Crown of One Hundred Kings (Nine Kingdoms Trilogy #1) - Rachel Higginson Page 0,39

half his size. But he had no choice. If he didn’t rescue her, she would die. And I refused to let this little boy be orphaned.

I refused.

Scooping him up into my arms, I swayed from his weight. As slight and fragile as he looked, he weighed heavily in my arms.

“All right?” Eret huffed with the woman slung over his shoulder.

“Fine,” I lied. I nodded for him to lead the way.

We rushed from the room and raced through the village. As we moved, the air cleared and the heat receded.

The fire was being contained, even if it had not yet been extinguished.

At last we reached a lift that would take us to solid ground. Eret held my arm as we stepped onto it, joining soot smeared villagers and victim-laden soldiers.

The platform swayed beneath our weight, but the ropes held strong. I leaned against Eret, thankful for his steadiness.

As soon as the platform landed on the forest floor, we jumped off, following soldiers even further from the village. The air continued to clear and I could at last take a deep breath.

Even if it hurt.

Down the road, a medic station had been set up. Oliver stood next to four of Arrick’s soldiers tending to the worst of the wounded while other villagers waited their turn.

Eret laid the woman on the ground, examining her. When he was satisfied she would live, he took the little boy from my arms and did the same.

“They’ll be fine,” he informed me gruffly. “They had too much of the smoke, but when they awake, they’ll be all right.”

I nodded. It was all the strength I had left.

He led me to the nearest well. Dipping a cup into cool water, he handed it over. I drank greedily. Water splashed over my dirty dress, smearing ash and soot on my skin.

When I finished, Eret handed me another cupful. I paused long enough to nod gratefully before using the drink to quench the fire inside me.

“You ready to do that again?” he asked when I had drunk my fill.

I set the cup down, wiping the back of my mouth on my sleeve. Holding his gaze, I saw the challenge there. “Yes,” I told him.

“Let’s go.”

He turned and raced for the platform that would send us to the top again. I followed him, catching Arrick’s eye as he stepped off, his arms full of a bloodied woman I wasn’t sure was alive or dead.

He held my gaze. I passed him, never dropping his stare. Our shoulders brushed against each other, sending a spiral of tingles through me.

As I stepped onto the platform, I was forced to look away from Arrick. When I turned back his attention was fixed on the medic station and the woman he held.

I shook off the buzzing sensations still rushing through me, convincing myself that I had imagined our interaction. And that if I hadn’t, it was pointless to dwell on my feelings anyway.

Eret barked out instructions for when we reached the top. I focused on the mission ahead. I let the task overwhelm me until I became something more than I was, until I became the thing that this village needed the most.

I stayed that way well into the night, until the last fire had been extinguished and the last villager had been accounted for, dead or alive.

When a raven cawed overhead, I wasn’t even surprised.

There was something amiss in my realm—something dark and poisonous and destructive.

12

Dawn broke, lighting the smoky, sleepy world with a different kind of fire than the one we had fought yesterday.

I lifted my tired eyes from the woman I was tending to admire the pinks and oranges that shone through the ravaged limbs overhead.

I rubbed a hand over my sore right arm and took a shaking breath. My lungs hadn’t recovered from the smoke yet, nor had my throat felt anything but parched and aching.

Still, I was proud of the work we’d done, of the villagers we’d saved. Even if the village itself had gone up in flames.

Looking down at the woman once more, I lifted a cup of water to her bloodied lips. “Here,” I coaxed. “Drink. Slowly, now.”

Her trembling hands took the cup from me and lifted it to her mouth. She sipped carefully. Meanwhile I smoothed singed hair out of her face and checked her over for worse wounds than fatigue, smoke inhalation, and minor burns. She had none.

I left the water with her and moved to my next patient. The villagers had been rescued and deposited out