Before She Ignites (Fallen Isles Trilogy #1)(106)

“Did you just make a joke?”

He lifted a shoulder, still with that smile. ::Really, I will not tell a soul if you do not want.::

“Thank you, Aaru.”

His smile faded. A shame, because he had a nice smile. ::Can you stand?::

My legs trembled, but I got to my feet, again taking in the destruction of the first level. The noorestones themselves were all gone—there was only the dust floating through the air. It probably wasn’t safe to breathe. “Let’s go. I need to make sure the others escaped before I . . .”

Exploded. Or didn’t explode, if Aaru had stopped it.

“Thank you,” I said. “For staying with me. For helping.”

He touched my shoulder—the one Altan had bashed earlier. It didn’t hurt anymore, though, like the pain had been burned away in the noorestone blaze. ::I didn’t know if I could. I knew only that I had to try.::

I wanted to ask why—was it for the sake of everyone, or for me?—but I couldn’t make the words come. Not when I wanted him to say he’d stayed behind because he wouldn’t leave me. I knew better than that.

But there was a moment. Two moments. He looked at me like he was waiting for something, too.

Maybe he was waiting for me.

I closed the space between us so we were toe-to-toe, and when he took my hand and pressed my palm to his chest, I counted racing heartbeats.

Cautiously, as though he wasn’t sure whether he should, he brushed my hair off my forehead. Then nothing. Utter stillness. His fingertips lingered on my temple, and I looked up to read the confusion and concern on his face.

On Idris, being this close, our hands on faces and chests—it was too intimate for the unmarried. And on Damina, no one would think twice about two people—especially people who’d been through what we had—finding comfort in physical contact.

So we stood there as the noorestone dust began to settle, indecision holding us in place. Wanting. Hoping. Too afraid to move because what would the other think?

A glance shattered everything. Aaru’s gaze darted to my cheek, and his expression turned thoughtful.

Because it had healed? My shoulder had, so why not my face?

Hope building in my chest, I pressed trembling fingers against my cheek.

The cut was healed, but the evidence was not gone.

In its place was a scar the length of four fingertips, slightly puckered in the center. It felt old, but Elbena had cut me only a decan ago.

Of course Aaru had noticed it. It was huge. It was hideous. He’d seen me before, not when I was pretty, but before I’d been damaged, and he knew the difference between the real Mira and this cut-up echo. I ducked my face and turned away from him.

::Mira?:: he tapped on my shoulder. ::Are—::

“Let’s go.” My voice broke only a little, but the knot of anxiety gathered in my chest again, a dim background pain I’d long ago learned to ignore.

Without another word, I led him from our cellblock.

To freedom.

THE HEART OF the Great Warrior was in terrible shape.

Once-high walls had crumbled. Fallen banners shrouded statues. Entire rooms had caved in. From the tremors? From me?

It was gone, though, and I had no idea how many warriors and servants had survived—if any had, or if I was responsible for innumerable deaths.

Aaru and I headed for the dragon exit. The giant doors hung open like a slack jaw, and inside we crossed a space that had once been resplendent, but was now a rubble-filled memory.

This far from the first level, a few noorestones had survived. I took a pair to light our way and hoped it would be enough. Aaru, for his part, did not touch the crystals. Didn’t speak. Didn’t tap. Seemed somewhat unwilling to look at me.

Of course. He couldn’t unsee that scar.

We wandered the dragon area for a while, searching for the exit, before Aaru held up a hand for me to listen.

“No one’s in there.” That was Ilina’s voice, cracked from weeping. “They’re both dead.”

“I have to look anyway.” Hristo. I’d know the timbre of his rumble anywhere. “I have to see her with my own eyes before I believe it.”

“You saw her start to burn up. Looking now will just hurt more. If there’s anything of her left. For Damina’s sake, do you want to see her charred corpse?” Her voice choked with tears, but I knew she wouldn’t cry now, even in front of Hristo. Ilina always tried to save her tears for when the two of us were alone.

“Then we’ll take her back home where she belongs. She shouldn’t be left here.”

It was so good to hear their voices that I almost didn’t move, but after one moment’s hesitation, I glanced back at Aaru and said, “Come on!” Then I took off running. “Ilina! Hristo!”

Ten strides. Twenty. I careened around the corner and crashed into them, but Hristo caught me in his arms and squeezed. Ilina threw herself in with us so that we were all hugging each other so tightly I couldn’t breathe. But I didn’t care. My friends were here. And even if Ilina—understandably—assumed I was dead, she’d come with Hristo to find me. They would never abandon me, not even in death.

“You’re alive!” Ilina pulled back. “What happened? The last time we saw you—”

“I don’t know.” I didn’t want to talk about exploding, or the way the noorestones reacted to me, or anything relating to our escape. I just wanted to get out of here. “I don’t know what happened or how I came out of it. When I woke up, the noorestones had all exploded into powder—”