Page 214 of A Vow of Embers

“We will have to check in with the spy network,” Thrax said.

“They should have told us this was coming,” Xander said as he stood. “We don’t even know who our enemy is and we should.”

Then he went still. “Did you hear that?”

I did. It sounded like a child crying.

He turned and raced toward a house that hadn’t been burned. It was the only one still intact.

An instinct urged me to follow.

“Xander?” Thrax called out behind me, sounding worried.

But he didn’t slow or stop. He threw the front door open and ran inside, setting off some kind of magical trap. The entire building immediately went up in flames.

My head started ringing. My skin was burning and I cried out in pain. Without thinking, I ran in after him. He was hurt.

I had to get to him. I went into the burning house.

Zalira yelled, “Lia, no!”

Ahyana called out for Io.

Xander lay on the ground. The trap must have had some kind of concussive element that had prevented him from reacting as quickly as I knew he could. Fire roared around me, smoke burning my eyes and suffocating me, the heat making me feel as if my skin were melting off. I needed to get him out of here.

The flames were everywhere and I had to pass through them to reach him. I knew that I had just seriously burned myself. I could feel it.

I grabbed him and started to pull. He was so heavy and I felt like I was inside an oven. It seemed impossible. But I groaned and tugged and prayed and got him clear of the house just as the roof collapsed.

His brothers gently moved me aside as they checked on him. “He’s still breathing!” Thrax called out in relief.

I could see how badly Xander had been burned, and my own skin throbbed and ached with intense pain.

Io was there with a salve in her hand. She instructed Thrax to cut Xander’s tunic off so that she could inspect the damage. She was so calm and clearheaded that it was surprising.

She applied the salve quickly and I felt the relief of it. It was working on him.

Ahyana stood in front of me, lifting my arms and checking my face. “You’re not burned,” she said, confused.

Of course I was. I had felt the flames consuming me in the house.

“At all?” Io questioned as she continued to apply the salve to her brother.

“Not even her hair,” Ahyana said.

Io finished applying the salve. Xander groaned and I exhaled with relief. He was awake. He would live.

Then she came over to inspect me as Ahyana had.

“Because you’re flame-kissed. It means you can’t be burned,” she said reverently.

“Will he be all right?” I asked her. I didn’t care about whether I was burned or how this played into her belief that I was a savior. It was so unimportant.

She obviously heard the fear in my voice, as her eyes softened. “He is fine. That is an extremely fast-acting salve that will heal his burns. He’ll be back to his old grumpy self by tonight.”

“I heard that,” he muttered.

Tears formed in my eyes and I ducked my head so that no one would see. I was so grateful that he was alive.