upper arms tightly, steadying me.
His thumbs rubbed lightly over the material of my robe. He was touching, feeling, always exploring after the years he had spent as a statue and was denied the sense of touch.
He quietly studied my face. The silence between us grew awkward, at least to me. Was I supposed to say something more?
“It’s very nice to see you, too, Elex. Alive and well. And thriving.” I pointedly stared at the rich embroidery on his chest.
He kept grinning, his gaze glued to my face. I wondered if he saw the dark circles under my eyes, my sunken cheeks, if he noticed that not a single hair was visible from under the cloth over my head.
“You took your silver ring out.” He tapped the side of my nose with the tip of his finger.
The last of my piercings had long been removed by thesalamandrason Mother’s orders. I stiffened against the wave of darkness that flowed over me at the thought of everything that had happened from the moment Elex snatched me from my world and brought me to Dakath.
I lifted my hand to my nose, to the spot where only a tiny dimple of the hole now remained.
“I don’t remember much of what happened right after we crossed the River of Mists,” I said. “Somehow, I ended up on the riverbank. The women of theSalamandraSanctuary found me. I’ve been with them ever since.”
He nodded. “I know. I saw them take you.”
His confession rushed over me with shock, chilling me like a cold shower.
“You did?” I muttered, stupefied.
All this time, I had wondered what happened to him. I’d missed and mourned him, fearing I’d lost him and would never see him again.
Yet there he was, spending his days in the king’s castle. He’d known perfectly well where I was all this time. It’d be a short distance for him to fly, far shorter than it was for me to hike up here. Yet he hadn’t even bothered to let me know he was alive.
He didn’t care.
And why would he? I was no one to him. A “spark,” who’d brought him back to life and had long served her purpose.
“I was there when the women found you,” he said excitedly, rushing to get the words out as if catching up with a good friend. “I knew they’d take good care of you—”
“They sure did.” Bitterness rose inside me, coating everything with the dark, sticky tar of resentment. “Do you want to see how well they did that, Elex? Do you want to know what else I’ve lost when I didn't even think I had anything left to lose in this life?” I ripped the hood off my head along with the linen cloth. “This is what they did with every hair on my body. Against my will.”
His eyes flickered to my bald head for a moment, then down to my face again. His smile disappeared.
“Oh, Amber…” He slid his hands to my shoulders then up my neck. “I’m so, so sorry.” He cupped my face, his thumbs skimming the skin above my ears.
My eyes burned with tears. A film of them obscured his handsome face from view. My throat tightened painfully.
“You should’ve left me back at the creek, Elex. You should’ve never taken me…”
He moved his hands to the back of my head, his fingers splayed on my skin. My skull tingled, heat rushing from his hands, warming my head. Something moved against my skin—a warm caress against the freezing wind from the window. A tickle brushed both sides of my face.
“What’s happening?” I asked Elex, who stared at me intently. The glow in his eyes grew, sparkling through the darkness of his irises. “Elex?”
I reached to touch his hand splayed on my head. My fingers sank into thick, silky hair… my hair. I tugged at the strands to feel the sting at the roots growing frommyhead.
“What is this?” I raked my fingers through the long tresses that stretched all the way down to my waist. “How…”