Fire and Bone (Otherborn #1)(118)

A storm that can’t go anywhere.

Except . . . something tickles behind my eyes. And I smell sulfur. It’s not fire; it’s not the same as my other energy. It’s dark and horrible.

“Thank you, lover,” she whispers to Faelan. Then she moves away and turns to me, the bowl of Faelan’s blood cupped in her palm. There’s blood all over her hands and arms too. She looks like a crazy Serial Killer Barbie. “I was going to do this once Mara put you under,” she says to me, “but now you’ll have to be wide awake.”

From behind her, Faelan gasps for air. But I can’t take my eyes off her bloody hands. Faelan’s blood. Rage scrapes inside my skull. I want to rip her heart from her chest.

She raises the knife and puts the blade to my neck, just under the torque; it’s still warm. Her green eyes lock on mine. “And it really, really hurts to get a protector bond torn out.” Satisfaction fills her gaze as she looks into me. But then something catches her eye, and she focuses on my hands.

She cringes. “What . . . is that?”

Ben goes still, looking at me. “That’s not right.”

I turn to try and see what they’re looking at and spot threads of black smoke leaking from my fingertips. What the hell?

“That’s not supposed to happen,” Ben says. “She’s a fire demi.”

“Get this thing off me,” I growl.

They both jerk back like the sound of my voice physically hit them.

“Her eyes,” Astrid whispers. “They’re gold.”

Ben just shakes his head, seemingly terrified by something in my gaze. “We should hurry and bleed her.”

Astrid steps back in front of me, pressing the blade to my throat again.

I stare at her stupid flawless face and snarl, “I’m going to ki—”

She swipes the blade. Pressure fills my head, my eyes widening, my throat closing.

My heartbeat thunders. I can’t hear Faelan’s labored breathing anymore. All I hear is my hammering pulse and a raven crying in the distance. Everything else is going dim. I barely feel the cut, the loss of blood. Pain doesn’t exist.

My mind goes still, and a buzz starts in my hands. The stirring behind my eyes prickles again, more determined. The blood running over my shoulder, sliding down my chest, it doesn’t feel right. It isn’t warm.

It’s cold.

Astrid is standing several feet away now. She’s watching me with terror on her face.

“Take . . . it . . . off,” I choke out, straining at my bonds.

“How is this happening?” Ben asks, his voice quivering.

“She’s manifesting like a Morrígan,” Astrid says. “But her eyes . . .”

“She’s an abomination.” Ben steps closer, pulling out a large dagger. “We need to get her head off.”

“Don’t touch her!” Astrid rushes forward, reaching out to stop him.

But it’s too late. He grips my hair, tipping my head a little, readying the blade to cut.

And the black smoke seeping from my hands slides in his direction, curling around his neck in quick threads.

He stiffens, the knife falling from his fist. His mouth opens in a silent scream, eyes widening as ice crawls across his gaping face, spreading from where the smoke touches, the crystals growing, clouding his wide eyes. The buzzing in my hands radiates into my arms, my chest, shaking my bones as red mist drifts from Ben’s mouth into the air, on a hiss of breath.

The body crumples in on itself, wilting like a dying flower, collapsing to the forest floor with a crackle of frozen flesh. I stare down at his broken body, feeling nothing.

The torque that he locked around my neck strains, then snaps with a loud clink.

Instantly the chill in my blood sinks away, the strange dark threads of energy dissipating.

My skin warms, then heats, the torn flesh on my neck shifting and tightening. Healing. The familiar pulse of my power fills my chest, then spills out, coating my skin. Fire flickers at my fingertips. The yellow and orange flames move over my torso, down my arms, snapping at the air with a steady hiss, turning the vines holding me to ash. As I step free, the fire slinks over the ground to Ben, and crawls up his legs, the dead body of the shade becoming a blaze.

Astrid is shaking her head in disbelief, backing away.

I barely believe it myself.

Something moves in the shadows beside her. A raven.

“Danu, save us,” Astrid whispers. And then she turns in a rush, grabbing her bow and running toward the trees. Running right into Kieran. His shoulders still seep black smoke from his transformation.

He grabs her by the neck before she can get past him. “Leaving so soon?”

“She’s an abomination!” Astrid gasps. “She broke the torque, manifested—there was smoke, black veins. She has Princess Lily’s eyes!”

“I know,” he says, like she’s dense. And then he drags her back to stand in front of me, gripping her neck.

I struggle to focus myself, trying to calm my nerves, trying to pull the fire back. It settles and sinks into my skin again, but the heat keeps swirling with my anger. “Where have you been?” I demand. “If you hadn’t noticed, we could’ve used help.”

“I’ve been watching,” he says. He admires me for a second, like he’s enjoying all of this. “I’ve been in the trees, my love, waiting for my moment. You’re doing a brilliant job, by the way.” He turns back to Astrid and says, “Now, explain to the princess why you’re attempting to destroy her.”