Page 57 of A Love of Wrath and Rapture

“No, I’m not leaving. Not until this fucker gets the message.”

He approaches me with the knife.

I could easily outrun him. The trouble is that I can’t guarantee he won’t try this again, or that Evangeline won’t be hurt in the crossfire.

Beneath his failed attempts at intimidation and all of his intolerance, I can sense that they’re both trembling.

Let’s send them home.

Digging deep within myself, I find my power, or what remains of it during my recovery.

The flames turn bright blue, matching my eyes. A chill takes the air, as the wind roars far more aggressively.

Jerren pauses in his tracks, the knife still drawn.

“What you both seem to be forgetting is that I saved you both.”

I scowl at them as they breathe deeply, their breath visible in the freezing air.

“I saved you both, and I can take you both out of this world, if I want,” I say. “So maybe you should treat me with the respect I’ve earned.”

“I told you you shouldn’t have gotten cocky,” Jerren yells.

“You’re the one with the knife!”

A maniacal laughter fills the air, and the pain in my chest intensifies. My voice terrifies even me at that moment.

I’m not the monster they think I am. But maybe if I can convince them otherwise, they’ll leave me in peace.

“Run home, Jerren and Timm,” I yell over the raging wind. “Rest assured that I didn’t know your names before today, but I’ll remember them now. And if you set another toe out of line, I’ll hunt you both.”

At first, I wonder if they receive the message. Both of them look sideways at the other, neither wanting to retreat first.

Then Timm doubles back and starts running in the opposite direction, followed by Jerren.

I smile to myself, though I doubt Evangeline would approve.

Then I limp forward to the gate, blood dripping with every step. I still need to find a late dinner for Evangeline. Hopefully, I can still sneak back before she notices I left.

I’m unsure what their intention was, but my wing should recover fine. I just need to bear the pain for the moment.

25

EVANGELINE

“What did you do, Xeros?”

In front of me is a steaming plate of dripir meat with herbs and eggs off to the side, my last waking memory strapping him to the bed so he could rest. He now sits across the room, eyeing me suspiciously.

“You were snoring very loudly,” he says. “I thought perhaps there was a wild animal in here.”

I shake my head, looking out the window at the rising sun.

How long was I asleep?

He steers a fork around his own plate, looking uncertainly at the food he procured, the fork scraping unpleasantly against the metal.

“You weren’t supposed to get out of bed,” I urge him. “You could have died. You need to be resting.”

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