Page 137

I helped Grace to her feet and we clung to each other, Kham and Koa standing behind us, over us, snorting warnings to anyone who’d dare approach. But everyone within sight was dead or moaning in pain. Even those that still breathed barely moved at all. And the few that made it to their feet seemed disoriented. Turning circles. Falling. Weeping.

‘Those were burned out by the evil they couldn’t contain,’ Kham rumbled in my head when I asked if those still on the ground were dead. ‘They have nothing left.’

‘Is this all of them?’ I asked him, and I hardly dared hope.

‘No. Eyes are here. Watching. But they will not threaten you. They stink of fear—of you, and of us. They have no courage for further conflict.’

I prayed it was true. I prayed we’d never face them again. And I assessed myself, just as I’d trained every Furyknight to do: Pause. Look inward. Assess for injury.

I felt weak. Shaky. Uncertain. But light.

My heart fluttered in my chest. A cloud that had hovered over my head for as long as I could remember was gone. A weight thrown off my shoulders.

Grace held herself carefully, as if movement hurt. But some faint color had returned to her cheeks. Her eyes were no longer glazed.

“Do you see what you did?” I whispered, taking her face in my hands.

She reached up to grip my wrists. “What we did.”

I shook my head. “I gave you that power because I couldn’t trust anyone else with it. I could never have done this. You did it, Grace. And—”

I cut off as she swayed, and I was reminded how desperately injured she was. All my senses screamed again. I swept her up to my chest. “Kham! We need to get Grace home. We need to—”

“Not yet,” she said, taking my chin and turning me to look at her. “First, we need to help Cali.”

It was such a shocking sentiment, I just stared at her. Her lips pressed thin. “She’s no threat. She helped me, and now she’s in trouble. Your mother hurt her.”

We both turned to look at the crumpled form on the dirt off to our right. To my surprise, Cali was sitting up, but oddly. Stiffly. Her robe puddled around her, and she stared at the ground as if uncertain what it was.

Either she’d heard us talking, or she felt our gazes, because she turned her head to look at us. I cursed, and Grace gasped.

Half her hair had been burned away. The skin on half her face, and presumably other parts of her body, was red and blistered raw. She stared around her as if unaware of the horrific injuries.

“Grace—”

“We have to, Voski.”

I looked down at her. Grace held one hand to her stomach and peered up at me, her eyes wide with compassion. “I’m not bleeding because of her. The pain is fading, but I felt like I was fading before. Now… I don’t know. It’s not good, but I’m here. She helped me. And now she needs help.”

I turned to look at Cali, whose gaze remained on the ground, her brow furrowed.

Fuck.

‘Kham?’

‘Grace’s heart is strong. Koa worries, but not for her immediate safety. Your mate is admirable in her capacity to love. It would be a kindness…’

I wasn’t sure kindness was what was needed right now, but those who’d lived through whatever that was were slowly finding their wits and stumbling toward the castle. I didn’t know how much of the Cruors’ power had been destroyed, and how much remained. How many of these people would recover and retain power? Having an ally among those who had lived through that… whatever it was, would be wise.

But Cali?

‘She helped me, Voski. I wouldn’t be here right now if she hadn’t done something. I would have bled to death.’

As much as that thought washed me in gratitude, it chilled me as well. I couldn’t imagine that Cali’s healing abilities were good. She had to have used the dark power on Grace.

But I had no power left, so couldn’t examine the weaves or even identify what had been done.

Uncertain what else to do, I carried Grace toward the dazed woman. Her wounds were awful, and my stomach flipped at the sight of her face and shoulder, half raw.