The Wulver growled behind Cam. ‘Lindworms are peaceful unless provoked. Amelie was not stupid.’
Bryce shrugged. ‘We all make mistakes.’
For some reason that was the straw that broke everything for Cam. The carelessness of it. As if Bryce was disinterested about these people who had considered him a friend. As though their deaths meant nothing to him.
Bryce seemed to realise his mistake. He stepped forward, holding a palm out to Cam.
He was stopped by a spray of flames—they leapt from Cam’s fingers without thought, creating a barrier between them on the ground.
‘Who the fuck are you,’ Cam asked calmly, ‘and what happened to my parents?’
He directed the fire into a circle around Bryce, trapping him on the spot. The heat was rising in his core, dancing along his nerves but he didn’t care. He felt connected to the fire. It was raw and powerful, and he needed it right now.
Lachlan jumped up behind him with a gasp of alarm. ‘Cam, don’t—’
‘I’m good,’ Cam said evenly. He knew he could control it now, with Lachlan right beside him. He was strong enough to do this. ‘I just want some answers.’
Bryce rolled his eyes to the darkening sky and heaved a giant, heavy sigh. ‘You don’t want to make this mistake, lad. I can see you’re on the edge. You’ll end up just like yer mum if you don’t let this go.’
‘Because she didn’t let it go either, right?’ Cam’s voicesizzled. The air shimmered with rising heat, compounded by The Lucky Teapot’s expanding blaze behind him.
‘Oh, dear,’ Bryce said indifferently. He didn’t seem the slightest bit bothered by the fire. Wasn’t he worried Cam might lose control and kill them both? ‘For what it’s worth, I really didn’t wish you any harm. If anything, I hoped you’d live a long and prosperous life. You’re all I’ve got left, after all.’ Bryce’s gaze swung to Lachlan. ‘Unless you changed your mind and decided to father a new batch of Walkers in the near future. But I suspect that wasn’t on the cards, was it?’
Cam began to tremble. What the hell was Bryce rambling about? Was he upset that Cam was the last of the Walkers? Because… because if he really was Elspaith’s brother Bróccin, somehow unaged, immortal… then that would make them family, wouldn’t it? Revulsion churned in Cam’s belly. He didn’t want to be related to this liar.
Without any sign of pain, Bryce walked through the ring of fire encircling him. It didn’t leave a single mark. He smiled at Cam, and this time it was completely devoid of warmth. ‘I s’pose yer time’s up then, lad. I’ll take whatever’s going.’
A tremendous force hit Cam in the gut, punching the air out of him. He dropped to his knees with a shout. Suddenly his connection to the fire shifted—not like he’d lost control, but as though someone else had taken hold of the reins.
He stared up at Bryce in dawning horror. His heart thundered as the roasting heat skyrocketed under his flesh. Like fireworks going off inside his chest, exploding in his blood. He felt his Scorched arm set alight first and knew the rest of him wouldn’t be far behind. Orange flames reflected in Bryce’s cold eyes.
Someone was shouting desperately in his ears. He could barely hear anything. Lachlan dropped into view in front of him, cupping his face in both hands. ‘… Cam… places with me… listen… you have to… !’
Cam convulsed from the force of the fire surging up in his core. Lachlan hissed, jerking away from the flames consuming Cam’s right side. He grasped Cam by the hair, yanking him up again. His bright blue eyes, so fierce and desperate, gave Cam a point to focus on. Cam strived to hear what he was shouting. If nothing else, he wanted Lachlan’s voice to be the last thing he heard.
‘… Trade places with me… Say you’ll do it, Cam! Please… please, you have to say it… Take my place… please say it, Cam… I love you too much…’
Cam struggled to make his tongue work. His throat was dry, filled with smoke.
Get back,Cam wanted to tell him.I don’t want you to die with me.
But there was no way Lachlan was letting go. Their embracing, blackened corpses would be a grotesque monument to this last act of devotion. Unless Cam could focus. Could understand what Lachlan was asking…
Trade places with me.
As flames crawled up the side of his neck, Cam forced out the words.
‘I will,’ he croaked. ‘I’ll take your place. I swear it.’
A hush dropped over the hill like a blanket. Cam saw Lachlan’s eyes widen, his pale face going even whiter. The roar of the fire was sucked away from Cam’s ears, leaving his mind eerily silent for all of a second… before a new sound crept up on him. The rushing, tumbling crash of water. Theheavinessof it, as though a gigantic wave was closing over his head.
And then, in a chaotic burst of movement, his body was hurling across the ground. Cam slid painfully on his back down the side of the hill. Friction over soil and snow smothered the flames attached to him while an invisible force dragged him onwards and downwards at terrifying speed. He threw out his arms, leaving deep gouges from his fingers in the ground.
Cam knew he was screaming but didn’t recognise the sound. It was morphing, elongating. Gaining a rumbling, animal quality. And his body wouldn’t move the way he wanted it to, couldn’t grip for purchase against the tree trunks he was tearing past. He was being stretched, pulled out of shape like a piece of putty, feeling formless and helpless until his body crashed through thick ice and plummeted into the deep, cold waters of Loch Ness.
Chapter Eight
Lachlan felt abnormally numb. He knew he’d collapsed to the ground, and the sky was spinning overhead. The unexpected absence of weight left behind a peculiar sensation akin to floating. Was he floating? The cold seeping into his back told him no, he was still firmly in contact with the earth.
