Page 50 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

"I’m afraid Gray’s right." Emma placed a hand on Lea’s arm, her eyes kind, but defeated. "You will get through this, my friend. You are strong, and—"

"Don’t you dare comfort me right now!" Lea screamed. "None of you are dying! Do you understand me? I watched my mother die already, Thomas’s father… Little Anthony…" a sob ripped from her throat as her darkness writhed inside her.

Gray knelt in front of her, blood now running from the corner of his eye… "I will go beyond the veil knowing you are safe. That is the most precious gift I could be given as I leave this life." Gray pulled her into a tight embrace, comforting her in what just might be his final moments. "I will wait for you. For eternity, if that is what it takes." He leaned back, looking her in the eyes. "Take your time, my love," Gray said as coughs wracked his body. The welts had spread further, wrapping around his throat and down to his fingers. Blood collected beneath where he knelt, every sore on his skin open and weeping.

"This can’t be happening! What will I do, Gray?" Lea leaned into him, not caring about the blood and gore. If all she could offer him in his last moments was comfort, then that is what she would give him.

"This can’t be happening," she cried again. "It’s not real, Gray. Tell me it’s not real…"

"Itisreal, Azalea. You need to accept it." Lea froze. Gray’s tone had been sharp, dark and bitter. There was no evidence of his kindness, his love for her behind those words. And through the bond, anger. Not sadness, not terror or resignation..Anger.

"It can’t be real…" Lea whispered to herself, pulling back from Gray. "It’snotreal," she stood, staring into her husband’s eyes for only a second before she held her hands in front of her and exploded the woods into a raging wildfire, eviscerating everything her magic could touch.

Chapter 32

Gray

Shadowstraveledacrosstheblack forest floor, weaving around fallen branches and the twisted trunks of dying trees as they obediently served their master, searching for threats. Gray shifted on his horse as a rustle sounded from a nearby bush. Whatever had caused it had escaped the notice of his shadows, but not his Fae senses.Threat. The word repeated in his mind like a war drum.Threat. Threat. Threat.

Growing up, Gray had been jealous of Alaric’s flames. They were flashier, perhaps more brutal than his shadows, but as he’d grown he’d learned to become grateful for them. They were a part of him as much as his hands, a muscle he could flex capable of providing him limitless information. If he connected them to his ears, he could hear as far as his shadows could travel. If he focused on his breathing, he could scent a threat from miles away. He could sneak them through tiny holes or underneath doors, use them to gather information or pilfer secret documents.

Immediately, Gray commanded his shadows to seek out whatever was lurking nearby. Heknewsomething was there, but he couldn’t identify it. It was rare that Gray could be truly surprised when he was using his shadows to their full ability. Which is why the earth tilted on its axis when his father stepped through the gnarled trees.

"Thought you could escape me, did you, boy?" King Brennus Nestruir laughed that wicked laugh that sometimes found its way into Gray’s nightmares. He looked younger, filled with vitality rather than the pudgy, lazy, power hungry man he’d become in recent years. His skin was less sallow, his hair thicker, with far fewer strands of gray. He looked strong, dangerous in a way he hadn’t appeared to Gray in a very long time.

Gray dismounted his horse, pulling Lea down and pushing her behind him. "Erik!" He motioned to Lea. His priority was her safety, her life. Because if the king was here, it would be for her power. His heart shuddered. His father couldn’t have her.

Erik was at Gray’s side in a moment, sword drawn.

The king laughed again, throwing his head back and baring his neck as if the idea that Gray and Erik were a threat was nonexistent.

"You know, my son, that I command the power of thousands in my blood. You think I do not know what runs throughherveins? I do." His voice, orvoices, echoed off the trees as he took a single step forward. "And Iwillhave it."

Time froze. Gray was unable to react, to even say a word to his shadows before his father’s magic exploded, circling Lea’s throat and lifting her into the air.

Gray’s vision turned red. He would destroy the world before he would allow the king to hurt her. His father would never take her magic. As Gray’s shadows took control, he grabbed his sword and plunged it into the king’s throat. Stalking toward Brennus, he twisted the knife, blood gurgling from the wound. "Let her go, and I'll kill you quickly."

King Nestruir bared his teeth, which were now stained a gruesome red. "You forget, son. I can’t be killed." The king tilted his head back with laughter, blood spurting from his neck as the world around them exploded into an inescapable inferno.

Chapter 33

Lea

"Thisisn’treal."Leapushed Gray away, or at least, whatever waspretendingto be Gray, finding her flames in an instant and coiling them tight. "What are you?"

Gray’s eyes shifted, the emerald green turning black an instant before he launched himself at her with a monstrous roar. There was no time to worry about controlling her fire, no time for fear and anxiety to dampen her potential. Lea closed her eyes and channeled every ounce of day magic she held inside her in a giant arc. Throwing a shield of shadows around her friends, she unleashed her fury.

Sweat dripped into her eyes, but her magic continued to pulse from her hands. Gray’s doppelgänger wailed, an unnatural, screeching sound, before his skin melted away, leaving a shriveled, pale, childlike figure in its place.

Its skin was paper thin, with blue and black veins that spread like a spiderweb beneath it. There was no hair on its body, and its beady black eyes were unfocused as it took a final rattling breath. She focused her magic on its carcass, the heat nearly unbearable against Lea’s skin as it burned in a white-hot blaze.

"Lea!" Gray’s voice caused her head to snap up, searching for her mate through her haze of fury and fire. Keeping an eye on the burning monster, she called her magic back into her chest, forcing the flames to suffocate.

The first thing she saw through the smoke and dying red embers was scorched earth. The trees, which had been gnarled and black to begin with, were nearly gone. Jagged trunks still glowing orange jutted out from the barren ground, while ash fell like snow, landing in her hair and on her eyelashes. And through the ash, were pockets of shadows.

She pulled them back, nearly crying with relief as the shadows retreated and revealed her friends, all very much looking pale and terrified, but alive. Erik let out a cry that reminded Lea of a wounded animal as he ran to Janelle, but her focus was pulled away when Gray sprinted toward her. Lea crashed into his arms, pressing her forehead against his chest as Gray tangled his fingers through the hair at the nape of her neck.

"Are you hurt?" Gray wrapped his magic around her like a comforting blanket of shadows, searching for injuries as they prodded and caressed every inch of her body.

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