A light in the flame

“Keep that dagger close,” Saion advised, his eyes on the Rise as he moved to brace Aios’s head. “Ash is getting the dakkais riled up.” His gaze flicked over me. “As are you. The dakkais. Remember, they don’t just trace the essence,” he said, “they devour it.”

I placed my hands over Aios’s damaged chest as I snarled, “Fuck the dakkais.”

Saion let out a short laugh. “I like you,” he said, shaking his head as his gaze returned to the Rise. “You know that? I really do.”

The essence flared from my palms. “I like you, too.”

I looked down at Aios, not seeing or hearing Saion’s response as I cha

Shouts ramped up from the Rise, as did the howls and growls.

The glow beneath Aios’s flesh expanded and rose, spreading beyond her body. Beneath my knees, the ground began to tremble.

“Here it comes,” Saion warned.

The eather pulsed and then exploded in a blast of pure power, causing both Saion and me to scoot back on our knees. I lost my hold on Aios as the wave rippled out from the courtyard and moved beyond the Rise—beyond the Shadowlands. A brighter, more distinct bolt of lightning streaked across the sky.

Then it stopped. The wind. The shaking.

I scrambled back to Aios’s side, peeling back the torn collar of her gown. A thick pink line encircled her throat. The skin was bruised over her heart but healed.

Her chest rose with a deep, singular breath.

“Aios,” Saion gasped.

Her eyes fluttered open— silver and bright. “Saion? I…” Her throat worked on a swallow, and her head jerked so quickly toward me that I winced. “Sera.”

Hands shaking, I smiled weakly. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she whispered.

Screams rippled through the air, sending a bolt of fear through me. We needed to get Aios out of here. The sleep that came after what I’d just done didn’t seem like something anyone had any control over. Saion twisted toward the Rise, his jaw hardening.

Aios struggled to sit up as Davon fell from the sky like a sack of boulders, slamming into the ground but righting himself quickly. “W-what is…?”

I caught her by the shoulders. “You need to get inside. Hide.”

“But—”

“Now.”

Saion twisted. “Kars?”

A guard stopped at the foot of the Rise and changed direction, heading for us. His steps slowed, eyes widening.

“Get Aios inside. Now.”

Blinking, he shook his head. “On it.”

I rose as the god helped Aios to her feet and then lifted her to his chest, turning to… “Help me get Ector down.”

“Sera—”

“I can try.” I went to Ector’s ankles. “I have to try. Just like he did.” My throat burned. “Just like he has.”

“Yeah. Okay. We’ll get him down, and I’ll get his…”

I flinched, but we did it quickly, laying Ector out so that he almost appeared whole. Briefly meeting Saion’s stricken gaze, I summoned the eather—

“They’re coming over,” Rhain shouted from the Rise. “Get back. Everyone get back!”

Screams shattered the air, and the embers flared and pulsed, over and over as I reached to place my palms on Ector’s still chest.

“Fuck.” Saion rocked back. “The dakkais are over the wall.”

“Keep them back,” I ordered, breathing in deeply.

The scraping of claws over stone overpowered the sound of my pounding heart. The essence flared, deep and powerful, and my vision turned white—pure white—for a second as the eather swelled—

“Stop. Stop!” yelled Saion as the eather rippled out from my palms, splashing against Ector’s chest. “It’s drawing them to you. Stop!”

All I needed was a few more seconds. That was all. I could bring Ector back—

Saion grabbed me by the waist, hauling me back.

“No!” My eyes went wide as the essence flickered over Ector and faded. “Let me go!”

“There’s no time.” Saion pulled me back as muscled bodies slick like midnight oil charged the courtyard, jaws snapping and claws digging into soil. Their snarls fell upon me like daggers.

I struggled against Saion. “I can bring him back. I just need—”

“No.” Saion twisted, shoving me back several feet. His eyes flashed with essence as my boots slid on the blood. “You do that, and they’ll swamp you. You’ll die.”

I was going to die anyway.

I started toward Ector as arrows pounded into the courtyard, striking the dakkais.

But I…I couldn’t die yet. Because the embers were important. More so than Ector. Than me.

And I knew that.

Gods.

I knew that.

And I hated that I did.

Saion shouted, twisting as he drew the swords from the sheaths at his back and side. A dakkai launched at him, and another veered past him. I screamed in fury and anguish as I bent quickly, swiping up a fallen shadowstone sword instead of going for my dagger.

Spi

A dakkai veered past Saion, past the guards now in the courtyard. Then another. And another. I whirled, horror knocking the wind out of me as they went for the power—the eather.

Ector.

“No!” I screamed, launching across the slippery ground and driving the sword into the dakkais, into any part of them I could as they swarmed Ector’s body in a nightmare of claws and teeth. I lost all sense of skill. I simply hacked away at the beasts.

Saion was there. Then Rhain. Another guard—a god—used eather, firing at the dakkais, but it only drew more, and they kept coming, crowding the pikes. They kept coming, even as we struck them down, their mouths and claws coated with shimmery reddish-blue blood.

The embers inside me throbbed wildly. Pained-filled shouts filled the courtyard and the Rise as Rhain kicked a fallen dakkai aside, off to where Ector had been laid out—

The god staggered back from…from what was left behind. He turned, vomiting. The sword slipped from my fingers. A mess. That was all that remained of Ector. A mess. My hand shook. I shuddered, and deep within the cavern inside me, the essence of the Primal of Life roared. My skin hummed. A metallic taste coated the inside of my mouth as dull pain lanced my jaw. A whirling motion swept through me as my lips parted.

A scream of rage, of ruin tore from me as the corners of my vision turned white—pure white.

All across the courtyard, the dakkais reared, jerking their heads toward me. And the power inside me built and swelled until nothing could hold it back.

I didn’t even try as the other sword shattered in my hand. A pulse of power rolled out from me, leaving me dizzy as it swept into a wave of dakkais, knocking them away from Saion and Rhain and into the air, where they simply vanished.

Were obliterated.

A bone-deep exhaustion sank in, the kind I’d never felt before as the wave of power retracted. I stumbled a step forward, panting. Something warm and wet dripped from my nose, hitting my arm. Blood. My blood. I looked down and saw the silvery sheen fade from my hands as a swarm of dakkais crested the wall.

I heard my name being called, heard calls for retreat, but the voices were dull as Rhain ran for me. He grabbed my arm, my waist, but I couldn’t feel his touch. I didn’t feel co

And then coming back in.

“Sera!” Rhain shouted, his voice loud enough to cause me to wince. “Are you all right?”

“I-I don’t know.” Sensation returned to my body as Rhain turned my head to his. Some strength filled me, but not a lot. I swallowed the blood that had gathered in my mouth. “I think so.”