EMBER
“Ember!” Rafferty’s roar is deafening. I spin, scanning the clearing for him, but I can barely see my own hands through the thick smoke. It billows out from flames that eat at the landscape around me.
Suffocating.
And yet, I can breathe as if the air is clear.
“Raffe!” I scream his name, running toward the direction I think it came from. My heart thunders within my chest, adrenaline surging through my system. I reach the edge, but then I’m forced to retreat as hot flames shoot toward the sky.
Fear for my warrior spurring me on, I spin on my heel and race toward the other side.
The flames there shoot higher, too, blocking my path and forcing me to retreat once again. “Rafferty!” I scream for him, again and again, until my throat is hoarse.
“Ember!” he cries again—this time closer.
I turn, myscarlethair whipping in the wind—and see him. My stomach plummets, and hot tears burn my throat at the sight of Rafferty on his knees, his face bloody and bruised. Taranus holds a blade to his throat. It glints in the firelight, the faintest drop of red blood from where it has already pierced Rafferty’s flesh.
My gaze drifts up to the once-king in disgust. Pieces of his skin have sluffed off, revealing the red smeared bone of his cheek and forehead. His hair has fallen out in clumps, and one eye is completely white.
He looks more monster than man. And all I can think is that, finally, the outside matches the interior.
“Let him go!” I roar, taking a step closer. Something surges beneath my skin—something I can’t even begin to understand.
Taranus grins, but most of his teeth are gone. What the hell happened to him? Is this the result of the bond? Surely not, after all, I’m still normal—aren’t I?
“I’m going to kill him, Wife,” he growls. The last word churns my stomach. “Destroy him before I tear you apart.”
“Killing me will kill you,” I remind him.
He grins. “I no longer care. My only thoughts are of ending you. Of slitting that pretty throat and watching that lying mouth of yours gasp for air. You will cry for him, but it will not be for long.”
“Ember,” Rafferty pleas. “You need to go.”
“No,” I choke out. “I won’t leave you.”
“Please,” he whispers. He knows what I know. It’s over.
Tears stream down my cheeks. “I’m so sorry,” I say, though the weight of the words carries much more than an apology.
“Do not apologize, mate,” he tells me, and just the mention of that word from his perfect lips gives me a surge of hope. “For you have given me happiness unlike anything I’ve ever known.”
“Pathetic,” Taranus growls as he slices the blade across Rafferty’s throat. I scream as blood spills down his chest. Pumping my arms, I race toward him. But before I can reach him, before I can save him—the flames envelop us.
* * *
I shootup from the bed, lungs seizing as I gasp for air. I claw at my throat, chest burning. Every inch of my skin burns with the kiss of flames.
“Ember!”
Someone calls my name, but all I can see is Rafferty on his knees, covered in his own blood. “Rafferty,” I choke out. “I have to get to him.”
“Ember, it’s okay,” the masculine voice repeats. Hands gently press down on my shoulders, and I let them guide me back until I’m lying on my back. My vision blurry, I can only make out shapes as someone presses a cool cloth to my forehead.
I take a deep, steadying breath.
Then another.
It was a dream. Nothing but a nightmare. But my skin still burns, still sizzles, the pain steadily subsiding until all I’m left with is a slight sting and a broken heart. Lying back, I listen to the machines monitoring my decline. The steady beeps tell me that my heart rate has lowered even as it still threatens to beat from my chest.