Page 21 of Spark of the Everflame

Lily gasped and recoiled away from me. The man tucked her snug against his chest. “You’re safe,” he assured her, his tone once again gentle.

“You did perfectly, Lily,” I said. “That was the only scary part—the rest is easy.” I coaxed her out of his arms and began to tend to her, wrapping her arm into a makeshift sling and cleaning the wound at her temple.

The man continued to assess me with unnerving intensity. His glittering eyes watched my every movement like a hawk on the hunt.

When I finished, I gestured for Lily to stand. I realized with frustration that I had no idea how long her arm would need to stay in place before the girl’s Descended gifts would heal the bone. That was precisely the kind of information my mother had ensured that I never learned—but my pride wouldn’t allow me to admit that in front of this man, especially not after he’d already questioned my skills.

I started to excuse myself to consult with Maura when I noticed Lily swaying on her feet. Her face was drained of color, her eyes now cloudy and glazed.

“Lily?” I asked slowly. “Are you—”

Her eyes rolled back into her head. With a short, rattling breath, she collapsed into the man’s arms, and her body went still.

ChapterFive

“Lily!” the man shouted. His sharp panic carved through me like a scalpel. He gripped the back of her head as her body slumped to the ground. “Something’s wrong. Help her, please!”

I’d missed something—something crucial.

In my mind, the world went quiet. Sounds hushed, lights dimmed, the room faded to black. I saw nothing beyond the girl lying unconscious in front of me.

I dropped to my knees, my hands moving as if by their own free will. Suddenly I was shoving the man away, ripping off his protective grip and checking her pulse, her eyes, her breath. My palms roamed over her clothes in frantic search for signs of injury.

Then I saw it.

A large pool of crimson forming beneath her lower back. It had been hidden by her body, the liquid covertly absorbing into her thick navy gown.

I pulled my dagger from its sheath and sliced at her clothing until it fell away from her skin. Shouts of protest rang out from what felt like miles away, barely audible to my ears.

A twisted metal shard, snapped off from a fallen chandelier, protruded from her back. The pain from her arm must have overwhelmed her for her to not feel an injury this severe.

So much blood—too much blood—had already puddled on the floor. I pulled a jar from my bag and forced a scoop of the mixture under Lily’s tongue, offering a silent prayer to whatever gods were listening that the clotting potion would absorb quickly enough to make a difference.

I took a sharp breath before yanking the hunk of metal from her back. It gave way with a wet, nauseating squelch.

Instantly, a river of scarlet began to ooze. I grabbed gauze from my pack and pressed it to the wound, acutely focused on the quickness with which the snowy fabric faded to pink, then red, then dark maroon. I packed more gauze as the dressing bled through.

Again. And again. And again.

Too much blood.

I shifted her body to spare a glance at her face. Her lips had gone blue, her skin ashen and clammy.

“Come on, Lily,” I growled beneath my breath.

I should have seen this. I’d missed the signs, too wrapped up in my own thoughts while an innocent girl had been bleeding out right in front of me.

I thought of Teller and the way his eyes lit up when he talked about her.She’s really nice, he’d said. So few in this miserable world had ever beenniceto him. If she died at my hands...

No. I wouldn’t allow it.

I pressed harder on the wound and leaned down until my lips grazed Lily’s ear. I thought of thevoice, whose silent commands had haunted my thoughts these past weeks.

“Fight,” I demanded, willing every shred of dominance I possessed into the order. “I need you tofight, Lily. This is not your time.”

Fight, thevoiceinside me echoed.

Again, a strange feeling stirred in my chest. My hands tingled with a sensation that was at once freezing cold and scorching hot. It was almost painful, but I didn’t dare pull away.

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