Page 165 of Upon Buried Embers
I look into the dark eyes I’ve come to know so well, and nod. “I do. I… I don’t want to be me anymore.”
Another tear falls. “Oh, Elf, that collar on your neck does not define you,” he murmurs, placing a soft kiss to my forehead, and I soak it up.
It’s so soft, so… caring that I want to cry for another reason.
“We’re ready when you are, but I need to know what happened before you got in here,” he says. I remember coming back from Sigrid, what I told her. Darcia…
I swallow, nausea rising.
“I want it off,” I croak, lifting my hands on either side of his neck, tracing the bump in his throat. “I want to finally breathe, Rohan.” My eyes lock with his. “Help me breathe.”
He cups my face, jaw ticking. “I will, but I need you to trust me. One wrong move, and it will go badly.”
I stare at him as his words penetrate through my mind, and he lets me.
“You can see my eyes, Little Whisperer, tell me, what do you see?”
The eyes do not lie, that’s what he once told me, and there are no lies in his eyes now.
“No lies?”
“No lies,” he repeats. “Trust me, be brave.”
I inhale shakily. “Okay.”
“My brave girl.”
They lay me back down, and a cloth is placed under my collar.
“To protect your skin,” Calian murmurs.
Calian holds my hand as Kaldar moves my hair out of the way, and I turn my head to the side.
I whimper, body trembling.
“Just stay still.” Rohan’s words calm me, and I feel the heat getting closer and closer, warmth hitting my face. “That’s all you have to do, okay?”
“Okay,” I whisper, and a wet cloth is put on half of my face to protect me.
I close my eyes, squeezing Calian’s hand, and he lets me as the tip of the axe’s blade presses against the metal.
A sizzling sound follows, but I don’t feel any pain as someone—Kaldar, pours water over my neck, and steam rises.
“The bed,” I say. “It’s going to get wet.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the bed, Elf.” Rohan growls.
“Just keep breathing,” Calian says.
“More water.” Rohan asks.
“A little to the left.” That’s Kaldar.
It continues like this. More water being poured, more hand squeezing and collar moving, and then… it stops.
“It’s done.”
I’m sat up, my hair being gently moved and I stare at Rohan as his hand comes to my neck.
