Page 62 of Wicked Thieves
She could feel the blood seeping from her injured wrist pouring over his back, as if it too sought him out. Attempted to interchange power. Anelize wished such a thing were possible.Wished, and wished, and wished.
“Aeric, please...” A sob slipped past her lips as she bent over him, not finding his heart. Because he was gone.
Minutes passed where she laid in the snow beside him. Feeling the heat from his body slowly disappear, consumed by the cold air around them. All she could do was stare into his hollowed eyes, the color no longer the same vibrant, beautiful shade of cerulean.
She closed her eyes, feeling the tears slowly run down the side of her face.
That was when she saw it, through the darkness of her mind when her power began searching once more of its own volition. A small blue light, flickering like a flame fighting to stay lit. Glowing faintly as if to say“I’m here.”
Anelize gasped as she went to it, watching as it made its way over to her. Slowly cupping the light between her palms and smiling down at it. For such a small, fragile thing, it was warm and comforting. Safe. And she carefully blew on the flame, barely so much as a whisper, before she watched the flame shift and grow. Brighter and brighter until the darkness around them faded away and there was only that one light.Him.
Tears streamed down her face when she finally heard it then. The sound of his heart pulsing once, then twice, then?—
Aeric suddenly pulled in a pained gasp, and Anelize opened her eyes to see that he was alive. Breathing and alive. She released a breathless laugh that ended on a sob as she brushed the wet strands of his hair away from his face.
“Aeric!”
He didn’t open his eyes as he groaned before he slid back into unconsciousness. None of those things mattered so long as he kept breathing and she could hear his heart without somuch as conjuring herself to listen for him. A sound she would never allow herself to forget.
Footsteps rushed into the street behind her, and Anelize whirled, her entire body lit with the need to protect him again. Only, it was not a Watchman rushing toward them, and she felt her entire body relax in sheer relief at the sight of the twins, panting and covered in blood and soot.
“Anya?” Adan took in the destruction around her, the Watchman dead mere paces away from her. Understanding flickered in his eyes as he looked at her, and before he could ask her if she was all right or reprimand her, his attention shifted to Aeric. Then he swore viciously.
21
“Get him on the table, onto his front. Now,” Zara ordered as the four of them burst through the doors of the kitchen.
Henry shot up from his seat, taking in the bloodied mess they all were. “What’s happened?”
The Dobrins quickly cleared the table of plates and cups and the carafe in the center of the table before Anelize and the twins set Aeric onto it. When he released a pained groan, she hurried over to Zara.
“What can I do?”
“Cut his shirt open. I need to see the extent of the wound,” she said as she rolled up her sleeves, reaching for the shears on the counter and handing them to her.
Anelize did as she was ordered, returning to Aeric’s side. He breathed heavily through his nose, his eyes squeezed tightly. Her hands wouldn’t stop trembling as she tried to cut the fabric of his shirt with the shears. It took her two tries before she forced herself to steel her nerves, her pain. His tunic was soon cut to shreds, hanging over his shoulders and revealing the broad expanse of his bloodied back. The arrow lodged deep in his chest.
“It just barely missed his heart. It’s a miracle he’s still alive,” Zara gasped, her hands hovering over him as she assessed the damage.
“It was a fucking raid,” Idris explained when Henry asked them what happened to them. “Watchmen were all over the place, ransacking homes and tormenting civilians, looking for sympathizers. As if we had that many to begin with.”
“I can’t heal him this way. We need to get the arrow out before I can do anything,” Zara murmured, pulling Anelize’s attention back to her as she reached for the arrow before grimacing, shaking her head as if the mere thought of what she was about to do caused her great pain. A mother’s pain.
“Zara,” Anelize pressed. “Please, you have to do it. My hand…I can’t do it myself.” She didn’t care if they could all hear the desperation in her voice. The helplessness because of what the Watchman had done to her hand. Even without looking down, she knew her wrist was swollen beyond compare, still bleeding. The sounds of her blood and Aeric’s dripping onto the hardwood floor filled the seconds of silence.
And it was Adan, of all people, who stepped forward. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gently eased her aside.
“Tell me what to do,” he said with nothing but determination on his face. A fleeting glance of understanding and gratitude was exchanged between them then, and in that moment, she realized there was no one else she trusted more than him.
Anelize’s eyes stung as she nodded once before she told him exactly what to do. Zara holding at the ready to quickly heal Aeric once they got the arrow out so she could keep him alive long enough to stop the bleeding.
“We need to cut the arrow in half. Saw through it gently.”
Adan nodded and retrieved a blade from his belt before he began cutting through the arrow. Aeric groaned but eased once it was done, for a brief moment of reprieve. Idris helped shift him enough so that they could pull both ends out.
“Stay with us, Aeric,” Henry said in encouragement from somewhere in the room, but Anelize did not look up to find him, his own fear coating her senses the same way Zara’s had.
Anelize stepped forward as she gripped the stem of the arrow in her good hand and nodded toward the twins. “Hold him down.”
