Page 111 of Fires of the Forsaken
Same, bro.Same.
“Her stomach...” I started.
“Yes, I see it,” Maddox said. “It shouldn’t be too complicated to mend. Especially as you’ve done a wonderful job with the bandaging. Thank you, Addie.” He turned, pushing the wooden door open with his shoulder, and brought the woman inside the city.
I dashed back into the fray.
“FuckingChrist!” I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone snatched the back of my neck.A Wraith. It had to be. This was it. The end of the line…
“Hold on, Addie,” a voice said in my ear.
My knees buckled. “Moira! Damnit, don’tdothat! I’m already—”
Moira dug her fingers into my neck as a curved knife whistled through the air. It was too close and coming too fast.
I screamed.
And the knife came to an abrupt stop less than an inch from my face, as though it had hit a wall. It hovered for a moment, the blade making a tinnyziiingbefore it flopped to the ground.
By some miracle, I hadn’t shit myself today.Yet(I checked, just to be sure). “Holy cow,” I clasped a hand to my chest as my pulse roared.
Moira dropped her hand away from my neck.
“Did you—that’s your power, isn’t it? You’re—I didn’t know you were ahybrid!”I turned to face her.
She smiled, although she looked pale. Shaky.
“Thanks!” Why did my voice sound super screechy? “I owe you. Big time.”
“Keep your eyes open, Addie.” Moira bumped her knuckles against my shoulder and dove sideways, driving her sword into a hellhound’s gut.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Cheriour wrenching knives out of dead Wraiths. He didn’t look at me. I didn’t look at him. It was the system we’d worked out. We stayed within eyesight of each other. He jumped in and saved me whenever I was in deep shit (assuming Moira didn’t beat him to it). But we never acknowledged each other. We just did our jobs.
My rubbery legs ached as I ran across the field, occasionally kneeling to check on fallen soldiers. I’d been doing this for at least an hour. And I still wanted to scream every time I knelt beside a dead body.Especiallya body I recognized. Like the flirty guy who once grew an entire hyacinth because it matched my eyes.
Cathal.
His poor body was ravaged by multiple punctures and fractures. Sweat still coated his brow and soaked his hair. He hadn’t been dead long. Probably only a few minutes.
If I’d been a little faster, could I have gotten him off the field in time?
A bitter tang filled my mouth as I touched the top of Cathal’s head. “I’m—Christ, this isn’t fucking fair. You were a cool dude. I’m so freaking sorry.”
And then I left him. Alone. To be trampled by the other soldiers, Wraiths, hellhounds, and Púcas. Because he was gone, and I couldn’t help him.
I almost cried in relief when I found someone Icouldhelp.
“Alright, buddy,” I said to a grizzly, brown-bearded man. “Whatya say we get the hell out of Dodge, hmm?”
He stared at me, his eyes slightly glazed. Hisentireright arm had been ripped off. Shoulder and all. He’d lost buckets of blood.
I spun, looking for the nearest dead body. A woman lay spread eagle a few inches from me…
Well, herbodywas there. No idea where her head was.
“Sorry,” I whispered as I yanked her shirt off. She hadn’t been wearing a bra or any binding underneath, so her girls were on full display. “OMG, I’msosorry.” I hoisted her onto her side, using her arm to cover her chest. Didn’t matter that she was dead, and long past caring about her privates hanging out. It didn’t seem right to leave her exposed.
I crawled back to the man and began wrapping. Wasn’t easy, especially since my fingers kept slipping into the gaping hole where his shoulder should have been (gag). But he didn’t flinch, cry, or curse. He stared straight ahead. Beneath the tangles of beard and hair, his face was white as a sheet.
