Page 90 of By the Flames of Her Fury

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Everett

Our heads whipped to Odessa. “What’s wrong?” Vera shouted, rushing to her side.

With a whimper, Odessa turned her previously injured arm over. I sucked in a breath. The claw marks had opened back up, leaving the skin bright pink and bloody once more. But that wasn’t what made my eyes widen. Inside the four jagged cuts were slivers of stone.

No—not stone. Bone.

“Fates,” Vera breathed out. “What’s happening to her?” she asked the High Elders.

They looked just as shocked as we did. “What gave you this injury, child?” Maeve asked quickly.

“One of the—the guardians,” Odessa gasped out. “Before we opened the portal, we were attacked by these skeleton creatures. One of them scratched me.”

Around us, the High Elders’ faces went still. “We did not know you were injured by one of them,” Maeve said.

Kieran pushed forward, crowding around Odessa. “I thought your healer already remedied this.”

“She healed the flesh, yes, but a wound caused by a guardian of the kingdom…” Arcadia trailed off, sharing a look with the other two.

“Well, what happens?” Vera snapped.

The air stretched tight, all of us waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“It cannot be healed, daughter,” Arcadia finally said.

Odessa’s lips parted on a silent exhale, her eyes trailing down to the jagged marks on her arm. “What’s going to happen to me?” she whispered.

Arcadia closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again. “You will become one of them. A spirit guardian tethered to Pyraeth.”

My heart sank. Odessa’s features shuddered, then went blank. She took a breath. “How long do I have?”

“When it has happened in the past,” Arcadia started, his forehead pinching, “the infection runs its course within forty-eight hours.”

Forty-eight hours. It was as if the air had been sucked out of the room. Vera wrapped a protective arm around Odessa’s shoulder. “How do we stop it?”

“We have never been able to,” Maeve said with a frown. “It is impos⁠—”

“No.” Vera cut her off, shaking her head. “That’s not good enough. There has to be a way to cure her.”

Odessa swallowed hard. The brave face she tried to hold now wavered with uncertainty. “Vera, what if—what if we can’t⁠—”

Vera took her hands, dipping her head so Odessa had to look at her. “Stop. Don’t think like that, Odessa. You have to stay strong. We’ve already done the impossible—we found this place because of you. Don’t let your fear make you unable to fight.”

I whispered those same words to Vera countless times when we were stuck in the cells, when I sensed her getting ready to give up. It clenched my heart seeing her pass it along to someone else. The girl who had once held so much fear and yet fought her way through. She didn’t even know she was now that same strength for others.

“There might be a way,” Arcadia said. Our attention snapped to him. “If the enchantment over the kingdom is lifted, all magic associated with it will cease to exist, including the magic over the guardians. She could be healed.”

My gut soured. “How convenient,” I muttered.

Arcadia glanced sharply at me. “What are you implying?”

“You’re saying her safety is directly tied to raising the kingdom. To you getting what you want. You trapped us here,” I growled. “You did this on purpose, so we have no choice but to stay.”

Maeve’s eyes went wide. “We are not the reason your friend was injured.”

“You should consider yourself fortunate that there may even be a way to save her,” Julius added. My blood boiled at the condescension in his tone.