Page 24 of Chaos and Crowns

The hand on her face patted gently and her vision cleared as she came to awareness. Meeting hazel eyes framed by long pale lashes, Odelle jumped, banging her head on the rocky wall at her back.

“Sorry.” Antony grimaced, also drawing back. “I just wanted to ask you if I could borrow your earring.”

Blinking in sleep and confusion, Odelle scrubbed at her face. She grimaced when her hands came away flaked with mascara, probably smeared down her face from her tears the night before. Attractive. Looking up, she regarded Antony questioningly through eyes that probably looked like they belonged on a raccoon.

“Not that I don’t think you could pull it off, but are your ears even pierced?” She asked.

Antony snorted.

“Glad to know that you thought I was worried about my fashion choices when we’re stranded in the wilderness, but no. I was going to use the crystal in it to try to start a fire.”

Sure enough, behind Antony was a neatly stacked pyramid of sticks that would be the envy of any Boy Scout. Still, Odelle frowned as she pulled the jewelry from her ear.

“I know that you can focus sunlight with crystals to start fires, but don’t you need— well… sun for that? I’m pretty sure we’re far enough North that it isn’t going to fully rise here.”

Antony took the offered earring from her, holding it up to inspect the pear-shaped cut crystal that dangled from it.

“True, but one of the perks of being a sorcerer is coming with a built-in source of Light.”

Antony seemed to find the crystal suitable and carried it over to the pile of sticks, but Odelle sat up straight with a frown.

“Hold on a second, I just had to virtually carry you here because you had exhausted yourself using the Light. I’d rather be cold than do that again,” Odelle protested.

Antony paused, fingers hovering near the crystal.

“This won’t be nearly as much Light. I promise I’ll be perfectly fit to find us a way out of here.” Antony fixed Odelle with a sincere stare. “Trust me.”

Possibly against her better judgement, she did.

Antony’s gaze returned to the dangling clear jewel, which he held near the kindling. Holding his pointer finger near it, he narrowed his eye. Then a bolt of pure sunshine emanated from his hand, even brighter than the Light Odelle had seen Nora use to defeat the Shadow—so bright Odelle threw up a hand to shield her eyes. A moment later the scent of smoldering wood filled her nostrils. Dropping her hand, she saw Antony standing triumphantly over a fire that was already beginning to crackle merrily.

“What was that about not using too much Light?” Odelle scolded, “You could have sent a signal to the International Space Station with that thing.”

She stared at Antony, half expecting him to keel over from such a display of power after just recovering. He shrugged, brushing off her admonishment and looking none the worse for wear.

“When we’re out of this mess, I’m going to need more information on this International Space Station you mentioned,” Antony deflected. His eyes twinkled with curiosity, and Odelle thought that she might just be willing to send him to space to be rid of that gaze.

“Get us home and I’ll write you a whole book about the ISS,” she grumbled. The heat from the fire began to reach Odelle, thawing her chilled fingers. She scooched forward, cramming more of herself into the circle of warmth. As she crawled, she winced at the familiar stinging of her legs where they rubbed in her socket. She knew better than to sleep with her legs on, but last night that had seemed like the least of her problems.

Antony frowned at her, noticing her discomfort.

“Don’t you need to take those off for a while? We could melt some snow with the fire to clean them with.”

Odelle only paused a moment before wriggling to kick off one leg, then the other. As she rolled down the tight socks on her legs, she couldn’t help groaning audibly. The only thing better than unclipping her bra at the end of the day was taking off her legs.

Antony reached for a prosthetic and then paused, waiting for her permission.

“I was just going to clean them for you,” he explained.

Odelle blinked. Nobody had cleaned out her sockets for her since Irina when she was a small child. Even then, Odelle had become quite self-sufficient with it by the time she was a teenager. It was something so simple, yet something nobody had offered to do before. Certainly not the parade of men who stayed the night and then were gone in the morning.

“Knock yourself out.” Odelle shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “That’s my least favorite part of getting ready for bed every night. I’m just surprised you thought of it.”

Antony began wiping down the inside of the socket and her thermoplastic socks with melted snow.

“Your legs weren’t the first prosthetics I’ve built. A lot of Warriors lost limbs in battles against the Shadow but still kept fighting.” Antony turned the socks inside out to dry by the fire. “I’ve also repaired a good amount for people who didn’t treat them well, so I know a thing or two about taking care of them.”

Odelle looked away. Antony was just caring for her like he would any other soldier, but she couldn’t even fight. Silence fell that was only interrupted by the crackling of the fire. In the stillness, her mind began to supply her with images from the day before. She pushed away images of the Shadows chasing them, of one pulling Antony to the ground. She could just make out a bald patch on the back on Antony’s head where the Shadow’s grasp had burned away a chunk of hair.