𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃
Brynn Adala had lived in fear for so long. Keeping her secret hidden, buried far under the events of her past and the promise of her future. Until the job that might just get her killed brings it all back to...
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CHAPTER 8
That's Life
The smell of charred flesh was enough to bring back memories Brynn never wanted to remember. But the sight almost made her vomit. The Grishas' blackened, cracked skin was still smoldering, the wind enough to put out the fire that had killed them.
Brynn clapped her hand over her mouth and turned away. She could just barely hear an argument raging between Nina and Matthias, but she couldn't have cared less. That might have been me, all those years ago.
She was never going to escape her nature. Her burning, fiery nature. It was everywhere she looked, everywhere she smelled the burned flesh.
Then she heard it. A moan from one of the figures on the stakes.
Whirling around, Brynn searched for the sound. It came again from the body on the far right, burned beyond recognition. She couldn't even tell if the body was male or female. Brynn felt even more sick than before.
"Saints," breathed Jesper. "One of them is alive."
Sobs tearing through Nina's throat, she raised her hands, but she was shaking too badly. Tears fell from her eyes. "I... Please, someone..."
Brynn thought it would have to be her, but Jesper moved quicker than she did. He shot the figure twice in the head, then returned his regular pistols to their holsters. She felt grateful to him, but not everyone seemed as grateful as she.
As Kaz chastised him, Brynn couldn't stay there. The burned bodies were seared into her mind, right next to the bodies of her parents, the people in her village, and the drüskelle she'd murdered after healing the Zemeni boy. So much death, all because she couldn't control herself.
She needed to get away from everyone else.
Ignoring the shouts of her companions, Brynn lurched away from them in the thick snow, her arms held around herself. She wasn't even cold anymore. Her arms were barely a comfort, they only reminded her of Ma and Da.
She could leave anytime she wanted to. Kaz had no power over her, now. Everyone knew she was an Inferni. So why stay? The money? What could she possibly do with four million kruge? Nowhere was safe for her. In Fjerda, Grisha were hunted and killed. In the Wandering Isle, they were killed and their blood used for drinking. The Shu experimented on Grisha and Ravka would most definitely force her to fight in their war. Novyi Zem was the best option other than Kerch, but then what? What would she do there? Help people? Hide out for the rest of her life?
Brynn was wicked. Scary. Sometimes she didn't even need a spark to control a flame. It shouldn't have been possible. Yet here Brynn stood.
A sudden rumbling brought Brynn out of her own head. The ground shook beneath her and she realized that she never should have walked away. It was a stupid idea. She was being stupid.
