“There are no burns, Pen. Cuts from the glass, but no burns.” I released his right hand to pry open his left and hold it up where he could see.
He shrunk away, his face wet with tears and eyes squeezed shut. “I'll be no good. They won't want me anymore. Everything's ruined, and it's my fault…” The words petered out into a whine.
I could have cursed Merrick, then, for instilling such a fear in his much younger brother. And Anders on top of that, for forcing Penny to experience this trauma again. It had taken months in Ashpoint to get Penny comfortable even with the contained flames of the forge, to trust that he was safe there with me. This would undo all of that.
Catching Penny’s cheek, I turned him back.
“I willalwayswant you. No matter what,” I assured him. “You haven’t ruined anything, and none of this is your fault.” His lower lip quivered, and I wanted so badly to kiss him, but I needed him calm first.
“Pleaselook, sweetheart,” I insisted. “No burns. Just cuts.”
It took him another few moments to work up the nerve to glance at his lacerated palm. His shoulders sagged in relief, and his breathing finally started to slow.
“That’s better.” I brushed the sweat-damp hair back from his cheeks, and pressed a kiss to his forehead before winding my arms around him and crushing him against me.
His arms came around me too, bloodied hands fisting in the back of my shirt as he buried his face in my shoulder.
“You’re okay. I’ve got you.” I leaned my head against his and finally letmyselfbreathe, too.
We stayed that way for several long moments before Penny spoke again.
“Where’s Anders?” His words were muffled in the folds of my shirt, but I could hear the worry on the edge of them.
I glanced back to be sure the Symbiarch wasn’t paying attention to us, then dropped my voice anyway. “Gone,” I said softly. “He set the fires and left when I went in to get you out. There’s no chance we’ll catch up with him, so we’ll have to find our own way back.”
Without our bag of supplies, that was going to prove difficult. My cloak was in the back of the wagon, and I assumed Penny’s had gone up with the mission. We had nothing but the clothes on our backs, our knives, the small bag of coin in my pocket, and Penny’s sketchbook.
We were stranded, and the prospect of having to walk back to Ashpoint was daunting. With Penny’s compromised lungs, especially after inhaling all that smoke, it was a recipe fordisaster. I couldn’t leave him in Wendwood, either. He was no kind of liar, and the longer he spent around the people here, the more likely his conscience would get the better of him and he’d tell them something he shouldn’t.
I had no desire to be away from him for any length of time, anyway.
Raised voices filtered in on the breeze, putting a stop to any further questions from Penny. We both looked up to see a mob of townsfolk rushing down the road with buckets swinging from their arms. Empty buckets meant a water source nearby, so maybe the mission wouldn’t be a complete loss.
“I’m going to help,” I told Penny as I eased him back.
His grip on my shirt tightened. “No, Kit,” he said in a rush. “Don’t leave me.”
I cupped his face in my hands and leaned our foreheads together. “I’m not going in, I promise, and not going far. I need you to stay here with the Symbiarch. At a safe distance.”
He let out a distraught cry, then thew himself against me, squeezing impossibly tight. “You need to stay here too.Youneed to be at a safe distance.” His fingers dug into my back, driving out a pained grunt.
“Pen,” I began while trying to pry him off, “if even part of the mission can be saved, I have to try. I have to know I did what I could. If it was anything but fire, I know you’d want to help, too.”
Snow crunched under the Symbiarch’s feet as she crossed to us and stood behind Penny. She laid a hand on his shoulder, and he loosened his grip enough to look up at her.
She looked haunted. Her gray eyes were red and irritated from the smoke, her brown hair had all but escaped its bun, and soot streaked her pale face. Even still, she managed a kind smile.
“I’d like it if you’d wait with me, Penwell,” she said.
He sniffled and looked between us as I forced a smile of my own.
“Can we get you up out of the snow? Think you can stand now?”
He released me fully, and I got to my feet. Careful of his injured hands, I levered him up and steadied him against me until his legs took his own weight.
I brushed his hair aside again. “Be right back.”
His fingers caught in mine before I could pull away. “Be careful.”
