Page 87 of The Silversmith

Gavin held my hand but stepped forward, face grim. “The leg. It’s—”

“I don’t think so,” muttered Damond, gripping Caz’s shoulder in one hand while opening the canteen of water with the other. “We can stop the bleeding, but the leg— he’ll likely lose it. There’s nothing the healer here in Tovick will be able to do for him. All we can do now is prevent infection.”

With his leg now elevated, Caz was sitting up partway with a bag of barley at his back for support.

But if I could save that little boy…

I rushed to Caz, stumbling through an unexpected weakness in my bones as I knelt beside him, gently placed my hands on his thigh, and prayed for him like I had the child. Healing and regeneration—that bright emerald light. For at least a minute I tried, ignoring the objections and questions from my confused friends.

I reached for the temple, for the wheel, even for the suffocating black I’d had to pass through to get there.

There was nothing.

“No!” I groaned, chest cracking. “It’s not working! Why isn’t it working—”

“What isn’t working?” demanded Gemma, gripping my shoulders from behind, searching my face for answers. “Ary!”

“My power!” I choked out a tired, angry sob.

Gemma shook her head, not understanding. “Your power isn’t—”

“She saved a boy’s life,” Gavin explained. “Outside the temple, she healed him.”

Gemma sucked in a breath, the rest of them growing silent.

Rage slithered up my spine as I tried to reach for the green spoke, to summon that viridescent light through my body, through Caz’s leg.

“Caz,” I groaned through gritted teeth. No trace of jasmine in my nostrils, no rush of renewed life. No wheel. No temple. Nothing. “No, no, no! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry—”

“Stop.” Caz reached for my elbow and squeezed. I barely felt it, he was so weak. A brave grin warmed his pale face, brightened his gentle hazel eyes as they fluttered open. “Don’t break yourself for me, Ary.”

I took his hand and cradled it to my chest. The only way I could hug him and not risk hurting him.

Ezra stood beside me, fuming. “I thought Simeon had wards on this city!”

“Magic doesn’t stop rudimentary explosives,” answered Damond. “Who knows how long those explosives had been under that temple? Decades, maybe.”

“And you think it’s a coincidence they went off today?” Gemma pressed a cool cloth to Caz’s forehead. “We should have left sooner. They must know she’s here.”

Calmly, Gavin shook his head. “They don’t know that.”

“How do you know what they do or don’t know?” Her ebony curls trembled—an extension of her rage. “Are you one of them?”

Gavin turned on her. “Why do you think Simeon sent me, Tremaine? Because I’m good with a blade?” He bared his teeth. “He sent me because I have seen and done shit your precious army commander would piss himself over. He sent me because I know evil, I know Molochai, and Molochai will want her—” he pointed at me, “—for himself. So, if Insidions knew she was anywhere near here, they certainly wouldn’t risk blowing her up.”

“Insidions have always gone after the temples first,” Damond rushed out in agreement. “They despise the Selvaren. Tovick has been a bastion for years. It was only a matter of time before they decided to strike.”

“It doesn’t matter why,” Finn spoke up. “We need to split up,” He wiped the sweat from his forehead, smearing his brother’s blood over his skin. “Just in case. We need to get Caz to the Caves. If there’s any chance at saving the leg, we have to get him to Nestor and Abram.”

Trembling, Caz took a glass of water from Damond’s hand and rasped, “I’ll be fine.”

“Shut the hell up! You got your leg blown off!” Finn shouted, running his trembling hands through his short black hair. “We have to go back to the Caves, Caz and me, and at least one other.”

Gemma glared at Finn. “We have to stay together!”

“Don’t break yourself for me, Ary.”

They argued, but Caz’s words echoed in my mind, drowning them out. He had broken for me, lost a piece of himself, risked everything—for me. They all had.