Page 4 of Ignited Spirits
I mutely watch Cain and Luca carefully place them on the floor. I have to look away from the torn-up expanse of Archer’s chest before I break down in front of Hades and his guards.
Kneeling by Levi, Hades distractedly explains, “The waters will also heal my brother of what is ailing him, whatever that is. Your hound does not want to be carrying him when he wakes up, because he’ll probably thrash around.”
Leaning down, Hades listens to Levi’s pulse, checks his breathing, and inspects him for any visible injuries. When he doesn’t find anything, he sits back on his heels and scans the room with a frown. He opens his mouth to bark something but snaps it closed when the harried-looking guard runs into the room.
The soldier skids to a stop in front of Hades. He quickly drops to his knees and bows his head. Holding up a black stone jar that’s hopefully filled with river water, he waits for Hades to take the jug. Then he surges to his feet and rushes away, hiding behind some of the other guys.
“Good. Now get out of my sight.” When no one moves a muscle, Hades bellows, “All of you! Now!”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen people move as fast as the guards do. They sprint out of the throne room, some of them knocking others over in their haste. The ones who fall scramble to their feet and trip over themselves to leave. I breathe a sigh of relief when we’re no longer surrounded by a bunch of unknowns.
“Why, exactly, are your guards so afraid of you?” I mutter as I drop down beside Archer, my focus not really on my question.
“Because they know I will execute anyone who steps out of line.” Hades flashes me a savage grin that would definitely chill someone with fewer problems to the bone. “Watchingme brutally murder their colleagues seems to leave a lasting impression oncura. Who’d a thunk?”
I just nod but don’t say anything, because what is there really to say to that? Hades’s life is steeped in violence, some of his own choosing but most of necessity, based on what Levi said. I feel a tiny bit of pity for Hades and how he has to live his life creep up.
Now that we have all the necessary ingredients, I glance between Archer’s body, his soul, his heart, and the waters of the Styx, wondering what on earth I’m supposed to do with all of this.
Cerberus stalks over and plops their butt down next to me. It’s Bear who instructs me.“You need to put his heart back where it belongs. Then pour the waters of the river over the wound until it is completely healed.”
“What do I do after?” I follow their instructions and carefully place the mess of Archer’s heart back in the gaping hole in his chest. I know this is an image that’s going to haunt my nightmares for a long time, but I can’t look away while I’m trying to heal him.
Grabbing the jar of swirling purple and black water, I hesitantly start pouring it onto Archer’s wound. When it sizzles on contact, I jerk my hand back and turn wide eyes on Cerberus.
Seeing the panic on my face, Russ hurries to reassure me.“That’s supposed to happen, don’t worry! The sizzling is the water coming in contact with the injury, cleaning it so that the wound can be healed! After his body is fixed, you’ll have to reverse the damage to his soul.”
Well, at least I know how to heal spirits.
Biting my lip nervously, I hope Cerberus is right as I start pouring the water on Archer again. I wince as his skin and muscle sizzle. Fortunately, it only lasts a minute at most before his wound starts knitting together before my eyes.
I watch in gruesome fascination as bone, muscle, and skin regrow until Archer’s chest is perfectly smooth once again. The only sign that something happened is the hole in his teal shirt and the blood staining his tanned skin and clothes.
Archer still has the stomach wound from Lua. Not wanting to use more of the Styx on him than I have to, I turn to Hades. “Can you heal a human? I don’t know how much magic bringing him back will take, and I don’t want to run out.”
While I’m more powerful than the average mage, I don’t have infinite magic. My magic will eventually run dry, just like everyone else, and I can’t afford for that to happen in the middle of healing Archer’s spirit. Not only will I die if that happens, but Archer will be stuck as a messed-up soul for eternity.
Hades turns his head and blinks at me a few times before rolling his eyes. “You have the Styx right here, earthling. If you’re low on magic, all you have to do is drink the waters. That’ll refill yourcuramagic almost instantly. I will heal your mate if that makes you feel better.”
I grimace, not particularly wanting the mildly psychopathic King of Hell to be in charge of healing my mate. “Honestly, I’d rather heal him if I’m not going to run out of magic.”
Directing my power to Archer’s remaining injuries, I heal his physical wounds quickly.
Blowing out a shaky breath, I then let my magic flow into Archer’s spirit. While I’ve healed thousands of spirits over the years, his spirit is by far the highest-stakes one yet. I can’t mess this up.
Hades looks at my face and barks out a laugh tinged with genuine humor. “Touché, earthling, touché. For the record, however, I would never hurt you or your mates. You’re important to Seph and Levi, so you’re important to me.”
That was weirdly heartwarming.
“Thanks. I won’t hurt you, either,” I respond awkwardly, not really knowing how to deal with Hades being kind.
He gives me an amused smile before taking the jug from me and gently opening Levi’s mouth. Pouring some water down Levi’s throat, Hades sits back on his heels and intently watches his brother with a frown.
Focusing back on Archer, I’m trying hard not to worry about how long it’s taking to heal his soul. Every spirit requires a different amount of magic to heal, but Archer’s ghost is needing more magic than average.
“Isabel!” Levi shouts, startling me from my intense focus on Archer. I turn toward him as he bolts upright. His wild eyes dart around the room frantically before landing on me. He scrambles over to me and scoops me up in a desperate hug. “You’re okay.”
“Yeah,” I whisper as I wrap my arms around him. I fist his shirt, needing something to ground me. The lump in my throat that I’m the one who’s unharmed makes it hard to get more than a few words out, even though I’m so relieved that he’s awake.
