Page 65

Chapter

Forty-Three

ARA

When I blink my eyes open, the heat threatens to overwhelm me.

What happened?

I sit up, and the world turns around me in slow circles. My head throbs, and I have no idea where I am or how I got here.

Fire and smoke are all around me. I’m not even sure if it’s night or day because all I see is the light of the flames and the darkness of the smoke.

I rise slowly and nearly fall over twice before I manage to stand.

My vision swims and shifts, and I stumble, landing on my hands and knees again. The impact jars my body and intensifies my headache. I’m violently ill, not that my stomach contained much that could make a reappearance.

This is bad, really bad .

I must have hit my head. I know the signs and have had a concussion before.

I close my eyes, but that makes the dizziness worse.

Think, Ara, think.

Fire crackles and hisses around me, the heat and smoke making it hard to breathe.

I have to get out of here.

Tate’s face flashes before my eyes, my brothers’, and those of my friends.

I close my eyes again, concentrating on the magic around me. If someone gifted is close, I should be able to find them.

Ghostlike veils of magic shift around me, fueling the flames. I stretch farther and farther until it feels like my awareness will snap back at any second because I stretched too far. I reach out just a little more, and there, a small flicker. No… more than one, and one of them I recognize—Tate.

If I reach him, I’ll be fine.

I zero in on him and him alone, and then I start walking. My slow progress is made even slower since I can’t walk in a straight line. Burning bushes and trees make me take detours again and again.

The flames around me are mostly violet and blue, but there are some in gold and orange as well. The heat of the magical flames probably ignited the other ones.

I wrap my curse around me, and while it does nothing against natural flames, it protects me from the magical fire. I pull the coolness around me, making sure it coats me from the soles of my feet to the tip of my braid.

My skin already bears witness to the heat. It’s red and tender to the touch. The heat intensifies the burn. My throat and eyes are raw like someone washed them with sand, and my head pounds in rhythm with my frantic heartbeat.

I’m shaking. It’s just a small tremor, but combined with the exhaustion washing over me, it can’t mean anything good.

I have never used my curse for such a long period, and I’m not sure what will happen if I do.

But I can’t let it go before I’m out of here.

I shudder at the thought of flames devouring me alive.

Some small parts of my skin are slick with sweat, but the moisture evaporates nearly faster than I can build it. The stifling heat seems to get worse by the minute.

My walk is unsteady, more of a stagger really, and if it hadn’t been for Tate, I would have lost my orientation long ago. I stumble on past flaming walls and the fiery remains of a once proud forest.

If I reach him, I’m safe.

Repeating it over and over keeps me going, but my progress becomes slower and slower.

I’m so focused on the shimmering warmth of Tate’s power that I nearly miss the magic signature coming from behind.

It’s spunky and sparkly, and it's so much more than anything I've felt before.

No… I have encountered magic as mighty as this before, I realize, but only once—the dragon. This one feels different, though.

I whirl around, but I’m only met by more flames.

What is that?

I stumble, curse, and nearly go down, my shield slipping for a second, which earns me a burn on my right leg. I hiss.

Who am I kidding? I will never get out of here alive.

“ Don’t you dare give up now! Not after I chose you,” a voice thunders. It’s male, demanding, and shooting through me like a golden flame, surrounding me, caressing me, igniting a spark in my center right next to the scrap of coolness that becomes steadily less.

There is a presence next to me, above me, surrounding me, burrowing deep into me where it mingles with my very existence.

I cry out as the sensations flood me. My already unsteady view splits up, my mind jumping back and forth between the sight in front of me and another one.

A blackened, half-naked woman wobbles, her skin reddened and blistered. She looks around, then up, blue-green eyes glowing in a soot-smeared face, the mouth agape in shock.

That’s me.

The constantly changing view on top of my already twisted one causes me to double over, dry heaving, my hands clutching my thighs in support while I fight to stay upright.

Feelings, thoughts, and memories that aren’t mine assault my mind, and my vision gives out. I thrust my arms out for balance.

Mighty claws curl around my arms. I lose the ground beneath my feet and nearly my grip on the curse when I’m flung through the air. I tumble. Flames and clouds of smoke dance around me.

I close my eyes. It’s too much, all of it.

I land on something moving and soft, my fingers grabbing hold of something that feels like feathers.

My eyes fly open, trying to focus on what is right in front of me, under me.

The gold and red, the yellow and orange look like fire but feel like feathers.

There is a pulsing, whooshing sound, like mighty wings.

Wait, those are wings, with feathers made of fire and trailed by smoke.

“ How else am I supposed to fly?” the same voice from before asks, sounding amused.

The heat recedes the higher we get, leaving me with a comfortable warmth where I’m touching the feathers and the cool caress of the wind on my heated face.

I am riding on a fucking Phoenix .

And he’s speaking to me, which can only mean—

“ Happy you are on board. But I can hear you, you know? And I’m not ‘a fucking Phoenix.’ I’m Solaris.”

How do I answer? I ask myself.

“ Just like that is fine,” Solaris answers.

“ You can hear my thoughts?” I’m not sure how I feel about that.

“ Loud and clear, by the way, you might want to do something about that obsession. I’m not listening to you mooning over that human all day.”

“I’m not—” Why am I defending myself? “Keep out of my thoughts if you don’t want to know what I’m thinking about.” I huff. The world still twists and turns around me, and I’m slipping.

I tighten my grip but lose it again when Solaris caws in protest. My vision narrows, and I fight to stay conscious.

“ So we are really…” I try to initiate a conversation, hoping it will keep me awake a little longer.

“ Yep, I’m stuck with you now as long as I get you some help soon. You trust this Tate?” he asks.

“ With my life,” I answer while a buzzing fills my ears. My pulse pounds through my body, and my vision goes black. I concentrate on the feathers between my fingers, clinging to them with my mind, but I’m slipping again.

“ Nothing else will do.” I hear Solaris say before he demands , “Hold on.” He descends, the sudden movements turning my stomach. The air around me is suddenly much cooler. Voices shout. Then there is nothing.