A Savior of Flames

Chapter 15

Finally, his hand shakes and he drops my dagger to the ground beside him, his blood slick along the blade. I stand there waiting though, as he has yet to pull back his flames. I'm still covered in them. I'm refraining from screaming at him to drop them, but the thing keeping me silent is that I'm not burning. Fire should burn. And I think he's as surprised as me, by the struck look on his face. The longer we just stare at each other though, my anger grows, that bubble in my stomach growing and aching to burst. I feel the current under my skin and some rational part of me cowers. I look down, seeing the sparks mingling with Rowan's fire. He was the only person who touched me when they danced along my fingers. I hadn't dared let another person try, I wouldn't hurt anyone. But it's like the sparks rise up to meet him now. And the more angry I get watching them, the fiercer they grow. My knees grow weak and I fall to the ground, gasping for air. I scream as I feel a surge of the sparks, and I watch in horror as the lighting cracks from my skin again.

With every surge, I scream. This is worse, so much worse than last time. Last time, lightning had cracked from everywhere on my body, hundreds of strikes all at once and I had passed out, but now, a few come at a time and I feel the same pain with each one. But something is keeping me awake, keeping me from falling over. I throw my head back and scream with another surge, and when I lower my head, I lock eyes with Rowan. He's scared. But he's throwing his fire at me, his face set in that mask of terrified determination. Now that I notice it, there's a cage of fire around me, a perfect sphere. Inside the perimeter, where the lightning has struck the grass, it's singed and black, but Rowan's fire is containing me, keeping me from hurting anyone other than myself. The strikes are slowing, and the pain receding. Rowan is closing the fire in around me now. I feel the last surge go through me, and I fall to the ground. I wrap my hands around my knees, pulling them to my chest as I shake. Everything hurts, and I hiss in pain as I touch my legs.

The cage of fire around me dissolves, and I feel cool air kiss my skin as the heat from the fire leaves. But even breathing hurts, and there's a slight ring in my ears. I feel a person near me, and the smell alone tells me who it is. Embers and flame. My Dragon, but he doesn't touch me. Another scent hits my nose, citrus. Rohanna. I feel others, but I can't pick out any other scents, or don't care enough to try. But no one touches me, they must be scared to. My eyes are shut and I don't have the energy to open them. I feel Rowan's breath light on my ear as he speaks to me.

"Erista. Your skin is severely damaged from the lightning. Rohanna needs to heal you, but when we touch you it could hurt. Can you open your eyes darling?" I can't even summon the energy to speak or move my head. All I can do is speak into his mind, damn if it doesn't make sense to the others. Hurt me if you must, there's nothing left for me. And for the first time ever, his voice rings clearly back into my head, sweet and soft. I am here, and you are going to fight for me, my Princess. I gasp in a painful breath, and open my eyes. I find his golden ones staring back at me, swimming in tears. I blink a couple times to clear some tears from my eyes, but he nods to the person across from him. Multiple pairs of gentle hands grab my limbs, untangling me and moving me to my back. I let out a strangled scream and search for Rowan's hand. His fingers curl around mine, and I crush his fingers. I feel Rohanna's hands rest on my stomach and I let out a sob. Her hands warm but the pain doesn't recede. She swears under her breath.

"Rowan there is too much damage, it's not just her skin, and I don't have enough power. The best thing I can do is knock her out for now." Rowan mutters a plea to some Gods, Gods I don't think anyone prays to anymore. "I don't understand, I was able to heal her last time." Rowan swears, anger in his voice he rarely shows.

"This has happened before?" He's nearly seething, and something in me breaks like a damn. He's just as protective as ever.

"Yes, once. The night she-" Rohanna stops, I don't think she wants to finish that sentence. "But it wasn't nearly this bad. I was able to heal her while she was passed out." I feel a surge of panic at passing out, even though it would stop the pain. I don't want to pass out with the possibility of not waking up. The rational part of me knows I'm immortal in some sense, but I can't help but feel like something is wrong because Rohanna can't heal me. Another pair of hands touch my legs, and they're warm, but I hear Lyss swear softly.