Page 41 of Lies That Bleed
I gasped when an orange flame burst from each palm, coating his hands. He made no indication that it burned him, so I stood there in fascination as he grasped the golden ropes. His teeth clattered shut and he growled, his body convulsing.
“Kohen!” I rushed forward to try and help.
“Don’t touch me,” he groaned. His body shook and he snarled like an animal as he tore the net in two. The moment the net snapped, it turned black and then shriveled to ash in Kohen’s fingers.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
The flames died out on his palms and left nasty bubbled burns in their wake.
“I’m fine,” he muttered.
Taking him at his word, I rushed to Liana, scooping her up into my arms and holding her like I would a newborn baby. The moment our skin touched, the bond burst to life inside of me, connecting us fully. I could feel her heart beat within my very own.
‘Thank you, young one,’she told me.
With our mental link restored, I spoke back without moving my lips.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Put me in the moonlight. I was taken during my rebirth cycle and it needs to be complete.’
I stood, explaining to Kohen what needed to be done. He nodded, leading the way outside. By the time we got to the unconscious man near the front door, I peered down to see that Kohen’s hands were completely healed.
I raised one eyebrow at him but he said nothing.
Talanagi powers were said to be incomparable to other creatures’, sometimes giving their human multiple gifts. Fire… healing… it seemed Kohen had two. Maybe more.
We burst outside and I was relieved to see the two soldiers were still unconscious. Bending down, I lay Liana in the moonlight, then stood next to Kohen.
Almost immediately, a pearlescent glow engulfed her small form and she began to grow. Movement in the woods pulled my attention, and Kohen put out a hand to calm me. “It’s Onyx.”
I sighed, relieved. Onyx walked over to where Liana was growing, feathers sprouting from bare skin, and sat patiently with us. I was enraptured by the sight. Liana went from a two-day-old, bare-skinned bird, to a ten-foot-tall firebird with colored feathers and sharp talons in five minutes. When she was fully transformed, Onyx walked over and nestled her head with his.
‘Are you lovers?’I asked bluntly. There was nothing too personal to ask my creature. I felt fully open and comfortable with her.
She chuffed, laughing.‘He is more like a son to me. His mother died in The Wilds and I raised him.’
That was really sweet.
‘How did she die?’I asked, curious.
‘A rival dragon,’was all she said.
Yikes. It seemed in The Wilds they had the same issues as we had here.
‘Do you know who took you? Kohen said you thought they might be imperial soldiers?’
She glanced at the two men on the ground.‘I do not know for sure, but these two had some kind of Amersean accent.’
I nodded.‘Marble Shores.’She spent her whole life in The Wilds. She wouldn’t have known exactly where.
‘And they somehow knew they had to trap me before I completed my rebirth. They were trying to keep us apart so that we wouldn’t complete the bond. You are the first human in a thousand years to defeat the fire beast and survive.’She stood taller, proud.
Shock ripped through me.The fire beast? The thing I fought in the sky right before I awoke in the morgue?‘Others have tried?’
She chuckled.‘Many. More try to bond with a Talanagi than you think. It just doesn’t make it back to you since they all die or they are Luskin.’
She appraised Kohen then, looking him up and down as he stood patiently beside me.‘I like him,’she said randomly.
