Page 67 of From Frost to Flame

The glowering sun hung above him like a ripe blood orange, and the heat radiating off the sand burned his hands as he got to his feet. A sharp pain in his heart told him Lex wasn’t near him.

“Lex?” he called. Only the sound of desert sand skidding on a faint breeze answered.

He closed his eyes and searched for that tug in his chest. It was there, but it was as quiet as Lex’s weakening heart. He chased it through the endlessly empty landscape and just as his hope faltered, he caught Lex’s lavender scent.

He sprinted toward the smell and called his name until his throat was ragged.

Finally, he spotted his black toga in a pile, partially buried by a layer of sand. Silas slid down to it. As he touched the fabric, a bolt of panic hit him.

Lex was curled under it, unmoving.

With shaky hands, he leaned in and lifted the edge and peeked under it. Lex had taken the toga off and curled up in a tight ball under it like a stray cat hiding from the rain. One of his cheeks was bloody and blistered. The backs of his hands pulled close to his chest were also burned and bleeding.

Time froze as Silas stared at him, trying to catch any sign of life.

“Silas?” Lex whispered weakly as he squinted at him through sunburned eyes. “You’re safe.” His eyes closed and a small smile crossed his lips. “That’s good.”

A laugh burst forth as he realized Lex was nearly burned to death and still worried about him. “Yeah, I am. Save your energy.” He forced confidence into his words. “I’m going to get you out of here. Just stay under here until I get you shade.”

Lex muttered something before slipping back into unconsciousness.

Silas lifted himin his arms and walked up the dune. He racked his brain for an answer to his unreasonable task of finding shelter in this sun-drenched wasteland before his mate died in his arms.

“Hey! Hey!” Julian called. “Over here!”

He shielded his eyes from the sun and spotted Julian waving from the top of a dune across the way, holding the blanket Castor had wrapped him in earlier over his head. When Silas caught up to him, he could see his fingertips were charred as if he’d placed them in a furnace and it had spread up his knuckles. His arms trembled as ifin terrible pain, but it was obvious he was trying to hold it together.

“Do you know where Mora and Castor are?” he asked through gritted teeth. “I fell alone. I only found you two by chance.”

“I was hoping they were with you,” Silas admitted.

“Mora will die if we don’t move fast. If she’s alone, she might not have any coverage. She could be dead already.”

“We’ll find them. Come on,” Silas said, nodding for him to follow. He searched the dry air then caught the light scent of cedar trees in the fall and a dash of Herculean clay. He’d recognize his brother’s smell anywhere, but it wasn’t alone. It was blended with the smell of freshly picked blackberries he associated with Mora.

“They’re together,” he said, looking at Julian. “I’m sure Castor is trying to keep her out of the sun, too. She’s likely still alive.”

Julian looked as if he might cry. “That’s good. Yeah, he’s probably helping her.” He looked at Lex cradled in Silas's arms and a sweet smile crossed his face. “Thank you for caring for him and helping us. I get what Lex sees in you. I suppose. Sometimes.”

“Thanks,” he said quietly. A pang of worry hit him. Truthfully, he was unsure what Lex would say when he fully woke. He saw him run away and yet Lex came running back to his rescue.

Will he want to stay when no one else has?

He pondered this as the smells of Castor and Mora grew stronger. “They’re buried somewhere in this vicinity,” he said, trying to avoid getting lost in the unknown. “I’ll have to dig for a while, though. You and Lex can wait under the blanket.” A sharp gust of wind and dirt came instead of agreement.

Julian’s face was determined as he dropped the blanket and held in a hiss of pain. He held out his hands, and blue sands whipped up into a cyclone that swirled at his will.

“Keep your eyes out for them!” he yelled over his own wind. The skin on his hands, face, and chest rapidly burned in the sunlight. In seconds, he was covered in rapidly darkening blisters.

Silas was surprised to see how strong Julian’s winds were. He searched along the ground as the sand rose. Then he spotted Castor coughing on his hands and knees. His body was covering Mora as best as he could. Mora was faring much worse than Julian and Lex, despite having the hood of her cloak pulled up. She held Julian’s cloak tight in her arms, and burn marks covered her bleeding face, hands, and neck.

“Castor!” Silas yelled. “Grab her and let’s go!”

Castor scooped her up and sprinted for them as Julian let the sand come crashing down.

“Thank you both,” Castor said as he set Mora down under the blanket Julian was holding up. “I thought I’d be stuck under there for ages.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t leave you behind, big guy. I need you as a snack,” Julian said, though his gaze was on Mora who was burying her face in his chest.

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