Page 45 of A Kiss of Embers
Which was why she packed her belongings with languid movements and secured her sash around her waist before exiting the treehouse by her lonesome. Bastien had left over an hour ago to hunt for one last meal together, but he hadn’t returned yet.
As she stepped off the last rung of the ladder, she glanced around at the red and green trees around her, inhaling the fresh near-autumn air and tucking her surroundings away in her mind to forever keep these treasured memories safe.
“Bas?” she called out, but he didn’t answer.
She glanced around the treehouse and surveyed the immediate area, only to find him still missing when he should have been back by now. No doubt doing a parameter check as if he just couldn’t help himself. Or…
Her heart skipped at the realization of his disappearance. Today was the day Ashryn was supposed to meet her at the Burning Cliffs. Bastien was trying to intercept them before Seraphina did.
“It’s the smart thing to do,” she reassured herself. But for whom? Did Bastien truly think she would hurt his dear friend after everything they’d endured together? Or was he trying to protect her from Ashryn?
Either way, she fingered her dart gun as uneasiness traveled through her. She couldn’t wait for Bastien to return. This wasPri, and she needed to be ready for her. No matter what.
After taking one last look around her, searching for any sign of long, white hair but finding none, she trekked toward the Burning Cliffs on silent feet and senses alert. Her attention darted about at every bird call in the boughs above. Her wings flinched at every rustle and sway of the brush. And her gaze constantly scanned the area ahead.
Her lips thinned when she realized she had never told Ashryn to come alone. An entire army might be waiting for her for all she knew. But would Ashryn risk Bastien’s life by bringing an army to her doorstep?
She should have asked Bastien before he’d disappeared.
A rapid pulse thrummed through her as she reached the tree line. She placed her hand against the smooth bark of a tree as she slowly peeked her head out and surveyed the dried-up river.
A trickle of water streamed through the middle of the riverbed. A bird flew overhead. Leaves fluttered in a breeze. But no other movement caught her eye.
Seraphina dared to step out of the trees and placed one foot on the hard red silt, and then another, until she stood in the middle of the parched riverbed, her entire body on full alert. Somewhere out there, Pri needed her. And she refused to stray from this spot until they were reunited.
She turned in a full circle as she surveyed the tree line and then the cliff edge, followed by trees behind her. Where was Bastien? She needed him today. Surely, he would return soon.
But as she turned back around to face the empty river, a figure with white hair now stood where it had been vacant moments before. But it wasn’t Bastien.
Ashryn held a knife to Pri’s throat, a snarl on her face. “Where is Bastien?” the woman growled, squeezing Pri’s throat tighter with her arm.
Inhaling sharply, Seraphina drew her daggers as fury boiled hot within her blood. Her sister whimpered, and her remaining rationale dissolved like a candle beneath her flames until all she saw was red.
Pri…her Pri. A child. Threatened by knifepoint.
“Release her!” Seraphina demanded, stepping closer, but Ashryn only tipped the knife at a more dangerous angle in warning.
“Did you kill him?” The other woman glared in the distance between them. “What did you do with him?”
But the words were drowned in the rage pulsing through Seraphina’s ears. She didn’t care if Ashryn was Bastien’s friend. If she harmed Pri in any way, she would kill her.
Bastien!she tried to call for him, but his name got stuck in her throat. Ashryn’s knife now hovered over Pri’s thin neck, close enough to draw blood if the girl moved even the slightest bit.
“Start talking!” Ashryn shouted, a dangerous glint in her eyes. She’d seen the glint often enough in her lifetime to know Pri was in grave danger.
She spotted the leaf-like brand on the girl’s wrist, indicating her magic was being suppressed by Forest Fae magic. Pri was helpless. But she was not.
Seraphina dug the roots of her magic into the hard soil, the air around them getting hotter and hotter until it felt as if they were traversing an unforgiving desert in the middle of summer. Her magic latched onto Pri, traveling up the girl’s leg, through her arm, and resting inside her hand.
Without Bastien to calm Ashryn down, Seraphina had nothing to offer. This was all she had. And by the look of understanding in Pri’s eyes, the girl knew as well.
In a quick movement, Pri latched onto Ashryn’s arm with a hand hot enough to scald like smelted iron. The woman hissed and flinched back, but the instinctual movement caused the blade of her knife to slice across Pri’s neck.
Blood rushed over Pri’s throat. Seraphina screamed. The air around them burst into fire. And she only wished the flames latched onto Ashryn’s wet clothing, but it seemed the Forest Fae had been anticipating facing a fiery opponent.
Her surroundings passed by in a blur as she rushed forward with her poison-tipped knives drawn and met Ashryn blade to blade. Pri managed to scramble away despite the blood rushing over her skin. Seraphina pushed Ashryn back, away from her sister, until a large buffer lay between them. But the other woman fought back just as fiercely. As if she, too, had something to protect.
Bastien…
