Page 117 of Feathers of Ash and Hope

“But we already looked there,” I tell her. I switch to her sight, and for the first time in a long time, fear grips me. It slams into me with a vengeance and leaves me reeling.

A small figure lies at the base of the cliff, the gray of her uniform one with the stone around her, her body partly covered by rubble. She doesn’t move.

She doesn’t fucking move.

My urgency prompts Daeva to pull out of her dive at the last second, landing with an impact that rattles my bones.

I’m out of the saddle before she even tucks in her wings, running over and falling to my knees next to Ara. She looks so still and pale.

I’m too late.

Her face and hair are covered by stone dust, and she looks nearly as gray as everything around us. She lies on her back, her eyes closed. And for one horrible second, all my fears come true. Then her chest rises, and I start breathing again.

I look at the cliff. Did she try to get out of here? Did she think we abandoned her?

I reach for Ara, and her eyelids flutter. Her pulse is weak and fast.

I call her name and rattle her softly when she doesn’t respond, but it takes me a moment before I manage to rouse her. When she finally does look up at me, she seems confused. She mumbles my name, pressing her cheek into my hand where I cup her face. Her face scrunches up like she tries to remember something before shaking her head.

“Can’t heal me,” she slurs, and her eyes close again. Panic rises inside me. Something is seriously wrong.

How high up was she when she fell?

“Sunshine, stay with me, baby. Open your eyes.” They flutter open, only focusing for a moment before clouding over again. Fuck.

“Hold me, please?” she croaks, but I put my hands to both sides of her face and pour my magic into her instead. Her eyes fly open. “No.” She sounds frantic, grabbing for my hands like she wants to pull them away, but I don’t let her.

“Shhh, it’s just me. I’m going to fix you up in no time.” I try to calm her, my throat tight.

“Don’t want you to die, too,” she whispers, and her words chill me to the core.

“No.” I shake my head at her. “No one is dying here. Do you hear me?” She doesn’t respond, her eyes closed.

Is her chest still moving?

My hold tightens on instinct like that can keep her here.

I shake her, yell at her, and my breath stutters when her eyes fly open again. I’m not ready to let her go.I’m not sure I ever will be.

Her eyes are unfocused, and one of her pupils is blown wide.

Bleeding in her head.

I push my magic into her, focusing on her brain and the blood vessels in and around it, repairing the damage. I’m eternally grateful to the healing master at the palace for drilling me on every part of our anatomy.

Her eyes are still open and on me. Her brow is damp with sweat, and her whole body is shaking, like the healing is taking as much out of her as it is from me.

Exhaustion rises while I soothe the swelling and help her body get rid of the blood that pooled in her skull.

Then I check the rest of her. Her eyes are closed by then, her whole body wracked by shivers. I pull her into my arms, holding her close. I’m drained.

“Sleep, sunshine, everything else can wait,” I whisper into her hair. Her breath deepens, but her body doesn’t stop shaking. I pull her even closer, using my body to warm hers and create a cocoon of air around us. It holds off the smoke and the cold,and for the first time since I realized she was missing, my body relaxes, too. I watch the smoke thinning out, my gaze blurry with exhaustion.

They contained the fire.

I must have fallen asleep because the next time I open my eyes, it’s dark around us. Daeva is a soothing presence behind my back, her wing sheltering us.

“Good, you’re awake,”she chirps, though her worry settles into me with every word.

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