Page 125 of Memory of Ashes

“Amelia!” Tharos called her over.

She respected that he was in charge, and he respected that Casyl cared for her.

“Can you patch these two up?” he asked.

She had gained the title of nurse because she possessed more anatomical knowledge than anyone else there.

She took the injured men into the palace to tend to them, with Tharos and the general following. She dealt with the human first, setting his nose and sending him on his way. He’d begun to show signs of the sickness, but there was nothing she could do for that.

The fae would heal quickly, but she needed to remove the shank that had been plunged into his side.

He removed his shirt and sat quietly as she pulled the shank from his side. The wound bled but soon began to close.

“Thank you,” he said.

“What are these?” she asked, running her fingers over the hard lumps on his side. Scars marked the flesh, yet something appeared to remain underneath.

“It’s just shrapnel from when we bombed the mine,” he said.

He’d been there with Casyl. She still woke expecting to hear his voice.

“Do they bother you?”

He shrugged. “They ache a bit, I guess.”

She wouldn’t get an honest answer about pain from a warrior. Admitting that they hurt was, to them, the same as admitting weakness.

“I’m going to remove them,” she said.

She wiped her dagger clean and made a small incision over the first lump.

He winced as the skin split. Amelia eased out a dark fragment, leaving a smear of blue residue behind. The piece of rock vibrated beneath her touch, and a streak of blue iridescence gleamed within it.

It glistened in the light.

The blue glint caught Tharos’s interest, and he approached with the general.

“What is it?” he asked.

“It’s a piece of shrapnel from the mine explosion,” she explained. “It looks as though there’s a bit of chrysonium embedded in it.” She passed it to Tharos. “Look.”

Tharos examined it cautiously as she began freeing the next fragment lodged in the warrior’s side. This piece was larger.

It came free with a wet squelch, revealing a brilliant shard of mineral that gleamed in her hand.

The fae made a strange noise from his throat.

She stepped back to look at him.

He dissolved into ash.

She screamed.

Tharos had half-drawn his sword.

Had the monsters somehow come upon them?

“What the fuck!” Tharos shouted.