J A N E
Life really does move slowly when shit gets real.
I’m not even sure what possessed me to do this, other than an instinct from all the bar fights and getting in the way of Kathleen if someone threatened her; I could always heal what’s thrown at me.
That’s what I told myself.
A scream tears from the depths of my chest in pure shock. I’ve seen boiled skin before, and even if one recovers… it’s a debilitating injury that haunts someone to the grave.
Shit—fuck. Heal yourself! Now!What do I tend first? What if my hands are too injured? Are they?—
I don’t even have time to process as a fight breaks out; my body coils with white-hot fear. Pain flares at my scalp as I’m quickly pulled down by my hair—which hurts more than my skin—and someone throws a blade so close to my head it might have sheared a few hairs off. Shade barks out furious shouts, something about ‘ruining my skin,’ but I—I can’t feel a thing, except for the cold rain as it hits my face when I’m half-dragged, half-shoved outside through the back door that slams open. Once I’m fully in the street, another shuts the door to lock the rest inside, smacking a bar down to barricade it.
Math. Add. How many outside? Two of them… three are inside with Soren…
I’m trying to maintain balance on my feet to alleviate the searing pain at my roots, but frequently tumble as my feet struggle to keep up with the pace. The sound of a gnarly fight continues in the apothecary, thuds echoing through the wall. Glass shatters, followed by a war cry cut short, and then the sharp clang of metal on metal.
A body even smashes through the window, the man’s throat slit as his head looks half-decapitated.
Not Soren.Please don’t be Soren.
The burning pain ceases from my scalp as my hair is released.I’m then weightless as Shade picks me up from underneath my shoulders, walking backward. Another man secures my legs around his waist, facing forward.
What of the burns?
I try my best to examine the back of Caraham’s, my face flinching as the wooden bar splits open all over the street, thedoor nearly bursting off its hinges as Soren lunges out of it with heavy panting, his large sword in hand, his eyes locking with mine before I lose him around a corner.
“Oh fuck, he killed Benny, Jack, and Alex! You said he was injured! I told you we shouldn’t do this!” The man who holds my legs yells.
“I bet she fucking healed him,” Shade replies.“We need to throw her in that wagon right behind me!”
I look up, still dazed, still dreading to experience the pain from the boiling water, concerned about moving too much in case there’s fragile skin.
No pain.
I can even see the raindrops right before they fall on my face, as if there’s nothing in the world to distract me.I should be barely able to breathe.
“She isn’t burned,” the other one remarks.
“Good—I’ll get her in, and you hold her down in the back. We’ll ride to the Spiraling Stone. We’ll make it work.”
I stare at the belt of the one that holds my thighs, breathing slowly as the options run through my mind.Soren has men watching, but can I do anything?
“Are there others, Shade?”
“It’s just us,” Shade confesses, his grip under my arms already digging too deeply into my skin, the pain making me wince. “I didn’t want to wait. He was injured, like we needed him. He wasn’t—just hurry the fuck up!”
The thin street clears out, people scattering like clockwork to avoid getting caught up in whatever the hells these men are doing with me; it’s instinctual to duck low and keep out of the way?—
Without warning, the manstops. Shade’s momentum keeps my body moving as I slide out of the other man’s grip, who falls to his knees.
Oh, fuck.
That asshole’s head is sliced clean off.
Shade releases me, pivoting to grip my wrist and then my throat—my airway is immediately constricted, and my wrist fuckinghurts.
When our eyes meet, Shade’s intense, rage-filled eyes morph like a skin shifter’s if they could shift emotions; fearconsumeshim.He looks at my jaw, or the side of it? I’m not sure, but he lets go and justtakes off, pushing over a cart of goods behind him as the contents spill out, probably the same one he planned to chuck me in.
