Page 66 of Heat of the Everflame

I forced out an approving smile. “Come and sit with us. Taran needs you, too.”

He nodded and stood, then reached down to help me up. Once I was on my feet, he grabbed me by the waist, pulling me in for a sudden hard, passionate kiss that left me breathless.

As much as I thrilled at the rush of fiery pleasure his touch always brought, there was a taste of sorrow on his lips that left my heart aching rather than racing.

“Are you alright?” I asked. I cringed as the words came out—how foolish that question seemed in light of all we now faced.

Out of kindness, or perhaps exhaustion, he didn’t call me on it. “I’m fine,” he said with a smile that felt even less genuine than mine. He tucked me under his arm and started toward the others. “Now I need you to hurry up and get Taran healed so I can stab him again for ruining my favorite sweater.”

Though my worries were far from soothed, he left me no time to push further. A moment later, we were back at Taran’s side, Luther arguing with him over who had fought better against the mortals while I gingerly changed the dressing on Taran’s wounds.

“How do they look?” Alixe asked quietly as she leaned in and watched me work.

I peered beneath the gauze. The wound itself looked normal, similar enough to the hundreds of mortal cuts I’d treated over the years. What twisted the knife in my ribs were the tiny black veins webbing out from where the skin had split.

“Hard to say,” I rushed out, quickly covering them up with fresh linen. “I really need water to clean them. Some of those herbs we saw in Arboros would be helpful, too.”

I glanced at the forest boundary, and my heart sank. Faces still lingered in the trees, watching and waiting.

“If my magic returns, I’ll sneak back over and get what we need,” she offered.

“We’re all going to need water soon enough. Food and shelter, too. If they’re planning to wait us out indefinitely...”

She nodded in bleak understanding. “How long until the flameroot wears off and your magic returns?”

“A few more days, maybe longer.”

“Can we...” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Can he make it that long?”

We shared a grave look. “I’d rather not find out.”

“We can hear you, you know.” I looked over to see Taran frowning at me. “I knew that whole ‘You’re gonna be fine’act was a lie.”

I swore internally and flipped the switch on my cheery facade. “It wasn’t a lie. I just want to get you food and water so your body can heal.” I made a show of rolling my eyes. “By the Flames, Taran, I’ve treated newborn babes that needed less coddling than this.”

“I don’t think we should be calling for anyFlameswhen we’re infucking Ignios,” he grumbled. “And isn’t that saying forbidden?”

I smirked. “I’m the Queen. I’m un-forbidding it. The Everflame was here long before Lumnos was. If the Descendedand the mortals have to learn to play nice, the Old Gods and the Kindred do, too.”

He groaned and squinted up at the morning sky. “Blessed Mother Lumnos, I am your devoted servant. Please don’t punish me for her blasphemy.”

“My blasphemy? Taran, I’ve heard you say ‘Lumnos’s tits’ at least ten times.”

“Yes.Devotedly.”

“If you two are done,” Luther interjected, “I think I have a solution.” He gazed off to the north. “I’ve seen old maps of Ignios from before they expelled the mortals. Their Mortal City was by the sea, near the Arboros border.”

“We can’t be far from there now,” I said. “The rebel camp was close to the coast.”

He nodded. “There could still be a freshwater source nearby, and we may be able to find shelter and scavenge for other supplies. The journey will be a hard one, though...” He glanced at Taran, then back at me, a question in his eyes.

“It’s just a few hours of walking,” Taran groused before I could answer. “I can handle it.”

“Are you sure?” Alixe asked him, though her eyes were fixed on me.

Taran shoved our hands away and grunted as he stiffly climbed to his feet. He grabbed his discarded clothing and marched off into the sand. “Let me earn my manhood back before Her Majesty calls me a newborn babe again.”

As it turned out,none of us were prepared for whata few hours of walkingwould demand in the desert.

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