Page 79 of Hearts on Fire
Her chest rose with a deep, labored breath. She winced, pressing her hand over the wound on her side.
“Now, I can finally rest.” Her golden eyes closed.
Tears burned my eyes. “No, Isar, please don’t go…”
I rocked on my knees at her side, my hands pressed to my chest.
The day grew darker as another shadow came between us and the sun with the rustling of wings.
“Amber!” came from the sky.
“Elex?” I leaped to my feet.
He landed and stepped over the body of the dead king on his way to me.
“Are you hurt?” He took my face between his hands, brushing my tears away with his thumbs. “What hurts? Where?”
“I’m fine. Areyou?” I gripped his arms, then his shoulders, then placed my hands on his cheeks. “How areyoufeeling?”
I studied his beloved face for signs…of what? Fatigue? Decline? Death?
Would he just disappear into thin air now, slipping between my fingers like the most wonderful dream?
I dug my fingers into his shoulders, determined to hold on tight.
“The king is dead, Elex. God…” I exhaled a shuddering breath. “I’m scared.” I held on to him so tightly, if he weren’t a fae, it’d certainly hurt. “Please, stay with me.”
“The king is dead…” he echoed mechanically.
He glanced at the dead body behind him, as if seeing it for the first time, then stared straight ahead of him. His eyes appeared unseeing, as if he were looking inside not out, searching his body forthe signs, too.
“How are you feeling?” I asked again. My voice was so quiet, I barely heard myself.
He was alive. I didn’t know how. Or for how long. But as long as Elex was here and breathing, I was afraid to move a single molecule in the Universe, afraid to change it all for the worse.
“I feel fine. Better than a little while ago, that’s for sure.” He blinked, glancing around. With a deep breath, focus and confidence returned to his expression. His gaze fell on Isar. “Who is the woman?”
I drew in some air, too, trying to gain a modicum of control over my fear. We couldn’t just sit around waiting for the effects of the king’s death to appear.
“It’s Isar. The venomous one I told you about.” Worry thudded in my chest as I kneeled next to her again. “She’s hurt. Badly. She needs help.”
If it’s not too late.
Elex crouched by Isar and placed a hand on her neck, to the spot where “the fire of life pulsed.”
Please, let it not be too late.
“She’ll need a healer.” He got up.
Holding on to the wall, I climbed to my feet, too. “All thesalamandrasof the Sanctuary are dead… Is there anyone else in the castle who can heal?”
“The royal hag—”
A blast of fire from the sky hit the wall above us. Rocks exploded. The pieces of wreckage crashed into the wall below, hitting the ground.
“Hide!” Elex jumped aside.
He spread his arms wide, looking up, as if inviting the fire to follow him, leading the danger away from Isar and me.