Page 39 of Crown of Flame

This sudden change in tone catches me off-guard.

“I wasn’t going to ask you to clear entire towers for me,” she says. “Besides that, you were pretty insistent on not helping me. Didn’t you ask what I would offer you in return for your help?”

“Well, you know me now,” I reply. “I’m not sure you could claim otherwise.”

She shakes her head. “That was sex. Normally it means something. But in our case, you made it clear it was purely physical.”

Every word cuts through me.

“What do I need to do to heal you?” I ask. “Maybe I’d be more comfortable letting you go back in a better state, but as is, you’re an easy victim.”

She turns to face me. “Where is any of this coming from? Why do you care if I live or die?”

I look ahead toward the distant towers. The elves have magic that could easily destroy me if I let it. So I’ll have to be careful.

“Do I have to have a reason? Why can’t I just want you to be okay?”

“Because you’re you,” she says. “We already established you were keeping me alive because you wanted sex. And now that I’ve pleased you, you can let me go.”

I shake my head in frustration.

“Or maybe you haven’t had enough of me yet,” she comments. “You haven’t gotten to fuck me yet. If that’s the case, just take me now and be done with it.”

“Why are you so ready to throw your life away all of a sudden? You seemed pretty keen on staying alive last night.”

Her emotions have become a conflicting twister, almost impossible to read.

“Can’t you just read my mind and find out?” she asks. “Just like you always do?”

“That’s not how it works at all. I don’t simply peer into your brain and read your thoughts.”

“Except for when you do.”

The wind’s rush is cold and unforgiving, and as she separates herself from me, I can see her shivering even in the milder daylight.

“It’s the whole reason I left. You broke into my mind to learn how I felt about you. You violated my trust. And saving my life doesn’t change that.”

I sigh. “What can I do to prove that I care about you?”

“You can let me do this. Let me save the people I failed to help. Let me confirm that the people we saved are okay.”

“And I’m telling you that you can’t go in your current state,” I reply. “So tell me how to help you, and I’ll do that.”

She looks out toward the black glowing structures, deep in thought for a moment.

“Fine,” she says. “If you insist on healing me before we take the towers, then that’s fine. I really don’t know what it’s going to prove, though. In any case, I know you torched the library on your way out. But there’s a common magical book in every library, Healing Mortal Wounds. If you can find it in one of the towers, you can retrieve it and use it.”

I pause, freezing in place.

“What?” Serena presses.

“I’m not able to read. So…”

She describes the image on the cover of the book and writes down the book’s title on a piece of scrap.

I walk her back to the hovel to ensure her safety, levitating the piece of scrap in front of me so it doesn’t burn. She doesn’t say anything on the way.

It feels like a barrier has suddenly appeared between us after I shared one of the most intimate experiences I’ve ever had with her. What’s more, she pushed for the experience in the first place, urging me to open myself to this new realm.

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