Page 168 of The Incendiary

But here with Gemma, where I expected to feel only one tendril, now there were two.

“Gemma?” I croaked.

“Finn doesn’t know yet,” she cried weakly. “I haven’t told him.”

Two lives? I couldn’t… Could I?

As if she read my mind, she begged, “Can you save it? Please save it. Don’t worry about me.”

But there wasn’t even the slightest swell in her belly. It was early. Far too early.

“I’ll save you both,” I promised. She would survive it, and when she recovered, I would reprimand her for even thinking of going on assignment when pregnant. People thought I was reckless.

“The fire is spreading, Commander,” I heard someone say. “We have to retreat.”

Barely looking up, I lifted my free hand and doused the approaching flames with a torrent of Rainar’s water. I spread it from left to right, creating a thick barrier of soaked earth that the fire would struggle to pass, then pulled the water from the air into a fine mist. With one push of Sussurro’s wind, most of the fire was doused.

“Holy shit!” someone shouted, followed by a wave of gasps and cheers.

“Ary,” Gemma pleaded, her breaths labored. “The letters from Damond mentioned how the healing… how much it takes from you. If you can’t⁠—”

“I can. I will.” Because I rejected the possibility of failing Gemma. I looked to Elias. “When I tell you to remove the rest of the spear, do it.” I grabbed his hand and wrapped it tightly around the bloody wood protruding from her stomach. “Understood?”

“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate.

“Listen… to me,” Gemma gasped out. Her color drained. She was fading fast. “If it doesn’t work, please tell Finn… about the baby.”

“It’s going to work.” My voice and my face were calm for her sake, but I was not.

I didn’t know what I was going to do if it didn’t work. Gemma and Finn couldn’t lose what they were trying to build together. Agony escaped from somewhere deep inside me that I kept hidden. It was such a terrible thing to lose.

“Promise me, please!” Gemma wept. The bright, swirling amber of her eyes began to lose its vigor. “He deserves to know.”

“If I have to, I will.” I cupped her cheek with my bloody hand. “But I won’t have to. You are going to tell him.”

I cursed under my breath when her eyelids fluttered closed in relief at my promise.

“Will this hurt you?” demanded Elias.

“Yes.” Our stares locked. “But it won’t kill me.” Probably. “I swear to all twelve gods that I’ll kill you if you try to stop me.”

His eyes widened as he nodded. “Okay.”

“Remove it, Commander.”

He obeyed. Gemma, now barely conscious, released a bloodcurdling scream as the wood scraped through her muscles. Blood pooled beneath her, and the hot crimson began gushing over my hands as they rested on either side of the fatal wound.

Just as I had the day I discovered the wheel, I grasped Viridian’s green and began to pour the power into her. Every last bit of it, until my vision began to blur, then blacken. If this did take everything from me, then Gemma and her baby were worth it.

And I would see him again soon.

FIFTY

ELIAS WINTERTON

I had just stared into the eyes of a woman on fire. One moment, she’d been invincible, burning with divine, terrifying power. Then, she’d doused her own flames with cool water. Then, she’d sacrificed every ounce of her strength to save another.

Her body fell limp beside me. I caught her before her head could hit the ground.