Page 15 of Drawn in Blood
“I broke my ring,” she whispered tearfully. “I broke my dad’s ring.”
Otto gave her a small smile as he rubbed the pad of his calloused thumb across her cheek. “We will go to the blacksmith tomorrow and see what he can do.” He smiled. “All that matters is that you’re whole, Mo Chroí.”
Ember nodded with a half smile as Eira made her way back into the kitchen, shooing Otto out of her way. She rubbed a salve on Ember’s hand and then wrapped it a few times in a large bandage.
“That will have to stay on for twenty-four hours,” she instructed. “It will give the potion time reset your bone and keep it from moving too much.” She pointed at the boys still staring in the doorway. “No carrying on while her hand is healing,” she scolded, “and I mean it, Fenrir James. Thea will be beside herself if Ember is in bandages when she arrives Sunday.”
Fen threw his hands up in surrender. “No messing around, scouts honor, Mum.”
Ember chewed at her bottom lip as she held her bandaged hand to her chest. Thea would be there in two days, and Ember still wasn’t any surer now about the adoption than she was when Eira and Otto had brought it up a week ago.
“Go get some rest before supper, love.” Eira smiled. “Fen will come get you when it’s ready.”
Ember nodded as she pushed away from the table, rounded the corner, and headed up the steps, down to the last door on the left. She sat on her four-poster bed and dug through her bag until she found the paper Dean Moran had handed her earlier in the month. It was still blank, the only thing she had managed to write was her name.
Ember Lothbrok.
She stared at the name for a few minutes, trying to imagine herself writing her name any other way. She mumbled, “EmberKitt,” under her breath, rolling the name around in her mouth a few times as she twirled her pen, trying to imagine writing it at the top of her parchments at school.
It didn’t feel right—didn’t taste right in her mouth. She laid back on her bed, sinking into the pillows, and closed her eyes with a sigh. She would have to tell them she couldn’t take their name, couldn’t give up that last tangible piece of her parents she was clinging to, if she could even go through with the adoption at all. She took a breath and blew stray hairs from in front of her eyes.
Maybe it wouldn’t matter. But no matter how much she tried to convince herself of that, the dread rolling in her stomach did not agree.
Chapter 5
A Visit From the Past
Ember fidgeted with her hair at the breakfast table as she tried to put it in a braid, but the bandage on her hand kept getting in her way. Accepting defeat with a huff, she flung the red mess over her shoulders and continued eating her bacon and eggs.
“Would you like some help?’ Eira laughed as she walked into the breakfast nook.
Ember nodded sheepishly, handing the hair-tie to her foster mother. Eira made quick work of brushing the tangles out of her hair with her fingers, and then began to hum to herself as she weaved small braids in and out of Ember’s hair.
“My mum did this for me every morning before school,” she said with a laugh. “Believe it or not, my hair was even wilder than Maeve’s.” Her magic wrapped around each small braid. Ember saw the glowing light out of the corner of her eye for just a moment before it fizzled out. Ember felt her breath catch as she stiffened.
“What was that?” she asked, as she felt the heat of the magic brush against her scalp.
Eira finished the last braid and then kissed her on the head. “Just a little extra love,” she said with a smile.
Ember felt her chest tighten as she closed her eyes. She wasn’t sure she really deserved the extra love.
“Ready to go, Mo Chroí?” Otto asked, as he kicked the dirt off his shoes at the back door. “The blacksmith should be opening any minute.”
Ember finished off her last bite of breakfast, took her plate to the sink, and ran back to her chair to throw her bag over her shoulder.
“Ready!” She nodded as she patted the pocket in her jeans to make sure the ring was still there.
Eira kissed each of them goodbye, and they made their way to the closet door and into Yggdrasil Terminal.
Ember pickedup her pace as she followed Otto through town, weaving in and out of the crowds of people. They passed by a small park that sat off the beach, children running around and laughing, wearing party hats as their parents lounged at the picnic tables.
Celestial Steel sat in the middle of the bustling town, and Ember felt her breath catch in her chest as she walked into the open-air shop.
It was clearly mid-morning outside, obvious by the way the sun lit up the dusty cobblestone, but when Ember stepped through the archway and into the shop, all she could see above her were thousands of stars. Constellations twinkled as shooting stars moved across the inky black ceiling, and Ember found herself spinning to take in the view.
“Hello there, Otto,” the shopkeeper said, as they walked further inside. “How’s the family?”
“Oh they’re grand, Cormac,” Otto replied. “Keeping busy?”
