Page 31 of Captured in Love
Maybe there’s something I can do.
Leaving Levi to rest, I return to the bridge and swallow down the bile rising in my throat. I try to ignore Isak’s charred skin, the popped blisters turning black, and his beautiful hair being burned away. The fire encasing him isn’t the regular kind—he would have burned completely if it was—but I can’t even imagine the agony he’s in.
He screams again, and I jump, then take a deep breath to calm myself. I close my eyes and reach for my magic, and instantly, a sense of calm washes over me. The power inside me is pure energy, and I get to shape it however I want. Slowly, I gather it and weave a calming spell, something to soothe the mind and take away the pain. It’s magic that I rarely get to use—it messes with a person’s will. But it’s what I’m good at, and now I finally have a way to help Isak, even temporarily.
I imagine the spell forming a little ball of purple light, pulsing between my palms, then send it out to him. At first, I worry it might not make it through the flames of the incredibly complex spell even Levi couldn’t undo, but it floats toward Isak’s head without an issue. Yet when I try to expand it to envelop him and do its thing, something blocks me, a psychic barrier I’ve never encountered before.
I curse and drop the spell, the energy draining from me even though I couldn’t use it. I crouch and place my hands on the rock to ground myself. The rough surface is warm to the touch, and a strange wish comes over me to just put my head down and go to sleep. I shake myself and stand, wobbling a little on my feet.
“Whoa.”
Raphaël is at my side instantly. “What is it?”
I rub at my aching temples. “Nothing. Maybe I’m starting to feel the dehydration.”
Ithinkit’s too soon for that, but we’ve been working on this task for what feels like hours and sweating like crazy, too. We need to finish this and get the fuck out.
I scoot over to the edge of the moat and peer into the dark water. It moves slowly, but something glints inside, giving me an idea. I scout around for a loose rock and return to the water. Then I drop the rock and watch it closely.
It sinks, then stops, settling on the bottom.
“Ha!” I shout. “I knew it. It’s shallow! I’ll just wade to the other side and see if I can make eye contact with Isak. That’ll help me get through to him.”
I sit on the edge and plunge my feet in.
At the same time, Raphaël shouts, “Nora, no!”
I glance back at him, confused. A moment later, burning pain shoots up my legs. I scream and scramble up and away from the water, then Levi and Raphaël are there, pulling me back.
“Ow, ow, ow,” I cry, staring at the black wetsuit boots covering my feet.
They’re steaming lightly, and the neoprene looks deformed, melted. Raphaël pushes me roughly to the ground and takes my foot in his hands. He tugs the first boot off, exposing my reddened, scalded skin. He removes my other boot next, and I hiss in pain. He throws the boots to the side and shakes out his hands.
“Fuck.” Levi drops to his knees beside me. “Fuck!”
I can barely see through my tears, and I don’t want to look closely at my feet. All I know is that they burn, and I haven’t been in this much pain since I broke my arm climbing our neighbor’s cherry tree in Boston. The water in the moat must have been boiling hot, or maybe it isn’t water at all but something much worse.
“Can you do anything for her?” Raphaël asks, his voice terse.
I wipe my face with the sleeve of my wetsuit—gross—and finally peer down at my feet. The skin is red all over, and blisters are appearing along the seam where the water must have broken in between the suit and the boots. A dime-sized piece of deformed black neoprene is stuck to my little toe like a nasty wart.
Levi grimaces up at me and takes the knife from the sheath strapped to his calf. “We’re gonna have to remove this, babe. I can’t heal you if your skin’s not clean.”
I grit my teeth and stare at the ceiling. “Just do it.”
I’m not going to cry anymore. It’s my fault I’m hurt—I should have checked the water temperature before plunging in like a lunatic.Fuck. I dragged Levi and Raphaël here, and now they’re taking care of me instead of the other way around. And all the while, Isak is still burning.
Strong hands grip my ankle and calf.
“It’ll be over fast,” Raphaël says.
“Okay.”
I’m just going to keep my cool and—
Levi cuts the piece off my skin, and pain explodes in my body, a radiating sensation that starts in my foot and flares up through all my nerve endings. I scream, then whimper and curl on my side.
Levi mutters something. A tingling feeling floods my feet, unpleasant at first, but it numbs the pain to a bearable level. Finally, I manage to lift myself on my elbows, and I find both guys watching me with concern. With fear churning in my gut, I glance down my legs.
