Page 66

Chapter

Forty-Four

TATE

A flame shoots out of the dark swirls of smoke. No, not a flame, a bird, a Phoenix . I look at it in awe. The images don’t do it justice.

The Phoenix is majestic and raw. Its power is like a physical blow, and its presence captures everyone’s attention.

My eyes are so focused on the flaming creature that, at first, I don’t realize someone is sitting on the Phoenix’s back, a huddled figure, lopsided and blackened by soot.

Or maybe it’s just the stark contrast between a uniform and the brilliant light of the Phoenix’s flaming feathers.

Relief slams into me when I recognize her, and it turns into horror seconds later when she slides sideways.

No, no, no.

I’m sprinting toward the fiery bird, but I’m too far away.

She falls, her body hitting the ground in a slumped heap like a castaway rag doll.

The Phoenix gives off a screech that reverberates in my bones—distress. I duck to evade the Phoenix’s flaming wings, which are still spread wide after he dropped to the ground. He caws, but I don’t pay him any mind, my gaze fixed on Ara’s still form on the ground.

She lies close to the burning tree line.

The heat of the fire sears my face, making my skin taut, short of cracking.

Blisters line the exposed skin of her arms and back.

She’s only dressed in her pants and her wrap, soot darkening her skin, and I can’t see her face and stomach since she’s face down.

I sweep her up in my arms, sucking in a breath at how hot her skin is on mine. Cuts, bruises, and burns cover nearly every surface of her skin. I have no idea what hell she went through, but nothing will touch her now that I have her.

I cradle her close to my body and rush away from the heat.

Healing her right away would have been ideal, but she’s unconscious. The promise I made drives me insane even though I know why it has to be this way.

She is in my arms and still breathing. Everything is going to be alright.

The Phoenix looms in front of us, his wings still wide, his movements agitated.

He keeps everyone away.

Riders start to gather in front of him, and I stay back, forming a cocoon of cool air around us to have some relief from the heat.

“ Can you get us?” I ask Daeva.

“ You have to move farther out, or I’ll risk my wings catching fire.” There is a pause. “Solaris can take you if you can hold your shield around you until you arrive.”

“ Solaris?” But I realize it has to be the Phoenix’s name before she answers. “Please thank him for the offer, and I mean no offense, but I think you would draw less attention.”

“ I’ll get you. Twenty steps farther out, and I can pick you up.”

“ Okay.”

I duck under Solaris’s wings, made a little more awkward by carrying Ara, and I’m instantly flanked by Jared and Cassius. Calix and Mariel come running, too.

Cassius speaks up next to me. “We have to get her to the healers.” The words remind me that she cannot see a healer under any circumstance. My eyes flit to Calix, but since he doesn’t show any reaction concerning Ara being very visibly a woman or Cassius’s slipup, he knows.

“Get back to the others and not a word to anyone,” I bark at them. “I got this.”

Jared is a quiet support next to me, sending them off when they try to follow despite my orders.

Daeva lands, Zephyr right behind her, and I reluctantly hand Ara over to Jared to get into the saddle before he hands her back to me.

“I’m right behind you,” he assures me. I nod, and we take off.

“Land right in front of the housing quarters,” I tell Daeva.

“Solaris will follow us,” Daeva informs me.

“Arguing against it won’t help, will it?” I ask.

Daeva clicks her beak, and the agitated movement of her head lets me know Solaris doesn’t seem to be a fan of my suggestion. But what did I expect? He bonded with Ara, so I would be very surprised if he’s someone who always listens and plays by the rules.

About ten minutes later, Daeva lands in the academy courtyard, and I’m already out of the saddle and moving before Zephyr lands behind me. I’m pushing through the door to the sleeping quarters when Jared catches up to me.

“That is not the way to the healing quarters,” he observes quietly but doesn’t try to stop me.

“She can’t see a healer.” My voice is clipped. My thoughts running in circles. She didn’t wake up, and I am not even sure if it’s her pulse or my own that vibrates through my body. I can’t let anyone near her while she’s unconscious, but what will I do if she doesn’t wake up?

Can I try to heal her nonetheless?

I hurry up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. We haven’t encountered anyone so far, and I hope it stays that way.

“Are you sure about not seeing a healer?” Jared’s voice is full of doubt, and I don’t blame him. Every moron would question my decision without all the information.

I send him a look that stops him from trying to convince me otherwise. Instead, he releases one long breath.

“That bad, hmm? I’ve never seen you so in knots about a woman before.” He lifts his hands when I glare at him. “Just saying.”

Fortunately, the building is empty; everyone is out at the fire or the gathering ground celebrating the new riders. I charge into my room and make sure Jared locks the door behind us.

Now I can only hope no one saw us and that she wakes up before anyone comes looking.

Jared watches me like I have lost my mind, and I’m very close to doing so.

Next to my worries, I’m also bombarded by Solaris, courtesy of my darling Night Raven. I get it, but if anyone is supposed to tell us anything, it’s him. He’s connected to her. He can slip into her mind, not me.

He currently sits on the roof right over my room, keeping watch, and I have to say I was astonished to see that he can douse his flames.

His feathers are now coal black, with glowing lines running through them like embers, glimmering and pulsing but barely visible in bright daylight.

His eyes are black as well, rimmed by gold, the same tone as his beak and talons.

I only know this because I slip into Daeva’s view occasionally to check on him, and she sits up there too, eyeing him warily, probably because of whatever he said to her.

I cross my room back and forth, watching Ara like a hawk. Waiting for her to open her eyes, twitch, do anything that tells me she’s still alive.

Who has seen Ara’s fall? The answer is easy: everyone. The Phoenix emerging out of the fiery inferno behind him drew everyone’s attention. So the question is rather how soon will someone come looking?

She has to wake up.

Ara lying on my bed is a cruel joke, considering she was so very alive the last time we were here together. I trail a finger softly over her cheek. Her skin is reddened here as well, but at least not blistered like her arms.

My arm is sticky with blood where her head rested, and I pray it’s no more than a cut.

That I can’t do anything before she wakes up is killing me. I continue pacing, my gaze searching out her face again and again.

“You want to tell me what is going on?” Jared leans against the door, his eyes flicking from Ara’s still form to me and back.

“I can’t tell you her secrets. Or at least not this one.” I busy myself by getting my emergency kit out of the wardrobe.

Maybe I can’t heal her, but I can start treating her wounds the non-magical way.

I motion Jared over, and he holds her head while I look at the wound.

It’s hidden beneath her braid, so I loosen it, unraveling the partly golden and soft, partly dark and stiff strands to get a clear look.

Her hair flows over my lap in soft waves, and I revel in their silky texture while I work my way to her scalp.

“Something happened between you, didn’t it?

” Jared’s eyes are on my fingers caressing her hair, and I know he’s wondering how much of the time I sneaked off I spent with her.

Seeing the long strands of gold between my fingers reminds me of the evening at the tavern, of the moment when she hid her face by burying it in my neck, jolting my whole body awake.

“Holy mists, you let her in, didn’t you?” Jared asks.

I work my way through the last part of her hair, which is matted to her scalp and sticky with blood.

Flakes of dried blood come off and stick to the wet coating on my fingers, caking them, crumbs falling into my lap.

I tell him of the encounters he didn’t know about. He chuckles when I tell him how I caught her coming out of Cassius’s room and nearly killed him for it. Recounting it, I realize I never had a chance to stay away.

I don’t tell him about the curse. My trust in Jared is blind and complete, but the more people know about it, the bigger the threat to her.

Jared leaves to find out what is going on outside while I stay next to her, lost in thought. I cleaned away the soot on her skin and the bloodstains, so only the cuts, bruises, and burns remain. The cut on her scalp is superficial. Head wounds often look worse than they are.

I catch myself playing with the strands of her hair again. It’s clean and dry, thanks to my magic, and currently fanning out over my pillow.

I changed her into one of my shirts, leaving her other clothes folded on the bedside table. Not because they are salvageable but because it gave me one more thing to do. Now, nothing is left but waiting, and it’s driving me insane.

I watch her chest rise and fall. Her eyelids flutter occasionally, but I don’t get my hopes up anymore. The first time it happened, I thought she was waking up, but she seems to be dreaming.

I nearly lost her today .

I still might, and the reaction this triggers inside me scares me.

Jared comes back, and nothing has changed.

“Everyone believes Summer to be in the healing quarter. So we are good for now,” he tells me. “Just know this could get ugly. Cassius already demanded an update from me as soon as I showed my face. Calix demanded answers, too.” He looks at Ara. “Your girl sure knows how to pick her friends.”

I savor the sound of those words.

My girl.

The hours go by, and Jared has gone out to check the status and said he would bring some food as well.

Not that I’m hungry. I contemplate asking Jared for help as soon as he’s back, but how can I explain that he needs to separate us if I exhaust myself?

Who will protect her when I am out, and Jared watches over me?

What if she wakes right after, and I depleted my gift for nothing? Also, even Jared will start to ask questions at some point.

I’m ripped out of my gloomy thoughts when Jared hurries into the room and slams the door shut behind him, turning the lock immediately.

“Shit, man, I have no idea who your girl is, but this is about to get ugly,” he declares breathlessly.

“What do you mean?” I push away from the wall I leaned against for the past hour, stalking over to him.

“I have no idea what he's doing here, but I just passed General Blackstone. He was hurrying toward the healing quarters, demanding updates on Summer. That guy looked pissed.”

“Shit.” I run a hand over my face, looking at Ara’s unresponsive form on the bed. “I think they know each other.”

“No shit, I figured that one out already. But who is she to him?” Jared looks at me like I have the answers to that.

“Fuck if I know,” I mutter. I guess there is still a whole lot I don’t know about her.

“Sooner or later, someone will remember they saw you leaving with her,” Jared warns.

“Let’s hope it’s later.” I sigh.

Jared doesn’t leave again after that update. Both of us lean against my desk, talking in hushed voices, my eyes flitting to Ara regularly, checking if anything has changed. Worry presses so hard on my chest that I’m sure I will suffocate if there isn’t a change soon.

A loud knock on the door has us straightening. Jared and I exchange a glance before we both look at Ara’s still form. The door handle jiggles, but the door is locked.

The knock sounds again. A twisted kind of déjà vu overcomes me. What wouldn’t I give to go back to the last time someone knocked on my door while Ara was in here? This is so much worse.

“No one knows we’re here, right?” I whisper to Jared.

“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen anyone, but there is still the chance someone saw me coming here.” His eyes are as worried as I feel.

The sound starts again, a pounding now instead of a knock.

“Open up right now, or I’ll kick in this door,” a male threatens from outside. He sounds familiar.

I sigh and move to the door. Jared positions himself next to me so the open door will hide him from view. He gives me a nod, indicating he’s ready for whatever or, better, whoever waits on the other side. I look at Ara one last time before I turn the key and open the door.