Page 49 of Power of Five
“I have a half hour open on my schedule early next week,” I mutter.
River, coward that he is, rises smoothly and disappears behind the rock partition that splits this little makeshift shelter in two. Tye is slower to rise, ensuring that I’m wrapped up in the cloak before settling me on the ground. Tye, at least, is wearing his small clothes, though not much else.
My cheeks heat.Five hours. I wonder whether they took turns warming me.
“Like what you see?” Tye says, catching my gaze and stretching languidly.
“Not particularly,” Coal answers dryly before I can conjure up a reply.
Tye turns to the other male and makes a derisive sound in the back of his throat. “That is because you are unable to appreciate the finer things in life, Coal. If you think it’s only females who know a good thing when they see—”
“Get the hell out,” Coal says.
Tye grins, contracts his pectorals in a muscle wink, and saunters away before Coal can assault him.
Left alone with Coal, I struggle to gather my legs under me and get up. It’s already bad enough that I’m naked beneath the cloak; I don’t want to additionally imitate a puddle.
“Don’t bother,” says Coal. “Even if you do manage to stand, I’m taller than you anyway.”
“Good for you.”
Shaking his head, Coal lowers himself to the ground, crouching before me. Weighing me with his gaze. The square cut of his jaw is tense, the clenching muscles stretching his taut skin. Coal’s hair is pulled back into its usual bun and glistens as if washed recently. He wears a sleeveless black shirt, and his wrists, braced comfortably atop bent leather-clad knees, show those horrid scars. The foot of space between us vibrates as words race through my mind but refuse to form on my tongue. I want to lean into him, thank him, run away from him, kiss him. All at the same time.
“I was going to die,” Coal says finally, his face so still that I can’t read the emotions beneath.
“They were shooting at—” I start to say, but he shakes his head.
“I mean that I was prepared to die. It was a choice I’d made. A choice I had the full right to make.”
I draw my knees up to my chest and tip my face up. “If that’s what you really want, I’m sure it can be arranged.”
Coal doesn’t smile. He watches me, those brilliant blue eyes tinged with a bit of purple that is as hidden as it is mesmerizing. “It wasn’t because I do not value my life, but because it would have been worth it. Because you are worth it, mortal.”
A shiver runs through me. I’m more used to Coal trying to kill me than being kind, and this turn of events prickles uncomfortably. So I do what Coal would do. Ignore it. Talk about something else. Except the words that bubble from my chest aren’t the ones I wanted. “I was going to die too. When the five of us joined, it was supposed to kill me. But... Maybe you are worth it too, you bloody bastard.” An uninvited lump forms in my chest. Trust Coal to dig through until he finds whatever makes you tremble. “Can we not talk about it?”
“Were you scared?” Coal asks.
I growl softly and bite my lip. Thinking back to those moments is more difficult than it should be, given how everything turned out. But reality seems to have little respect for what it should and should not be like.
Coal waits.
“No,” I say finally.
He cocks a brow.
“Yes?” I groan when he only blinks like a damn owl. “What do you want me to say?”
“Start with the truth and we’ll go from there,” Coal suggests.
I sigh. “At first, yes,” I say. “When I realized that... that you were hit. Bleeding. I was very frightened then.”
He nods but keeps his silence, as if knowing what I need to find my words. And he is right.
“Then, when I had the idea about connecting us, when I decided to tap into the power of five, the fear faded. I didn’tthinkI was going to die; IknewI would, and I was all right with that so long as I forced the quint to connect.” I draw a breath. “And then—I mean now, when I didn’t die, I’m scared all over again. About what could have happened, what did happen, about everything.”
For the first time since he came up beside me, Coal touches me, laying a hand on my cheek, his thumb sweeping a soft line along the bone under my eye. Warmth travels from that point and spreads through my body, warming me almost as well as Tye’s chest did. For a moment he’s silent, scanning my face as if making sure it’s all still there. “Me too, mortal,” he says quietly.
Relief eases my chest, tingling over my skin.
Coal drops his palm to my shoulder and gives it a squeeze, which in Coal’s world is probably the equivalent of a bear hug. “Just so you know, I will train you to fight for however long you wish. A lifetime. There is no limit.”
“A lifetime? But that’s only possible if...” My eyes narrow, Coal’s words finally penetrating. If I want to stay in Lunos, then Coal at least will have me. Mortal and all. Stars.
He rises quickly, before I can finish my thought.
“One other thing,” Coal says, his voice returning to its usual briskness. “Shade will have a few things to say to you when he calms enough to speak. In short, I don’t envy you, mortal, but you are on your own for that one.”
“Coal building me up so I can face Shade?” I throw up my hands. “Did the world turn on its ears while I was in the Gloom and forget to turn back?”
A small smile touches the corners of Coal’s mouth. “Shade is a big, fuzzywolf,mortal girl. Don’t let his good table manners distract you from what he eats for dinner.”
