Page 84 of Wings of Ashes
A demented and deranged rage overcame him. “You are not fine.” He gently pulled at her wrists, tugging her hands away from her face. He leaned forward andlickeda trail of tears from her cheek. “Who is making you cry?” He paused. “Is…Is it me?”
“No.”
Thank gods. Wait, when had the sex demon ever thankedthem?“If you do not want me to make you come in class again, I won’t.”
“Everything is just so messed up,” Nix spat out each word between heavy breaths as more tears spilled down her face. “He—He doesn’t even know me,” she stuttered.
“Who?”
“I just want to beme. I don’t want to look like them anymore.”
“Them, who?”
“I don’t want…history to repeat itself. I—I can’t go through it again, Bael. I c-can’t.”
Bael frowned as her eyes began to glow in the dim room of the dream. Instead of blue, they lit up with a fiery bronze. A caramel copper with specks of gold.
“Shhh.” For the first time in his existence, Baelcomforted.
He wrapped his arms around Nix’s laying body and cradled her head to his chest. She fit so perfectly against him. Like his pecs and ribs had been shaved down and sculpted to hold her pretty head.
“Shhh, it will be okay,” he whispered. “Maybe,” he added. “I have limited information.”
He ran his fingers through her hair and massaged her scalp. When he kissed her head, he opened his eyes and watched as her hair turned…
“Red,” he said, confused. “Your hair is…red.”
A bright orangish red, so far from the white-gold or the pink Bael had seen on her before. And he had watched it happen. It was not dye. It was…
She jolted from his chest and asked, “Do you smell smoke?”
33
CHAPTER
“Smoke.”
Nix jerked awake from the dream only to wishthiswere the dream.
Because her dorm room was on fire.
Flames licked up her bed frame, lighting up the painted letters of WHORE. She jolted away and tumbled off the bed to avoid any burns.
On the floor, she saw the cloud of smoke accumulating at her ceiling. Stunned and fumbling to stand, she froze when she saw how many flames danced in front of her door.
She would have to walk through several feet of blazing fire to get to the doorknob to escape.
I would be covered in burns. Possibly not even make it out.
She quickly bolted to her window. A burst of air would grow the fire, but she needed to get out. She fingered the latch of the window and found there was a bolt missing.Shit. Had it always been missing? Was it part of the damage from the gang breaking into her room earlier?
What if they had come back while she was sleeping and lit the fire? Suddenly, the paint and torn clothes were laughable in comparison.Is someone trying to kill me?
Frantic, she pushed and shoved, trying to lift the bottom window to get out. The broken metal latch made it nearly impossible to open the window.
I won’t die here.
She was all out of tears as she screamed at the thick glass and charged at it. Her shoulder ached instantly from the impact. Turning, she grabbed her desk chair, pulling it from the spreading flames.
