Page 40 of A Kiss of Embers
“Uhh…cut me down? Preferably before it wakes up again.”
“It likely won’t. They’re like cats. Sleep most of the day and play at night.”
He snorted. “Play? Is that what it’s doing with me? It strung me up like an ornament.”
“It thinks you’re pretty.”
“Me?” he laughed. “Then it clearly didn’t catch a glimpse ofyou. Otherwise, we would find ourselves in opposite roles.”
Her cheeks heated at his confession, and she slowly approached until their faces were almost level, as he was still a bit higher off the ground than her. “Count yourself lucky that it strung you up by your feet rather than your neck. People who encounter an ent are often found too late.”
Before he could reply, she spread her wings and flitted to the branch he hung from, landing lightly on her feet. The branch shuddered, several leaves falling to the ground, and she held perfectly still until the shuddering ceased.
She released a tense breath and turned her attention back to Bastien.
Small vines wrapped around his ankles, each holding firm. If she cut into the vines, the ent would surely wake, and they would find themselves in a predicament. But if she used magic?
“Get ready to fall,” she said quietly and grimaced. “And run if necessary. This might not be pretty.”
He stared up at her from where he dangled. “But I thought you said I was pretty.”
“I said theentthought you were pretty, you conceited man.”
Down below, he chuckled but otherwise remained quiet. She reached within her for her magic, and a tingle surged down her arm and into her hand. A flame lit in her fingers, warm and inviting but not burning her skin. Taking a deep breath, she held the flame below the vine, not to burn but to make it uncomfortably hot.
Like a hand reflexively snatching itself away from the fire, the vines released Bastien, and he fell the remainder of the way to the ground with a satisfying “oof!”
She stifled a laugh, which promptly turned into a gasp when a large branch swung at her head. She ducked beneath the swing, only to slip when the movement knocked her off balance.
A cry of alarm left her lips as she fell right as Bastien climbed to his feet. She smacked into him. They both went down, and she found herself sprawled on top of his back.
Crash!
A branch smashed into the ground beside them, large, prickly, and destructive enough to shake the earth and kick up dirt in its wake. They held perfectly still, waiting for the tree to strike again. But it only groaned.
Slowly, she turned her head to find the ent’s eyes still closed and its leaves swaying on its branches as it slept.
Bastien placed a finger to his lips before grabbing her hands and helping her to her feet. She handed him his sword, and together, they quickly and quietly snuck out of its resting place.
She couldn’t help but notice the agile way Bastien moved and how he made very little noise as he traversed the forest floor. Getting captured three times wasn’t quite so impressive. But the way he moved as if the forest was a part of him certainly was.
“Come on,” Bastien murmured, nodding toward a break in the trees. “We’re almost at the Burning Cliffs.”
Seraphina paused in her step, glancing at the way ahead with uncertainty. Of course, she wanted to see her sister more than anything. But…what would happen to Bastien? Would he leave with Ashryn?
The thought created a pit of ache in her belly.
Before they exited the tree line, she tugged on his hand and turned him to face her. She glanced back and forth between his silvery blue eyes, begging him to stay but not knowing how to inevitably let him go.
“What happens now?” she whispered, her thumb trailing along the back of his rough hand.
He shrugged and lowered his troubled gaze to his feet. “I suppose we’ll go back to being enemies. The next time we see each other might be on the battlefield.”
“I cannot accept that.”
“We don’t have a choice.”
She frowned as she stared at a button on his vest halfway fastened, slightly skewed like the rest of his clothing. She wanted to suggest they run away together. But he had his father to think of. And she had her entire clan to care for. The Ember Queen couldn’t abandon her people. Even if some of them wished her harm.
