Page 101 of Immortal Burden

He merely nodded.

He tore open her jacket and shirt with his magic and I cringed at the sight of the brutal, oozing wound.

Muttering something in a tongue I’d never heard before, he hovered his hands over the wound. They began to glow blinding white.

It looked like he was straining. Unheard of for him.

Several moments passed until he called his magic back.

“Wow,” I breathed, as I took in the sight of Mia’s healed state. Everything except a mammoth scar. “You… uh… you couldn’t get rid of that too?”

His eyes locked with mine, that pain I’d seen earlier bleeding from him. “I was too late. She was on the brink of death. I could not save her and remove his mark.”

Thunder rolled overhead.

“He is not finished,” he warned. He hurriedly gathered Mia in his arms and rose to his feet. He eyed Lucian’s unconscious form and told me, “Brace yourself.”

I nodded.

He shook his head sadly. “This place is lost.”

In the next moment, silver smoke enveloped all four of us, teleporting us from the scene of our failed battle.

Epilogue

~Jaxon~

“There. It’s done,” the Guardian said, as he rose from his knees in front of my living room armchair.

He blew out a weary sigh, a sign that the shit he’d just done for me had taken a major toll on him.

He started unrolling his shirt sleeves and refastening the cuffs at his wrists.

“You all right?” I asked, as I pushed out of my old leather chair.

“Yeah,” he said, looking all around the living room of my log cabin. “Nice place. Homely. Looks a lot like mine. Bigger, though.”

I frowned. “You live in a place like this? Figured all you Guardians holed up in pricey fucking mansions, or some shit.”

He shook his head. “I like the quiet these days.”

“Quiet, huh? I’m with you on that. Shame it isn’t gonna hold up much longer with what’s coming our way.”

“Yeah,” he murmured.

“You know I’m gonna need more on that, yeah?”

“What?” he asked, seeming real distracted.

“More than just the bits and pieces you’ve told me so far.”

He stepped up to me, his eyes hard. “When I know more, I’ll tell you.”

Damn, when I’d first laid eyes on him, I’d figured him as just some pretty boy with his moussed-up hair, sporting a fancy-ass sports jacket and real tight leather pants. Honestly, the guy looked more like a damned fashion model than the down-to-earth powerhouse Eira had described.

But it was clear now that Ryker Morgan, big time sorcerer, had some major balls. Like me, he didn’t let anybody push him around. And I respected the fuck out of that.

“Good,” I returned evenly.

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