Page 60 of Fires of the Forsaken
“That’s Seruf’s power. Mark my words.”
Constornation—Consternation filled their eyes as they circled me. Some faces I recognized. Lorcan, for example. The innkeeper who’d once put berries in my porridge.
“Help,” I whimpered. “Help!”
The fire would not abate. It traveled along my arms. The sleeves of my fine green tunic were reduced to ash.
My skin remained unblemished.
“Help me!” I whirled in panic. Embers floated from my body. They looked like stars against the night sky.
“She’ll burn the market down!” A man said.
Tears filled my eyes when people began drawing weapons.
“Please!” I gasped.
Lorcan stepped forward.
“Pleasehelp me!”I staggered to his side.
He whispered, “I’m sorry,cailín álainn,”before he struck my head with the blunt end of a knife.
I awoke back in Terrick’s dwelling.
“Lass.” He knelt beside my bed, pressing a damp cloth to my brow.
“Don’t touch me!” I sprang up, staring at my fingers.
But the fire was gone.
“It’s alright, lass,” Terrick whispered. His gnarled hands shook as he wrapped them around my knuckles. “Lorcan said the flames disappeared once you wereunconcious—unconscious. It’s alright. Oh, lass…”
A long wail burst from my throat. Ithurt, as though Lorcan had speared his knife through my chest.
Terrick pulled me into a tight embrace, rocking me slowly back and forth as I howled and quivered. He dried my tears, pressed cool cloths to my neck, and guarded me when I slipped into an uneasy slumber.
It was a night that would haunt me for the rest of my life. Even to this day, I see Darcie and Grady when I close my eyes. I smell their burnt flesh in my dreams.
They were the first humans to be destroyed by my wretched power.
But they would not be the last.
* * *
Terrick must have been terror-stricken.I was a hybrid that shouldn’t have existed. One with the same power as the Firestarter Celestial: Seruf, Ramiel’s trusted companion.
And I had no control over my ability. I was volatile. Dangerous. Had Terrick decided to abandon me, he would have been justified in doing so. I was not his kin. I was merely a girl he’d found in the woods.
But he stayed by my side, assuring me I was not to blame for what had happened.
Meanwhile, the people of Swindon, the kind-hearted folk we’d lived alongside for six years, turned on us.
Accusations swirled around the village:
“You never said she was a hybrid, Terrick!”
“Is shetrulya hybrid? I’ve never heard of one with such a destructive ability.”
