Page 81 of Of Blooming Embers
The prismatic glow beneath the boughs covering my arms swelled as if disgruntled. Then heat zipped along my spine, and a rush of coiling light tore through the air, nudging aside the ebony blaze before slipping underneath, where it clung to the orb from below.
Immediately, my ember siphoned the swirling amber, overtaking the bottom half of the orb so the top was a flickering black blaze upon a curling, multicolored cloud of fractured hues.
As the saffron mist seeped out of the globe, Kaden bashed his boot into the glass floor to no avail. I wrenched my ember back, its glow still clinging to the amber energy. It sank into my hands, the burnished light churning through the pattern along my arms.
While it distilled what it had consumed, my aura buzzed against every inch of me. I felt the transformation deep within and breathed in and out several times.
I am you, and you are me.
Sated, my ember purred along my nape, and I took that as my cue to channel the purified energy back to my palms as my fingers weaved a churning ball of light between them.
Glancing at Marek, he nodded, retracting his flames and leaping down the way he’d come. I thrust my hands above me, and my twisting power slammed into the prison with a sharp crack. The glass splintered, fractures rushing over the surface like jagged spiderwebs.
With one last stomp, Kaden’s boot broke through the weakened orb. Gavrel jumped toward me as my body slumped, gathered me close, and shielded me from the sprinkle of shards raining down. Kaden dropped and rolled as his feet met the ground in front of us.
“Let’s not do that again,” Kaden huffed as he stood unsteadily, swatting his hands over his tunic.
On shaky legs, I left Gavrel’s embrace and crashed into my best friend, throwing my arms around him. A whoosh of air barged from him as he balanced himself against my assault, and then he squeezed me back. I held him at arm’s length and then cupped his jaw. “Kaden,” I whispered. “Are you … are you okay?”
He tucked his lips between his teeth, and his brows fell. He looked down for a moment before his gaze slowly met mine, and the skin at the corners crinkled as he pasted a smirk on his face. “Just fine, Ser. Just fine.”
I didn’t believe him.
He left my hold, greeted the others, and slapped his hand on Gavrel’s back as they hugged. Kaden’s brows lifted when he noticed the blood smeared across his palm. His eyes shot to his brother.
“What happened?” Gavrel demanded, stepping away and sheathing his sword with the slightest of winces.
“Well, honestly … it’s all a blur. Were those … were those dream reapers?” Kaden’s aura flickered around him, and he reached for Gavrel’s shoulder, pushing his healing clover-hued energy over his brother’s injury without a word.
“Unfortunately. Use care while we move.” Gavrel rolled his healed shoulder, nodding at his brother with concern and pride etched into his countenance.
I put my hand on Kaden’s biceps. “What do you remember, Kade?”
His mouth pinched as he looked up, and then all around us with wide eyes. “Well, one moment I was in the arena, and Gav ran off with you. I was going to play my part as the ‘victor,’ and then Melina was in front of me, congratulating me on my win. Needless to say, I didn’t reap the rewards.”
Kaden sighed. “She gave me that rabid smile of hers. Had her Akridais drag me to a dungeon—did you know there was a fucking dungeon under the palace?—and then, I’m not sure. Think she said, ‘enjoy your nightmares.’ My body was being torn apart, and then I was trapped in that fucking fishbowl. Reliving my worst nightmare over and over.” His face sagged for a second and then settled into a mask of indifference. His fingers flexed before he rubbed the base of his head.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t get to you sooner,” I said, sucking in a breath. I couldn’t get enough air. “We?—”
“You’re here now, and that’s all that matters. Let’s get the void out of here. Whereverhereis.” His brows lifted as he took in our surroundings.
Gavrel thumped his hand on his brother’s shoulder, his eyes squeezing closed for a moment. A relieved breath flared from his nostrils. “Stygian Murk.”
“Course we are,” Kaden muttered, moving away from the group. “I suppose that’s better than being trapped in these things.” He frowned, touching a nearby globe. A look of pained sympathy washed over him as he observed the trembling man within curl into a ball.
“We can’t stay long, and we … we don’t have enough power left to save the others right now and try to escape.” I placed my palm on Kaden’s wrist, and he focused on where we touched. “Kaden, you should know. You’re most likely in your physical body. Yours wasn’t in a pod when we returned. They must have pulled it here when you were imprisoned. I … I was in my physical form during the last Dormancy. We all are now.”
His brow furrowed as he looked at me and then the others. “I suspected as much when you didn’t burst into ash during the Winnowing.”
“How abso-fecking-lutely spectacular we all are. Can we move it along?” Breena groused. “Unless we want to be sucked off by these nightmare beasties?”
Kaden rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Breena. That’s what we all want.”
Breena stabbed her middle finger into the air, aiming it squarely at him.
Rhaegar cleared his throat and shifted his battle axe to his other hand. “The longer we stay, the greater the risk of being trapped.” He scanned our surroundings, squinting. Quite a few reapers lingered nearby. “I say we head back whence we came.”
“Agree,” Marek said.
