Page 79 of The Sins of Silas

NO.

I ran. I ran as fast as I could, not worried or caring for one moment if the curse got me as I intercepted their path. As long as it didn’t touch Silas.

It couldn’t touch Silas.

The other Undead screeched, that same ache spreading in my brain—in everyone's—as the people surrounding me clutched their heads, falling to the ground.

It felt like my brain was bleeding, but I couldn't succumb to the pain. Not yet.

I couldn't let Silas die.

I flung myself at the creature, wrapping my arms around it, and wailed as I unleashed every bit of my fire.

There was no control. My skin burned; my chest hurt. But I released everything I had as the creature beneath me screeched, its skin melting from my touch.

“Lena!” Merrick yelled. I could hear Elowen sobbing from behind me.

I was hurting myself. I was doing too much.

But I couldn’t stop. My adrenaline was too high, and all I wanted was for this creature to die.

“LENA!” Silas roared, rushing forward.

“The Lord of the Shadows will rule you one day. All of you,” Heildee's distorted voice promised. “You've been warned. He is coming for you all.”

I had the sense that the remaining Undead were escaping, but I could only focus on the body beneath me.

The Undead man thrashed, but his movements finally began to slow. I didn’t extinguish my flames until his body grew still and quiet. Torrin’s words played in my head.

Calm the flames.

Calm the flames.

Calm the flames.

When I finally felt relief from the heat, when I knew I wasn’t a danger to others, I grasped my dagger, the one I hid under my corset.

Chapter Twenty-One

SILAS

Iwatched as Lena withdrew a dagger kept tucked into her corset, watched as she straddled the body, wailing as she repeatedly pierced its corpse. Over and over and over again. Black blood splattered on her face and her tattered clothes, pooling on the floor beneath her.

She was sobbing…losing control. I rushed to her not a moment later. I grasped her shoulder, halting her stabbing, and her head spun to face me.

I knew my face didn’t hide my emotions. It fucking killed me seeing her like this.

I knelt down beside her, taking her face into my hands. “It’s okay, Lena,” I whispered, my eyes meeting her frantic ones. “You’re alive. You saved all these people. You.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks, her fearful gaze softening as I wiped them away. Her lip trembled as I lowered my hands,and she slowly took in the bloodied mess beneath her, then at the crowd, who stared at her, not in fear…but in awe.

“I thought you were done for,” she whispered so quietly only I heard it. “I thought it was all over. I…I didn’t know if I could stop it.”

I wanted to comfort her, but how could I?

“I’m right here, Lena,” I said softly. Her skin was bright red—blistered, damaged from the flames she couldn’t control.

Burning…so fucking close to burning. I took quick breaths as those memories of her in the cottage haunted me.

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