Page 90 of Damned and Broken Gods
The spark inside me melted too, leaving me wondering if I’d imagined it.
“Did you feel it?” Zarael asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, but it’s gone now.”
“Not gone. It’s a part of you,” Zarael said.
“And the pendant?”
“A pretty trinket, and proof that you completed the fire trial.”
I lifted it out by its silver chain and slipped it on. It settled warm against my breastbone.
I stood, and Zarael stood with me.
This sylph had dropped me a couple of weeks ago, perfectly prepared for me to die, but today she’d saved my life. She must have been the sylph that delivered the Authority’s message.
I turned to face her. “It was you in the forest before, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“So you followed me to protect me?”
“I did.”
“But two weeks ago, you dropped me from the sky.”
Her eyes glittered as her gaze locked with mine. “Today, I was master of my will.”
I let that sink in, studying her beautifully ferocious features. “Master of your will today, but not two weeks ago?”
She pressed her lips together. “Go. Your drohi awaits. Do not reveal my involvement today. Show them the pendant, and that will be enough.”
“You want me to lie?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Consider it payment for my saving your life.” She stepped back, her body already mid shimmer as she prepared to take to the air. “Now go!”
She shot up into the sky and vanished, leaving me with questions, doubts, and the urgent need to pee.
I picked up the box and headed toward the forest, intent on finding the perfect tree. I’d barely made it two steps before a figure burst out of the treeline.
I let out a cry and fell into a defensive stance before realizing it was Araz.
“Leela!” He strode over and plucked me off my feet into a hug so fierce I was afraid he’d crush me.
“I’m okay,” I squeaked. “Araz, I can’t breathe.”
He relaxed his grip but didn’t put me down. “I felt you and then…I didn’t…I thought you were…Fuck.”
“I’m okay. I did it. I got the ember thingy.”
He slowly lowered me to my feet, and I showed him the pendant. “I touched it and something transferred, so yeah, we’re all good.”
He lifted his gaze from the pendant and fixed it on my face. “You did it.”
I grinned. “Yep, I did it.”
His face broke into a huge smile, and he swept me off my feet once more, spinning me around and crushing me to him again.
