Page 106 of By the Flames of Her Fury

“Vera!” I shouted, pointing at the creature. “It’s there! The amulet!”

She was in the middle of fighting both a corpse and a shadow wraith at once, but at my words, her head snapped toward me. In the blink of an eye, she strided out of existence and reappeared right in front of the creature with the amulet. Sharp fingers protruded through its cloth wrappings as it brought its arm back, preparing to strike. My heart jumped in my throat. If it broke her skin⁠—

Vera was faster. Her hand closed around the chain at its neck and tore it free, then shifted her fingers into talons and sliced off its arm. Victory shone in her golden eyes as she held the amulet higher.

But it was short-lived.

The three corpses froze and dropped to their knees. In my next breath, they turned to dust and blew away, leaving behind their rotted cloth wrappings.

And then the amulet crumbled to ash and fell at Vera’s feet.

50

Vera

“Can I have a few minutes alone with her?” I asked Aramanth after she welcomed me into the healing wing.

“Of course, Lightbringer,” the elderly woman said with a bow. She set down her jar of salve and padded out of the room.

I waited until she was gone before I took a deep, uneven breath. The scents of the healing wing flooded my senses. Dried herbs of rosemary, sage, and mint mixed with the sharper, pungent ointments and cleaning potions. All the other cots were empty, with their white sheets crisply folded and slightly dull, as if they hadn’t been touched in a while.

I crossed to Odessa’s cot against the back wall, then collapsed into the chair next to her, white dust from the crypt clouding the air. My hands and clothes were filthy. I didn’t have the energy yet to clean up after that disaster—the adrenaline had subsided, leaving me with shaking hands and the heavy weight of failure on my chest.

Odessa looked so peaceful. Her hands rested on her abdomen, her head slightly tilted to lean against the pillow, with those brown curls billowing around her face. If I concentrated my Shifter hearing, I could hear the barest intake of breath, and the slowest, most faint heartbeat fluttering in her chest. She’d only been under the stasis for a day, but I felt her life ticking like a pocket watch in the back of my mind.

“I’m sorry, Odessa,” I said with a sigh, grabbing her hand. My dirt-stricken skin was a stark contrast to her smooth fingers. “I failed. I didn’t get the amulet today. But we’re going back out tomorrow, and the Elders have a whole list of places to look.”

I had been so close. I thought I’d held the amulet in my grasp, and in that single moment, I saw Odessa’s freedom flash before my eyes. I saw the kingdom raised, saw their people rejoicing, saw my friends sailing back home into a new dawn.

Those hopes had been crushed to dust when the fake amulet disintegrated in my grip.

I was foolish to think it would be so easy. Maybe part of me had bought into the idea of being this “all-powerful Lightbringer” as the Elders and Pyraethis heralded me. I thought I could manifest my victory into existence by sheer force of will. Follow the Elders, fight some mythical creatures, slash and stab my way through. But the Fates weren’t going to give it over so simply.

“I want to do right by you,” I whispered to Odessa, tapping the back of her hand absentmindedly. “I just hope you weren’t wrong to put your faith in me.”

“I don’t believe she was,” Kieran’s deep voice said from behind me. I released Odessa and turned in my chair to see him walking over, his brown hair still wet from bathing. He nodded toward her. “How is she?”

“Same as she has been. Tessa said everything was normal today. I just wanted to check on her.”

Kieran took the seat on her other side, pulling out several books from the bag slung over his shoulder. He set them on the bedside table next to her.

“What are those for?” I asked.

A pink tint crawled up his cheeks. “I know she enjoys reading, I just don’t know what types of books she prefers. I brought several from the Hall of Archives. A book on ancient Pyraethi history,” he held up an old, leather-bound tome, “folklore, myths, and legends,” he picked another, “theories of numerology,” he pointed to one on bottom, “and a romance.”

I held back a smile. “Quite the range.”

“It’s not as if she’ll know what I’m reading to her, but it will help pass the time.”

“I think that’s great,” I said quietly. “She’d love it. Thanks, Kieran.”

He inclined his head to me in response, and we sat in silence for a minute as he rifled through the numerology textbook. I stared at Odessa, lost in my own thoughts, when his voice brought me back into the present.

“I believe I owe you an apology,” he started. His brown eyes held mine so intensely, it made me need to look away. “For what I said earlier today.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I said that your brother deserves someone who will stay for him, and I insinuated that you were not that person.” His voice was measured, straightforward. “That wasn’t fair of me, and I’m sorry.”