Page 40 of A Clash of Embers

"No! Don't hurt him. Please."

I saw Eros laugh and swipe his tongue over his fangs before letting Leo go.

"Don't forget to pick up your trash before you go." Eros gestured to Riley's broken body on the ground and he walked away with his blood-stained wings trailing behind him.

I'll see you soon, Clara Bear.

What the abyss? I thought I had broken the bond, the marking was gone. I was gripping my neck and Leo watched me.

"You didn't break it?" he questioned me.

I looked at him but the fury in his eyes was overwhelming, " I— I thought I did."

He rolled his eyes as he walked past me towards Riley's body. "We need to get Riley's body prepared for burial. Eros has ceased this battle. His troops are pulling back." Leo spoke dismally with mournful eyes glancing at his—ourfriend's lifeless body.

I heard the sound of running and then I felt the pain. It poured out of him. Out of Callan. The strong man I had grown to care for.

"No. He can't be— no." Callan fell to his knees and he started to cry. He had gut-wrenching sobs that radiated through me and everyone that stood nearby. I took on that sadness. The grief of losing a friend. Never again seeing him smile. Never again seeing him laugh. Neveragain.

The sky darkened again and this time it opened. The rain started to pour down over us. It was cold. It was cleansing. We stood there for what felt like hours. The ground around us became muddy with swirls of blood mixed in.

"We need to burn him. We can't bring him back to his family like this," Callan declared. I watched as Leo walked towards him and embraced him. His second in command. His friend.His brother.

I walked towards Riley's body and looked at his head which was no longer part of him. His eyes still closed as they were when I last saw him alive. I pressed my hand over his body and imagined a fire. An inferno that would ignite and take out anything in its path. I felt the heat push out of my hands and onto his body which was now lit and burning.

From the stars we fell, from ashes we rise.

Somehow, I instinctively knew this. I knew how to perform this ceremony for the dead. Without asking Leo, I decided. I lit the entire battlefield on fire. The entire land in between the trees was engulfed in flames with me standing in the middle of it. I closed my eyes imagining where Eros might be and what I saw sent a chill down my spine.

It was him, standing on the opposite side of the burning flesh field. He was staring as if he saw me right in front of him. His eyes were glossed over, and he gave off the feeling of shame.

Guilt. Remorse. But with him, the truth was never truly thetruth.It was always just a game, wasn’t it? A balance to achieve his glory.

When I turned to face my friends, I saw Luke embracing Callan and I could have sworn I smelled the scent of roses. The scent that I smelt only a few times with Evander under the curse.

Leo hastily stormed off towards the shack and I needed to follow him. "Leo! Wait. Wait up."

He never stopped. Didn't turn around. So, I kept going. Everyone started following me into the shack, and when the door closed behind Luke, it felt like the air was sucked out of the room. The heaviness and anger were dominant within the cracked wooden walls of the shack as I took deep breaths. My eyes hastily studied everyone in the space, taking in how exhausted and torn they were.

We had just fought valiantly against someone who claimed to be our enemy, and we had failed tremendously.

I watched Luke and Bethany discussing something of importance by the kitchen sink, Callan laid on the bed in the back of the shack, and Leo stood staring out the window at the men he had left. There weren't many.

Today was a great loss. And for what? Power? Vengeance?

"I am sorry about today," I softly spoke to Leo as I walked up behind him pressing my hand against his back in comfort, but he pulled away.

He took a deep breath, "It shouldn't have happened this way. We were supposed to get Eros and bring him in." He turned his body to face me as he spoke through clenched teeth. "Why didn't you stop him? You had the opportunity to and you didn't. Why? Do you stilllovehim?"

My heart skipped a beat out of shock from the accusations coming from his mouth. How dare he. I pulled back tilting my head at him with great annoyance, "You will not speak to me that way. Ididtry to stop him. In the only way I knew how—"

"No, you didn't,” he interrupted me. “If you would have used your sword on him, it would have worked. You only wanted to delay the inevitable. You wanted a chance to speak with him." He yelled at me with such indignation that I thought I was hallucinating.

Everyone in the shack turned their attention to our conversation, but I decided to do the best thing I could do and try to de-escalate the argument that was slowly starting to spiral out of control.

"You're right, Leo. I did want a chance to speak with him. None of that explanation is owed to you—"

"Like abyss it is! Riley died today. You watched himdiein front of you. Does that not mean anything to you?"

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