The Roc withdrew from Keir, beating its wings awkwardly. It cawed, its feathers weighted down by the onslaught of rain. The Roc’s talons grazed the sand as it struggled to stay in the air. It glared up at the cloud, then shrieked toward Keir one last time before flying away and disappearing through the clouds.
I ran to Keir as another round of thunder drummed and lightning cut through the sky, and fell to my knees next to him on the wet sand. He groaned as his features shrank back into those of a man, but it was a halting, jerky transformation, taking too much effort. Blood soaked through his tunic, and his normally tan skin was sickly pale. His eyes stayed closed as I pressed my hands to his wound. Blood instantly coated my palms. If it hadn’t been for the rain, he’d be dead. I didn’t know whether to be grateful orfrightened of whatever wielded this kind of power—and why it had decided to help us.
“Keir? Keir! Keir, can you hear me?”
His face was slack, body limp. Blood wept out of his side. He was losing too much.
Thunder clapped and lightning shot down from the sky, blindingly bright. I cried out and threw myself on top of Keir, shielding our faces with my arms, the bolt of heat so close it nearly scorched the hem of my dress.
And then it vanished. Replaced only by the pounding rain.
I blinked my eyes open.
Keir’s sword, which I had dropped in my hurry to reach him, shone a fiery orange.
I stared, breathless. Memories of my one visit to the palace barracks rose sharply in my mind. Healers had tended to large wounds with searing metal. The smell of burning flesh so horrific that I had never forgotten it, even years later.
A blessing, it turned out.
“Thank you,” I breathed to whatever entity was responsible for this mercy, and crawled through the sticky sand to snatch up the blade.
Heat speared through me, and I screamed, releasing the sword. A nasty red burn bubbled up across my palm, sending streams of agony up my arm.
I gritted my teeth. A problem for later.
I wrapped my hand in the skirt of my dress and picked up the sword again.
When I reached Keir, I wasted no time yanking open his tunic, revealing his muscled torso. The blood was still gushing out, seeping into the sand beneath him. “Sorry,” I muttered, and pressed the flat of the blade against the wound.
Keir didn’t move, even as his skin sizzled and that horrible odor lifted into the air.
I pulled the blade away. The wound was blistered, but it was closed. And his large chest was moving up and down. Breaths shallow, but they were there.
Careful to avoid my own burn, I heaved Keir onto his side, allowing the rain to clean what it could around the wound, wash away the excess blood.
When the searing in my hand became unbearable, I lowered him back to the sand and drew my knees up to my chest, staring at him, at the runes that stretched down his jaw and stopped just above his heart, the various battle scars that mapped up and down his torso, those awful slashes across his abdomen, the leather band wrapped around his chest.He’s a Shifter, I told myself.Superhuman. He’ll be just fine.
I glanced from Keir to the rest of the Wastelands.
Without the sun, I couldn’t see Ashorah. There was only the empty, uninhabitable landscape of nothingness. The rain no longer felt miraculous. Just cold.
I curled tighter into myself.
FIFTY-FIVESAMIRA
A hiss of pain made me jerk my head up. Keir blinked hard against the sun as he came to. The rain had stopped a long time ago, leaving behind the unforgiving heat again. Keir groaned as he tried to sit up, then dropped back down with a curse.
“You shouldn’t move,” I warned.
“Get it off.” His voice cracked on the words, shaky hands reaching blindly for his chest. For the band wrapped around it.
“How do I—”
“Buckle. On the left.”
Careful of his wound, I hiked his tunic up to his sternum. The band was made of thick leather, and it was bound tightly around his ribs. Pressing against the exposed bone. I couldn’t help but cringe. “Keir, what is—”
He snatched my wrist and looked up at me pleadingly. Tears pricked the edges of his eyes. “Please, Amunet. Get itoff.”
