Page 81 of Heat of the Everflame

“Unless you were poisoned,” Taran finished.

Luther’s fingers tightened around me. “What have you eaten? Was your canteen filled from the spring? The berries you brought back, were they—”

“I’m notpoisoned.” I shot them all a stern look. “I am a healer you know, I do know what to look out for. I’m not achy or nauseous or lightheaded. I’m justhot.”

I reluctantly pulled Luther’s hands away and gave them a squeeze. “I’m fine, truly. If I start to feel ill, I’ll say something so we can rest. I promise.”

His eyes roved over me. He was plainly unconvinced, but there was little he could do.

When I moved to pull back, he gave the faintest grip of resistance, not quite ready to let me go. The moment my fingers finally slid away, his emotions retreated back behind his mask, and the stoic Prince returned.

He took my mortar and pestle to wash in the seawater, and Alixe strolled further down the beach to scout, leaving Taran and I alone.

“You’re going to put that man in an early grave from worrying over you,” he said.

“Has he always been like this?”

“Overprotective?” Taran barked a laugh. “You have no idea. He thinks anything bad that happens to someone he cares about ishisfailure.”

Atoning for his mother’s death, I thought sadly.He couldn’t save her, so he’s trying to save all of us.

Taran leaned back on his hands as I shifted to bandage his ribs. “But the way he is with you? I’ve never seen him like that with anyone but Lily. We always said any boy who wanted Lil’s heart would have to have a death wish.” He grinned and flexedhis abs under my hand. “Turned out he just needed a pretty older sister.”

I rolled my eyes. “All Descended are pretty.”

“Fine. Afeistyolder sister.” He stared up at the sky. “Blessed Mother, you have one hell of a sense of humor putting those two couples together.”

I flopped down beside Taran and stared out at Luther, who was still hunched over the water giving my tools a thorough scrub.

There were no words to explain the darkness that had consumed me in those brief, desolate moments when I’d believed he might be dead. The possibility of life without him had been a suffocating fate. Finding him alive was like learning how to breathe again.

“Do you really believe that?” I asked Taran. “You think the gods decide who we’re meant to be with?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I thought your mating bond ritual was about choosing the person you want to be with forever. If the gods have already paired us up, that’s hardly a meaningful choice.”

“The Kindred offer us gifts, but we don’t have to accept them.” He nudged me with his leg. “You almost chose someone else.”

“So did he,” I muttered, remembering how Luther had nearly sold his life away to Iléana to protect me from House Hanoverre.

“If he died tomorrow, who’s to say Lumnos wouldn’t bring someone else into your life who cares for you just as deeply as Lu does?”

“That seems unlikely,” I murmured. My heart lurched at the thought.

“Maybe so.” Taran’s voice turned quiet. “But we don’t always get to keep the people we love forever, so let’s hope it’s true.”

Far in the distance, the rumble of thunder rolled through the air. The clouds above had darkened, the heavy air a portent of a coming storm.

Taran slapped his hand on my leg and rose to his feet. “This conversation is depressing. You got back safely from Arboros, I’m healing, and we’re almost out offucking Ignios. Today is a day for celebrating. And look...”

A hazy black shape hovered over his open palm. It was cut like a gemstone, but instead of sparkling under the light, within its facets the darkness seemed to rebound forever.

“Your magic is back again?” Alixe asked, walking up. “You had it once already this morning.”

Taran wiggled his fingers and the gem shifted into a miniature shadowy gryvern. It wove in circles around me, nipping its dark fangs at my thumbs.

I grinned and scratched the tiny creature beneath its jaw. It gave a happy wiggle of its haunches then flew up to perch on my shoulder.

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