Page 43 of Ignite
Willow and Aster are beside her, watching my every move.
The healer from earlier—Mylah—pushes past everyone, a steaming mug in her hand. She passes it to me and nods to it.
“Drink,” she commands gently. “You’ve been out for over a day, and your body needs fluids. Food is next.”
I blink.Overa day?
She reaches out and pushes my hands and the mug up toward my mouth, urging me to drink. I put the rim to my lips, notes of floral and cinnamon filling my nose as I take a sip.
“Good,” she says with a pleased nod. “Don’t drink too fast. When you’re finished, I’ll bring the broth and meat over.”
I give her an appreciative smile as she shuffles away, taking a deeper sip this time.
“You passed out in the cave.” Aster explains what happened after I touched the carving of Nightfall. He tells me how Zephyr was thrashing outside, trying to squeeze herself into the cave. He told me how her roars echoed so loudly that they shook rock loose from the ceiling.
“We got you back here—though your wyvern nearly took anyone’s hand off that tried to get you away from her. She’s been waiting beneath the cottage since we brought you here.” Aster pauses and rubs the back of his neck. “We haven’t been able to wake you—it was like you were stuck in a sleeping state.”
I swallow, my pulse picking up as he explains what happened. I know that telling them what I saw—whoI saw—is the smart thing to do, but I hesitate. Havingthe blood of the godschanges things.
Changes how they might look at me.
I’m already the one Vidaris tricked to get into the temple. The girl who grew up in a magicless kingdom, not knowing about the fae or her own Essence. Adding another thing to the list of what makes me so different from everyone else…
It could change the way my friends look at me—the way Leda looks at me. I’ve already been a spectacle since arriving in Penyth, and this only heightens that. It makes me feel like I’man animal stuck in a glass cage, being watched as if I were the entertainment of a party.
But as I look to Calix—his honey eyes warm and soft—then to Leda, her usual fiery gaze filled with worry instead of the anger she wears like armor, my worries ease. Even though my friendships with Sidra, Orla, and Maddox were recently formed, their faces are filled with concern.
Lastly, I look to Brielle. The warrior who never backs down. A woman who brought herself to the brink of death trying to save all of us—fighting one of her oldest friends in the process.
Surrounded by these people, I feel…safe.
I take a deep breath and say, “I didn’t just pass out. My subconscious, my soul—whatever piece of me that left my body—was brought to another place.”
The strange stars in the sky appear in my mind. Maybe it wasn’t just another place, but anotherworld—a different plane of existence altogether.
“Another place?” Sidra questions.
I swallow and nod my head.
“And I wasn’t alone,” I whisper. “Nyx appeared to me with a message.”
Gasps ripple through the room for the second time since I’ve woken up.
My fleet, along with Leda, Willow, and Aster, watches me with rapt attention as I quickly tell them what Nyx told me. Leda’s eyes blaze as the story rushes out of me, Calix watches with his mouth slightly agape, and Brielle pushes herself slightly off the wall with her arms crossed and mouth pinched.
When I finish, they all stare at me, processing.
“So, he thinks you’re the only one that can wield Nightfall.” Leda speaks up first, her sharp cheekbones on full display with her hair pulled back. “And that you have the blood of the gods?”
I nod my head, and Leda begins to pace, head shaking.
“But Daimon and Evelina are fae,” Brielle says, her voicesounding stronger than it did when I last saw her. “Evelina comes from a long line of Manors.”
Willow and Aster spin to her, and Brielle’s eyes widen, realizing what she said. Her gaze swings to me, an apology swimming in it. Nausea fills my stomach as the two warriors slowly turn their attention to me.
Well, better late than never.
“Daimon is…” Aster blinks, and Willow brings her hand to her mouth.
