Page 8 of A Kiss of Embers
Eyes closed. Pale face. Bruised cheek.
He took her by the shoulders and shook her all while his chest tightened. Although he knew he should face the threat that had managed to take down four trained patrol guards, his eyes glazed over, attention focused on his friend.
“Wake up,” he begged, shaking her again and gently slapping her cheek. “Wake up!”
“Stop slapping me,” she protested weakly, eyebrows scrunched together and eyes squinting as if the light was too bright.
A sigh escaped him, and he carefully helped her sit up as he assessed her for damage. She didn’t protest as he bent each of her extremities in search of broken bones and inspected her scalp for bleeding or bruising. Nothing seemed to be broken, but she sported plenty of bruises.
“What happened?”
He glanced up to find half of the other patrol members seeing to the wounded and the other half scouting the vicinity. A couple of them glanced their way as if waiting for her answer.
Ashryn placed a hand to her head and took several deep breaths. “She was like nothing we’ve ever faced. She was fast and cunning and…angry. She acted alone and wore no armor.”
“She?” His lips pressed together. “You don’t mean…”
“An Ember Fae.” Ashryn winced once again. “But she didn’t look like the others. Not quite.”
“What do you mean?”
His friend skimmed a finger over the side of her face from her temple to her cheekbone. “She had tiny horns on her face and scaled skin.”
All at once, the entire forest seemed to hush as fear spiked in his blood. Judging by the tension in the air, the others made the same connection. “They sent the Ember Queen.” He ran a hand through his hair as disbelief shrouded his vision. “And she was alone?”
Ashryn nodded. “Two knives, a dart gun, and some sort of poison powder. She used nothing else. Not even her fire magic.”
Bastien sat back on his heels as he stared at Ashryn, hardly able to comprehend the new threat they faced. The Ember Queen was rumored to be powerful, able to harness the very power of a volcano if she commanded it.
If the queen was here, Attleglade was doomed.
“Bastien!” Achille shouted, waving him over to where Tobie sat propped up by two patrol guards. The man’s breaths escaped as wheezing rasps, each sounding labored and pained. He appeared fine on the outside, but his lips…
They were tinged black with white flakes huffing out with each breath.
“He was burned from the inside out,” Achille explained as he spread a clear salve across his lips. A healer in Attleglade would be able to do more. Or the Glades if an Elder permitted it.
“How is such a thing possible?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Tobie lifted a trembling hand to his face. His mouth opened, and several moments passed as if he were trying to speak. “Ki—” The man winced as the syllables wheezed from his mouth. “K-k-ki—” He sobbed, tears of pain trailing from each corner of his eyes. “Kiss.”
“Autumn’s glory,” Bastien choked. “Shekissedyou? What kind of mother-blasted magic is this?”
Silence reigned in the forest once more before Achille gave the order to clear out. They each helped carry or support the wounded, and naturally, Bastien wrapped an arm around Ashryn’s waist with her arm around his neck.
“You’re not going to carry me?” Ashryn joked feebly.
He returned her jest with a disbelieving look. “You weigh aton! Of course, I’m not going to pick you up.”
She smacked him but winced as if the action pained her. “It’s all muscle, you know.”
“I know,” he laughed. Despite his good humor, he glanced over his shoulder and immediately sobered. The Ember Queen was still out there somewhere, and the patrol needed to be extra vigilant.
Lest his entire village meet an untimely end.
Bastien exited the meeting hall with a pit in his stomach, hardly paying attention to his surroundings when his mind spun with everything the patrol had discussed with the elders within.
