Page 68 of Ember and Eclipse
She couldn’t make out Devdan anymore. All that existed was flames. They seethed and seared, scorched and searched.
It felt like her blood was boiling, like she was burning from the inside. She was going to kill herself, and still she couldn’t stop. If the fuel to her magic was rage, then she would be long dead, and it would continue to burn—a monument of her wrath.
A figure moved before her. And still, she erupted, even as it became agonizing for her to do so.
“You’re going to kill yourself.” Devdan’s voice was full of a similar anguish.
“Stay away,” she screamed over the roar of her own magic. It would kill them both.
But, of course, he didn’t listen. He fought his way through the fuming flames. Her magic reacted curiously, retreating and snapping out elsewhere as if trying not to hurt him. He wrapped his arms around her, grunting in pain.
“I’ll burn you alive.”
He lifted her, cradling her against his naked chest, even as her essence still burst from her in fiery tendrils. “So be it.”
“I can’t stop,” she gasped.
Gritting his teeth against the agony, he moved them toward the swamp. By then, she was lost—a torch that had burned all its oil off only to consume itself.
In the infernal haze, she didn’t realize that they’d plunged into the depths of the swamp.
Her outward blaze died, sizzling as soon as she made contact with the water.
A rush of fizzing bubbles.
She was burning, burning,burning. Until suddenly, she wasn’t.
Devdan held her the entire time, bringing them back to the surface, where she gasped for air.
When she finally opened her eyes, she was face to face with Devdan’s concern.
“We have to get out,” she managed to say. “The crocodiles don’t attack me, but—”
“You boiled the water. None of them want to be within reach of us,” he said firmly.
After the heat of her magic, the temperature of the water seemed cooler. But it was, in fact, scalding hot still. She was aware, suddenly, of how close they were to each other. Her naked body was pressed to his. He had either taken his tunic off before grabbing her, which he only had the one Tabion had given her, or it had burned away along with her own. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and though her feet couldn’t touch, he was standing perfectly still.
She unhooked one of her arms and glided her hand tentatively down his scorched neck and chest. “You’re burned,” her voice cracked.
“I’ll heal,” he murmured.
Tears came unbidden to her eyes, her chest constricting suddenly. She looked away, embarrassed.
“Let’s get you home. You can put my tunic on to cover up.”
Nodding, soft cries began to shake her body.
Chapter XL
Shemanagedtowashmost of the swamp water off her body and out of her hair within a matter of minutes. Feeling only half-alive, she dried off and sluggishly pulled Devdan’s tunic on again. She would regret not caring for her hair, but she had no energy for it tonight. It would have to be a problem for tomorrow’s Rel.
Despite Devdan dripping in the dining room and looking at her as if he wasn’t sure what to do, she immediately went to her bedroom and closed the thick curtain shut.
She didn’t need any witnesses to her falling apart.
What had been just a steady stream of tears began to build into something else. She made it to her bed before succumbing to the yawning void of despair that opened within her.
Her breaths came quick, in gasps and whines she had never heard come from herself, not even in the midst of torture.
