Page 178 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
Ezekiel growled. “Move or it will be too late.” His blood coated the woodland scene and phoenix on the cover, making the Zuprium feathers turn red, noticeable even in the dim gas lantern light. “Just trust me,please.”
So, Harlan moved.
Despite all his medical expertise, the chaos of the moment, and the knowledge that Ezekiel was no longer the man he’d known, he still had a shred of stars-blasted, impossible hope.
Les held the baby tighter, her tears falling to the baby’s skin. Ezekiel moved closer, taking the small, shriveled girl’s foot, pressing the knife’s blade to her heel. The girl didn’t stir.
The midwife tried to intervene, but Harlan shook his head, watching as blood bubbled forth at last. Ezekiel smeared it onto the locket and clasped the necklace in his fist. He squeezed it so hard, his knuckles turned white. He panted as if the little blood leaving his body carried too much weight.
Opening his fist, the locket gave off a glow. A blue glow. Harlan could only stare, his mouth dropping open.
The gas lantern light was gold. The Zuprium was bronze. But the glow was distinctly blue, as blue as Les’ eyes.
“Ezekiel, what…” but Harlan couldn’t say more than that.
Ezekiel pressed the locket to the baby’s silent heart. Her skin matched the glow. It bathed Les’ wet, anguished face.
No one moved.
Harlan lost count of the heartbeats, but it wasn’t until several minutes later that the glow abated, fading with the night and the silence.
The girl cried.
Ezekiel pulled his hand back. Les gasped, her sobs mixed with those of her now living daughter.
Ice as cold as a Narden winter inundated Harlan’s veins. The baby was dead. Stillborn. More than likely from the prolonged labor. They couldn’t predict complications during the birth itself—not like they were able to on First Earth.
What had Ezekiel done?
He met his friend’s melancholy gaze. “What did—how did you—”
He couldn’t even begin to understand what had happened, much less organize his own thoughts. Too much was happening at once, too much he didn’t comprehend. What Ezekiel had done was nothing short of a miracle.
It felt unnatural.
His brother-in-law had somehow brought back the dead.
“I know how to save them,” Ezekiel whispered. “And it’s too late.”
Harlan stumbled over to Les and hugged them both. The baby was alive. Her skin’s blueish tint had bled into red with each new cry.
He looked back at Ezekiel, “What did you do?”
Ezekiel walked toward the door, pausing just before he left. “What needed to be done.”
“What is the cost?” Harlan choked over the emotions flooding his chest.
Ezekiel opened the door and looked back, his eyes once again shadowed and hollow at once. “The cost is worth it in the end.”
And then he left Harlan with a deep sense of dread in his bones.
Chapter 35
NEVER CHANGE
Kase
AFTER THE FIRE, KASE HAD given up smokes. He’d only started because he knew his father would hate it. But now, cigarettes only made him think of the fire that killed his sister and countless others. Quitting had been easy.
