A Kiss of Fire (A Kiss of Magic #2)(72)

“No!” Sin cried out.

He blew a fireball into the man’s head, hearing him scream as his hair caught fire and his skin began to melt and crisp from his face. Sin struggled to get to his feet, but then there were soft, warm hands pushing him back down to the ground.

Her hands.

She was alive! And uninjured. The gun’s sights must have been off, he realized with relief. He wished he could say the same for the gun that had fired at him.

“Protect yourself!” He gasped as pain burned through his chest with every word, every indrawn breath.

“There is no one left to be protected from,” she assured him, coming to take his head in her lap and soothing him with hushing whispers. “Let me see your wound.”

She burrowed past the layer of his clothes until she had exposed his chest to the frigid air. That was when he realized that, as she leaned over him, her skin too was completely bare. She was naked in the freezing cold, her clothes having been burned away by her self-immolation. He reached for the tie of his cloak, unfastened it, then struggled to try and sit up and give her the protective fabric. Her majic ability would keep her from freezing to death, but it wouldn’t protect her from the eyes of others. And there was only so long she could keep up the act of warming herself before she grew weary. How long that was only she knew, and he wasn’t of a mind to find out for himself.

“Take my cloak,” he commanded between staccato breaths. He groaned as every little movement burned through his chest.

“Stay still!” she cried. “Oh my God I can…I can feel the bullet!”

She was right, he realized as he looked down at his chest. The ball of the bullet was beneath his skin and resting against his breastbone. It had not penetrated his chest wall or entered his lungs. But the pain was still excruciating, so it was clear something had been injured inside of him.

“We need a horse,” he croaked.

“Well, they’ve all gone. Fire and horses don’t mix well,” she pointed out needlessly.

“Then we have to walk.” He struggled as if to get to his feet, but she easily pushed him back down onto his back.

“No. You stay here. I will find one of the horses.”

“Take my cloak,” he demanded of her.

She did so, but he was almost certain she did it to comfort him, rather than to protect herself. That was when he realized she was furious. Her normally serene amber eyes snapping with fire and temper. Was she angry with him? He had left the house unarmed, thinking he was more than enough firepower if anything should happen. But he had to admit he hadn’t been thinking about coming across human created trouble. He had been more concerned with wild animals. He should have known better. There were many scavenging Kiltians since the war had been won. The thing was, none of them would normally dare to approach him or the blossoming Temple City. It tended to be too civilized for men living off the land and off of others. Such men preferred to bully in small groups, to intimidate lone travelers, rather than go somewhere where they might possibly be outnumbered and brought to justice.

They had come out far from the civilization of the town and he had exposed them to danger. He had been so preoccupied with her that he had ignored their safety. Was that why she was angry?

“I’m sorry,” he said bitterly. “I should have protected you better.”

“I am more than capable of protecting myself!” she snapped sharply. “You should never have provoked him into shooting you!”

“They were going to hurt you!”

“Only in their dreams,” she huffed. “No one touches me without my consent. I should think you of all people would know that.”

He looked at her with surprise as he realized her temper had turned to teasing him. Then she sighed and bent to kiss his chilled lips.

“Let me find a horse. You’re getting cold and I don’t know how able you are at warming yourself when you are in this much pain.”

She was right. It was hard to concentrate on warming himself, and doing so while injured was going to take a great deal of energy out of him. Energy an injured body could not afford to lose.

She got to her feet and he lay back on the cold ground. He heard her footsteps leaving him and closed his eyes against the rapidly falling snow.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when she was suddenly by his side again, lightly slapping his face to wake him. He was frozen through, his loss of consciousness keeping him from warming himself. He tried to focus to warm himself, but she was there, laying her hands on him, thawing him with the touch of her hands. Her palms and fingers stroked over his entire body as she warmed him. The only good thing about nearly freezing was the numbness that had accompanied it. Now that he was thawing his teeth were chattering and his whole body hurt with every shiver.

“I’ve gotten our horse,” she said, lifting his head so he could see his horse over her shoulder. “He didn’t go far.”

“I was afraid in his fear he would have headed back for the safety of the stables. I didn’t think you would find him.”

“Well I did, and he’s here. Let’s get you in the saddle.”

It was easier said than done. He could barely move from the excruciating pain in the center of his chest. Mounting his horse took their combined effort and even so he almost overshot the mark and tumbled off on the opposite side. But by some miracle he kept his seat and Ariana mounted in front of him.