Page 145 of A Dance With Fire
The fire spread beneath her feet, but it didn’t burn. The machine groaned and fell. She balanced herself, finding purchase as it went crashing down. Only then did she jump again and land against the ground, squelching the fire to not harm the earth.
She saw Ryker on the ground in front of her, a machine looming above him. He cried out as he turned, rolling on the ground, making a dive for his sword. The human manning the thing laughed, a cruel sound that scraped against her bones. He attacked Ryker and everything else fell away.
Everything else but this.
Her mate.
In danger.
Shula screamed, her feet and fire propelling her forward. She jumped onto the machine, slamming behind the human. Iron armor embedded into her skin, but she barely felt it. All she knew was rage, protection, that this bastard was trying to harm Ryker.
Something primal and possessive came to life inside her. Maybe it had always been there. Time and time again. She just hadn’t noticed why she was so willing to jump in front of him when danger was near, why he had been so willing to protect her. When the human had a knife to her throat, when an iron monster had nearly killed him.
Because even then, some part of her recognized that he washers.
The soldier cried out, bringing his elbow back to collide against her side. The breath rushed out of her in a gasp, and she nearly fell back. Her fingers grasped for purchase even while he bucked and hit, and pain seared against her. Shula’s nails dug into the skin at his face and the flames came out to kiss.
Skin melted from muscle and bone until his screams diminished into echoes throughout the night. The fire caught on the machine, but Shula didn’t move.
She needed to end this. Now.
So she dug deep inside herself for the last reserves of her magic until it exploded against the remaining machines and humans and the iron melted to the ground.
And all was silent save for the flickering remnants of flames.
Shula stepped down from the still-burning machine and as quickly as she let it loose, pulled her magic back until the flames doused to ash. Her body lost its glow and her knees felt so weak, she wanted to fall to the ground but she somehow managed to keep herself upright and take one step and another until she faced Ryker.
The pain of their goodbye and the words exchanged was still raw in her heart, yet there was no denying the relief at seeing him relatively unharmed.
She counted five separate footsteps close in around them, but she didn’t turn. She stared at Ryker, and it was like she was seeing him for the first time all over again. Like when his hood had dropped to reveal the creature underneath.
Scarred and imperfect, brows furrowed, jaw tight. Raised flesh pulling his face together like jagged broken pieces of a puzzle, one eye different from the other, but were so focused on her like she was the only one in the world.
“Why did you come back?” he growled.
Because a ‘thank you’ could never suffice. He had to growl, yell, sharpen his claws and dig them deep into her. Because that’s who he was, and she would respond with equal disdain. Because that’s who she was.
It’s whotheywere.
“I’m not a coward.”
“That’s not an answer.”
She stepped forward until their chests brushed. “Isn’t it? Since we met you’ve been accusing me of being a coward. Maybe I was, but I’m not anymore. All my life, I may have run from camp to camp, but when the soldiers finally came for me, my Papa and Mama bought me time to run. So I kept running, so much that I forgot what it was to be selfless and face my fears like my Papa did.”
She knew everyone was listening, but she didn’t care. She’d already given them the brunt of her story, with bits and pieces missing. These were the pieces that were missing.
Her parents had protected her, and they’d died because of it. Their ashes had coated the streets of Tuath forher.
“I couldn’t let you die,” Shula confessed. Just like her parents protected her, it was high time Shula protected others.
The time for running was over.
“And I’m tired of being afraid. This won’t truly end until the Emperor of Illyk is stopped, and if I’m one of the six who can do it, then I’ll do everything I can to end this war.”
Ryker’s nostrils flared. And it was a long moment before he spoke, so long that Shula thought he wasn’t going to say anything at all. “I was wrong.” The hand not holding his sword came up to brush aside the tears she hadn’t even known she’d been crying.
“You weren’t. You were a dick, but you weren’t wrong.”
