Page 51 of A Kiss of Embers
The woman sighed. “You know I cannot allow it. Ash is my friend. This is hard for all of us to watch her suffer.” Another pause. “How is she faring?”
Devastation clung to Bastien’s voice, creating a pit of guilt in her stomach. “She was improving, but then the fits returned. I don’t know…” He cleared his throat. “I don’t know if she’ll make it. So,please. I beg you. Only a cup. No one will find out. You have my word.”
Through the slats, Seraphina noticed the woman bow her head and frown. “This is not up to me. You are trying to appeal to the wrong person.”
A rock skittered over the cliffside as if someone had kicked it, and it fell a great distance before crashing into the river below, the sound drowned by the roaring water.
“When was the last timeanyonebathed in the pool?” Bastien cried. “Cranky Cricket?”
“Shhh. You shouldn’t call him that.”
“I’m serious, Nathalie. Do you know why the Glades don’t heal him? Because he is an unworthy leader. All of us areimpureto him.”
“Please, stop.”
But Bastien didn’t heed her warning. “That man deserves to die. But everyone is too cowardly to put him on trial.”
“Hush,” Nathalie murmured. “If anyone overhears you saying that—”
“Then what?” he challenged. “What will happen to me? If Ash dies, I have nothing left to lose.”
The scuff of boots against grass announced Bastien’s departure. Above her, Nathalie sighed, a look of regret on her face, before she started to climb the tree beside the bridge. Seraphina’s heart leaped to her throat as she used the woman’s momentary distraction to swing herself over the edge of the cliff and follow after Bastien.
The man stalked angrily through the woods, his footsteps louder than she’d ever heard them before, making following him easy.
She kept to the trees, using them as cover when she thought someone might discover her. But her wings helped camouflage her, and her feet made nary a sound on the forest floor.
At last, they reached a series of dwellings within living trees, and she barely refrained from gasping. The trees were taller and wider than anything she’d ever seen within the forest. They lived and breathed with beauty and vitality. Large, red leaves wound up the trunks and weaved through sturdy branches while rich, brown tree bark adorned every inch of them, untouched even by animals.
The rich scent of earth filled her nostrils, momentarily distracting her from the fact that she traversed enemy territory. Ifanyonelearned of her presence in Attleglade, she doubted she would make it out alive with a hundred Forest Fae fighting against only her.
Not unless she activated the dormant volcano with her power… But hundreds of people would die. Men. Women. Children. And the Glades would be destroyed forever. Her life was not worth destroying so much goodness.
Hiding from passing fae proved difficult as she followed Bastien through the settlement. He stopped beneath a smaller tree, a mixture of anger and sadness on his face as he gazed up at a window, candlelight flickering through the small cracks in the shutters.
His jaw set as he rushed off in another direction. But this time? She didn’t follow.
Glancing around her to make sure no one turned their heads in her direction, she stole through the darkness, opened the curved wooden door made of tree bark, and slipped inside the tree-dwelling.
She inhaled sharply at her surroundings, marveling at thelifearound her. The tree lived and breathed, its energy humming happily despite being hollowed out to use as a home. The entire structure was made of the tree’s wood, from the walls to the tables to the chairs, but it was decorated with knick-knacks from books to paintings to glass vases and bowls.
She scolded herself for losing focus and began climbing the stairs. She winced when one of the stairs creaked beneath her weight but kept climbing when she felt far too vulnerable in the winding stairwell.
Finally, she reached the top of the stairs where it abruptly ended, almost as if unfinished, and to her right was a single door.
Her entire body remained alert as she pushed the door open and peered inside.
And then her wings drooped at the ghastly sight.
Ashryn was alone, though likely not for long. Perspiration slicked against her skin, her eyes unfocused as she gazed at the ceiling. Her face was flushed, and her breaths escaped as rasps with each exhale.
The woman was on death’s doorstep. No wonder Bastien was so angry.
But was he also angry ather?
She pushed the door open wider, closed it behind her, and started toward Ashryn with purposeful strides. The other woman turned her head to glance in her direction before her eyes shot wide open. Her nostrils flared. Her hands weakly searched her person as if trying to find a weapon, and when she reached for the wooden cup at her bedside table, Seraphina hit it out of her hands, the small object skittering across the floor.
Unfortunately, she likely only had minutes before Bastien, or someone else, might return. After witnessing his anger, she wasn’t sure if he would allow her to treat his friend.
