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I feel Seff’s wet muzzle nosing his way into the circle, and, completely disregarding thecauseof that wetness, I give him a scratch along the snout, unwilling to let anyone go just yet.
“Come on, we should get—”
The crunching of glass interrupts Caelan, our heads snapping to thenow standingMarieth, her form flickering rapidly like static on an old television, her energy leaking visibly into the room like a golden mist. She stumbles forward, lurching, arm raised, her harsh intake of breath gasping like the thunder of a gale force wind.
It happens in an instant. The golden blast of energy from her hand, Caelan jumping in front of us, hisNo!bellowing through the air before the rest of us can even react. The connection between us tugs painfully, flooded with his torment, his terror and rage. A blinding green blast, a bolt of pure magic, explodes from Caelan’s hand as if possessed, shooting towards Marieth as she limps towards us.
Her fading powers are too weak and are no match for the power,my power, Caelan is channelling. I can feel it coursing through me, our connection,through us.
The force from Caelan’s blast flings her back across the room, into the roaring green flames of her sacred fire. Flames explode as she ignites; the fire consumes her totally in a nauseating fury.
Small embers escape the fireplace, floating in the air to catch on the wreckage of the room. The four of us stand stupidly, mesmerised by the eerie green flames as they quickly spread through the large chamber, before common sense kicks in.
Seff’s enormous head knocks my knee as he shoves me towards the door, Edith shoving at my shoulder. Caelan, my perfect bonded mate, quickly grabs my hand and pulls me out the door as we all run for our lives from the sacred flame devouring the cottage. It chases us through the maze; the heat scalding our backs as we fly as fast as we can through the curves of the garden until finally we make it to the grassy field.
Not wanting to take any chances, we continue to run until we reach the treeline, where Roan is kneeling with a still unconscious, but noticeably breathing, Theo cradled in his arms. A final explosion knocks us off our feet as we make the treeline, and we scramble on hands and knees until we are firmly on rotting leaf debris, and turn to watch, transfixed, as the ancient cottage and gardens collapse into a ghostly green fire.
“Is it over?” A now human Seff is curled into Edith, his large body wrapped around her legs, his head in her lap. His voice is soft, broken, like he is frightened to speak.
Edith leans back to rest on one hand, using the other to stroke through Seff’s bloodied curls. “Yeah, hun, it’s over. She’s gone now.”
I lean into Caelan, slumping my exhausted body against his, and he doesn’t hesitate to wrap his arm around me, to pull me tighter, even when I feel his muscles tremble.
“Thank fuck for that.”
Tor
We watched the flamesburn down to nothing, the black smoke plumes colouring the clear sky until the sun sank low below the trees and glittering stars blanketed the still-moonless sky. It wasn’t just that we were too exhausted to move, our body, minds and spirits fractured; we needed to know it was definitely over.
The night air has a frosty chill, so Roan lights a small fire to keep us warm and chase away the dark. As it sparks to life, all of us flinch, a reminder of the horrors we’d just run from. But then Edith gets to work, clucking over us like a mother hen, plucking glass from a once again clothed Seff, cleaning his scrapes and scratches with the first aid kit Caelan had in our bags.
Roan, now significantly less scary-looking without those angry veins sticking out all over his skin, had begrudgingly laid my brother out on the soft floor of the Woods, and is now wringing his hands and fussing at Theo’s torn and stained tee shirt and track pants as Edith checks him over.
Theo’s hand is so fragile and pale in mine, the white of his skin a stark contrast to the purple of mine. I trace my thumb over his knuckles, silently willing him to just wake up. To be ok. But he doesn’t. He just lies there still and unmoving, his chest not even rising with imperceptible breath.
I nuzzle myself back further into Caelan’s chest, and I feel his arm tighten around my middle, tugging me into the cocoon of his body. So far, he hasn’t been able to let me go, or maybe it is me that refuses to remove myself from his presence. Not that it matters. I need him, and I think he needs me too.
The only thing keeping me grounded right now is the heavy feel of Caelan’s chest pressed to my back, his arm around my waist anchoring me to the earth.The connection between us pulses with a jumble of indecipherable feelings. It feels like it will take a lifetime or three to recover from this.
From her position kneeling in the muddy leaves on Theo’s other side, Edith runs her hands meticulously over him before declaring that he seems to be in a deep magical sleep, but is otherwise safe and unharmed. We all breathe a collective sigh of relief at her declaration. Roan gives thanks to the Gods, a gruff exclamation from where he is sitting at Theo’s feet, his body tense and on guard.
Now that she is satisfied that Theo is fine, Edith turns her attention to me. It takes a little longer than I would like to convince her, and Caelan, that I am okay, that I am tired, hungry and dehydrated, but otherwise fine. But they finally relent. I mean, it’s obvious that I am notfine,but there is nothing wrong with me she can heal. I just need to sit here, with my brother’s hand in mine, with Caelan wrapped around me, and I will get through this. Eventually.
Shedoesbully Roan into leaving Theo to attend to a rather hideous bruise on his own back from when he had been slammed against the walls by Marieth’s magic. His deep eyes never leave my brother though, which is… Weird.
He watches him intensely, like he is terrified Theo will disappear if he so much as blinks, but I don’t have the capacity for whatever hero shit he has going on with Theo after saving him today. The thought alone is enough to break the barrier holding back my feelings, and a wave of gratitude rushes at me again, knocking my breath away for the millionth time today, once again making tears leak from my eyes.
I am really fucking sick of crying.
After Edith finally exhausts herself fussing over everyone, she settles in with the makeshift puppy pile we have going on the Woods’ floor. No one is hungry, but we still pick at granola bars left in the backpacks. Supplies are dangerously low, as are clean clothes. Caelan and I have been gone for weeks longer than we had planned for, and no one has the energy to bother washing what we have and drying it with magic.
We pass the night in silence, none of us willing to unsettle the aura around us with reality. Instead, we sink into the comfort of the Woods, letting themagic that permeates the air wrap around us, healing our spirits as the night encompasses us.
***
The following morning we wake to frosty air and an enormous pile of fruits piled next to the coals of the fire. I come to slowly, my head buried in Caelan’s chest, one of his heavy legs thrown over my hip. Once my eyes adjust to the harsh light of the sunrise filtering through the trees, I peer up at Caelan, still sound asleep, his head resting on Seff’s belly, drooling on his stomach.
I’d be irritated, jealous even, but Edith is curled up around them both, half-sitting, half-slumped over Seff’s chest, no doubt stealing his body heat. The poor guy is going to have a nasty backache when he wakes up.
