Page 13 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

“Burn me.” He said it so simply that she blinked in fear she had heard correctly.

When she didn’t move, Garrik’s hand wrapped around hers, pulling it to his leathers. “Go inside the armor. Seal them, Alora. Otherwise, I will bleed out.”

“No, I can’t.” She would do no such thing. Not that—notagain.

“You must,” he growled.

Alora nervously shifted her weight, looking at his blood-soaked palm wrapped around hers, then back at the gouges in his leathers. There was no denying it. Her face had paled as much as his.

“This will hurt.” That didn’t help. “And I will scream. Do not stop until it is done.”

She looked into those murky-gray eyes and trembled. “I don’t know if I can.”

Garrik huffed. “You fire-roasted a starsdamned dragon and do not think you can burn me?” A strained amused smile played on his lips.

Alora’s stomach threatened to hollow out, eyes narrowed in horror as she shifted her palm to his skin and hesitated.

“Think of it as payment for Telldaira. For the night I stole you?—”

“Rescued me,” she blurted.

A weak smile ghosted his face before he guided her hand to his abdomen. “You can do it, clever girl. Do not worry about being precise, just get it done. What is another scar?”

Alora’s mouth twisted.Another scar.She wasn’t entirely sure there would be room for any more. Her fingers lightly touched his skin beside the jagged edges of the gashes. Then her palm lowered as bile burned her throat.

Oh stars.Was she going to do this? Her breath came short, refusing to steady.

“Hey?” Garrik’s voice sounded calm. Good. She wouldn’t be able to handle this otherwise. “Do not pass out. Breathe.”

“I should be telling you that.”

“I am an expert at this. Nothing can make me—stars-fucking-fuck!” Garrik tensed as all the air in his lungs heaved out.

With both of them distracted, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to shove her hand inside and light his skin aflame.

She fought off nausea, but not as intensely as he fought the agonized screams. They shattered something deep inside her—something she didn’t know existed.

Alora resisted the urge to vomit and sliced a glance at the stars. Perhaps searching for the strength to continue this torture because every lick of her flames and the overpowering smell of burning flesh … might destroy her.

Please. Please pass out.She stroked a hand through his hair, uncaring of the clotted and wet blood.Please.

Being burned like this … no one could simply withstand it. And she didn’t think less of him as his screams intensified.

She pulled her burning palm away and shoved it into the second slash.

Alora needed to stop, needed to end the agony, and give him a moment to breathe. But he told her not to until she was finished. Her blazing-hot palms released flames and sparks across the third slash, sealing it before she traveled to the next.

“I hate—hated—flowers.” She didn’t know why she said it. To distract him? Her? It didn’t matter as long as his eyes focused on her. “I would’ve sat in this meadow and been utterly disgusted.”

White flames sizzled in her palms as she tried not to notice the flaming piece of ashen skin floating in the air.

Garrik clamped down, curling his fingers in the dirt.

“Kaine gave me these stars-awful bouquets of red roses every time he’d…” Alora shook her head. “But now, well, maybe I wouldn’t mind having a garden. Although, I kill about every living thing I put my hands on.”

“That is … encouraging,” Garrik gritted out through his teeth. “Seeing as you are tending tothis living thing.”

She would’ve almost laughed if it wasn’t for his scream.

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