Page 228 of Bitten & Burned
Black and glinting violet-magenta in the light, I brought them up to inspect the folded steel, doused in moon water, and Emberlaced throughout. The blades shone in the low light, the Emberlace shifted the color, giving them more of a warm tone than witchsteel normally didn’t have, a product of the saltfire used during the Inera fold and tempering process.
Holding the two blades aloft, I struck them together, the resounding hum telling me that the Final Emberlace had indeed been cast. I’d need a fire for what I needed to do next, one hotter than the one in the fireplace.
Luckily, I knew Halemont had what I needed somewhere, though I'd never sought it out before. I brought the daggers over to the fire near Quil and Anton. “I need a forge,” I said softly.
Quil looked at me, and at the daggers in my hands. “Are those them?”
“Good…” Anton murmured, reaching to run his fingers over the blades. “Beautiful craftsmanship. Your father’s?”
“Yep,” I said with a smile.
Quil rose, gesturing towards the door.
“Come back soon, darling,” Anton murmured, reaching for my hand and pressing his lips to the back of it.
“As soon as I enchant my blades,” I replied, squeezing his hand before releasing it.
Quil and I made our way down the corridor to the back side of the Halemont estate. Once outside, he led me to a small building mostly hidden by the overgrowth. A small smithy, complete with a forge. Quil walked ahead and stoked the fire up for me.
“Your father made those?” he asked, even though I’d already told Anton as much. He peered at the polished blades.
“Yep. They’re Emberlaced, so the Pyraxis will take.”
He nodded once. “Just for defense, right?”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“Alright, well, it’s ready,” Quil said when the fire finally roared high enough, stepping aside as I brought out the bag Thalia had sent: the Pyraxis. I stood over the coals and sprinkled some of the glowing granules into a nearby bowl before I dumped them into the flames all at once.
The coals sizzled and glowed anew, blindingly hot as I lowered both daggers in. I left them until they, too, began to glow, then I pulled them out and dunked them in the bucket of water to cool.Well, not completely. They’d never cool all the way, thanks to the Pyraxis.
But the handles would cool. And I’d have my weapons.
As I slipped them gingerly into the witchsteel sheaths and stashed them in my satchel, I smiled back at Quil. “Okay, I’m ready.”
As we walked back to the study, Quil took my hand, pulling me back.
“Rowena, are you alright?” he asked, his dark eyes searching mine.
“Yes, I actually am better today than I’ve been in a long while.”
“Because you look… slightly… manic.”
I couldn’t help the smile that stretched across my face, even if Quil wasn’t returning it. “I… don’t feel manic, Quil.”
“Have you decided what you’re going to do about Silas?”
I’d mostly been mulling him over in my head for the past few days. I hadn’t shared this with any of them. Now was as good a time as any.
“Oh, I’m killing him,” I replied.
Quil blinked. “What?”
“I’m killing him. He did this to me. I have to live with it forever, and I’m killing him. He has to die for what he did to me.”
Quil took a breath and began, “Sweetheart, I don’t know if you should be making that decision now, you’re… far too calm about this.”
“Should I not be calm about this? I thought decisions like this benefited from calm.”
