Page 66 of From Frost to Flame

“Always such a child.” She cackled, amused by his thrashing. “Don’t worry, little wolf. Once your transformation is over, I’ll toss you back.”

You can’t have him. You can’t.

Lex knew his flames were limited, and he knew The Ravenous One would kill him if he got too close. But above all, he knew he needed Silas.

He’s mine.

Lex pressed his palms to the barrier. With eyes squeezed shut, he forced his flames out his fingertips. He expected sparks but instead got a roaring blue torrent of fire. The barrier burst. Translucent shards fell all around them like glass rain.

He stumbled in and flung his arms around Silas, pushing his flames higher. Wider. Hotter.Mine.

A wretched shriek cut through the dark as her tentacles recoiled like burning paper ribbons. The screaming stopped as The Ravenous One was sucked backward, straight into Tartarus.

“Lex?” Silas gasped, confused.

Lex’s fire climbed until the portal to Tartarus closed. Then, all at once, his flames went out as if doused with water. He collapsed in Silas's arms.

“How are you here?” Silas said in disbelief as tears choked his voice. “What have you done to yourself?”

“Didn’t leave,” he mumbled, not processing all of Silas's frantic words. “I’m still here.”

Chapter Thirteen

Silas

There was a crack,and the void they were in splintered open. Pale light came streaming in from the snowy skies above.

“We’re in the tree?” Silas mumbled in surprise. Its bark inside and out was consumed in a torrent of Lex’s blue flames and was falling apart.

Castor’s loud howl came through the smoke and ashes to guide him out.

Silas heaved Lex, who was still muttering something about being here, onto his back and shifted into a wolf to make their escape. As he ran, he saw a black gemstone emitting white light tumbling down through the fog, flames, and smoke.

He leapt and caught it in his teeth just as Castor arrived with Julian and Mora on his back. Once Castor bit Silas’s tail to hold tight, Silas bit down on the gemstone. In a flash of white light, they were all snatched out of the fiery wreckage and fell from a sunlit sky.

Silas crashed onto sapphire sand dunes that stretched on as far as the eye could see. He rolled down an endless slope. When he came to a rough stop, he sputtered on the blue dirt that tinged his tongue.

---