Page 1 of Ignited Spirits
CHAPTER 1
IZZY
“Ilove you, too, sunny boy,” I choke out as Archer’s lifeless body hits the rocky floor, my voice breaking.
My knees buckle underneath me, and I slowly slide to the ground as my vision blurs with the tears streaming down my cheeks. Bishop’s arms are still wrapped around me as we kneel together, but even his touch can’t comfort me or make anything about this okay.
I hear quiet sobbing from my left. Turning my head, I see Luca is also on his knees with tears dripping down his face and splashing onto his jeans. His chest shakes as he cries, but he can’t tear his gaze off his little brother. Cain is on the floor, too, and has his arm slung around Luca, offering what little comfort he can.
As badly as I want to go over to Luca, I don’t know if he wants anything to do with me. LuaMaterwanted me. Archer only ended up there with her because he was pushing me out of the way. While I’m not the one who ripped out his heart, I am just as responsible.
“Sagana. We have to hurry,”Cer rasps in my mind.
I shake my head mutely because I can’t do anything right now, with the all-consuming pain of having just watched Archerdie consuming me. Even if the world is on fire, I don’t have the will to do anything other than kneel here and watch it burn. I don’t really want a world without Archer in it, anyway.
“Please,sagana, we need to go before his soul leaves,”Bear pleads.
The mention of a soul is what finally breaks through to me. I try to look for any souls hanging around, but I can’t see very much at the moment with tears obscuring my vision. Through hiccupping breaths, I ask, “What do you mean, before his soul leaves?”
I guess it’s not a surprise that Archer’s soul didn’t cross over. Everything with Lua definitely qualifies as a traumatic death. If he is still here, I know I need to cross him, but I don’t think I can handle that right now. Not when I just lost him.
“His soul is still here, so we can put him back together! Once his soul leaves, we can put him back together, but he won’t be quite right.”Russ’s face twists in disgust at the mention of what I’m pretty sure is a zombie.
“What do you mean, we can put him back together? He’s—” I break off as I struggle to get the words out. It somehow feels more real if I say it out loud, and I’d give anything for it not to be real. I’d happily trade my life for his, but that’s not how it works. Swallowing roughly, I finally manage to whisper, “He’s dead. A shifter can’t heal from a ripped-out heart.”
“A shifter can’t, but your magic and the River Styx can. If you wish to let him go, that is fine. But if you want to save him, we need to hurry.”Cer’s gravelly voice holds no judgment, supporting whichever path I choose.
I’m pretty sure my heart stops beating when I hear that I can heal him. Time freezes and the world around me goes silent for a beat as I process it before everything comes roaring back.
“What do I need to do to bring him back?” I ask as I angrily swipe the tears off my cheeks and clear my vision. Whereasheartbreak and hopelessness were close to consuming me, now I’m filled with a steely sense of determination. I’ll do anything I have to in order to bring Archer back.
“You have to hold on to his soul and get him toInfernusfirst. Then you can heal him with the sacred water!”Russ practically shouts in my head. I wince at the volume but nod my thanks for the information.
“Sweetheart…” Bishop trails off uncertainly. Even though he can only hear one side of the conversation, he still understands what’s happening. “You don’t know what the consequences of messing with the natural order are.”
As much as I hate to admit it right now, Bishop is right. I desperately want to bring Archer back because I need him so damn much. But it’s not fair to him to bring him back as a shell of his former self. If I’m going to do this, I have to make sure that all of Archer will come back.
Blowing out a harsh breath, I glance over at Cerberus again. “What does reviving him mean for Archer?”
Bear’s head tilts back and forth as he thinks, a surprisingly human gesture for the hell dog.“His innate magic will be altered by contact with the Styx. He might have another animal form, newcurapowers, or… he might never shift again.”
Fuck.
That’s a hell of a spectrum of consequences. Archer will either get cool new magic or have none at all, making him practically human.
I sigh. “Will there be any other consequences?”
Cer shakes his head.“There should not be, but there is no guarantee. This is not something that is often done inInfernus. Curasimply do not die frequently enough for this to be a well-documented situation.”
That doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy about the whole thing. It also makes me wonder how Cerberus knowsabout it if it’s not common knowledge, but that’s a problem for another time.
Shoving my hands through my hair, I try to think it all through as quickly as I can. We don’t have much time here.
I wish I could ask Luca what he thinks his brother would want, but he’s in no shape to be making any decisions right now. Not that I am, either, but I don’t have a choice.
Archer always tries to live life to the fullest, even when it’s hard and he feels like he’s failing everyone else. All he wants is to be there for the people he cares about and avoid causing them unnecessary worry. He has an unerring knack for finding joy, even in the worst situations.
I have to hope that he will still be happy, with or without his animal anymore. I have to hope that he’ll find some way to live a full life, despite any unexpected complications from this. I have to hope he doesn’t hate me for making this decision for him.
