Blue Flames

Chapter 77

There was something cathartic about seeing Rami's limbless body.

A massive pole was erected in the courtyard, chained to it was Rami. He was almost unrecognizable. Both his arms and legs were gone, all that was left of him was a stump of a body. Bloodied, shredded, half dead and one eyed.

Arthur's doing, as I'd been told.

Except the eye. The eye was my doing.

It was difficult to make out the witch's expression from my window, especially since I, too, only had one eye left. Karma? I'd like to think not.

The arrow had taken my eye. The physician reassured me that it would grow back in a few years. Arthur said it would only take me a year, at most. I decided to believe Arthur. He had been alive more than the physician, and he knew me in ways the physician didn't.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Arthur asked, standing next to me, his side pressed to mine.

The clouded sky cast the world in dull shades of gray. Even then, Arthur's dark eyes shone when they landed on Rami. He still wasn't satisfied with the witch's fate. He would probably torture him some more before the High Council convened for an extraordinary session.

Oddly, I was fine with it. Rami deserved Arthur's wrath. Rami had used me as leverage to get Arthur to call his siblings, in order to create enough blood flow for the spell.

The loss of life had been catastrophic, from our side and theirs. Those who were left alive bore proof of the vicious fight. The infirmary of the castle was full, and more tents were erected outside as a makeshift field infirmary to treat less dangerous wounds.

I leaned into Arthur's side. His right arm was missing.

Arthur, my father, Burak and Venus had all lost their arms in their attempt to close the gate. Apparently, the flow of magic had been too strong, and their attempts to shove it back resulted in their arms being caught in the vicious current.

But he was still alive. My father was still alive. Irene, Charles were alive. Marianno- who'd stayed behind to guard the Seer and Madeleine Byrne, much to his chagrin- was still alive.

Noah was also alive, although he looked like a pale version of his former self. His body had lost more than half its weight, and he had sported more than a dozen deadly injuries.

I hadn't visited him yet. It was only one hour ago that I woke up from my long nap to find Arthur brooding beside my bed. Apparently, I'd been asleep for twenty four hours.

Seeing my reflection in the window, I wondered how I was even still alive. My right eye was gone, the skin around it was scarred when I checked beneath the bandage. Several lacerations crisscrossed my face. A burn scar covered my cheek and ear, the hair on that side of my head was gone.

All in all, I was burned, cut, half bald and half blind. Not to forget pale as a ghost and painfully thin. My bones stuck out against the skin.

"Just thinking how delightful I look right now," I told Arthur. "You should stash me away somewhere before the modeling agencies start fighting over me."

He moved behind me and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me to him. "You are delightful. You survived. You fought and you lived."

He meant every word. He buried his face in my hair and took a deep breath. He was still hanging by a thread. The silver had drained out of my system and our bond was sensitive to his every emotion, no matter how much he held back.

The darkness was also there. Hovering, threatening. It would uncoil and swallow everything in its path over the slightest provocation.

I put my hand on his and squeezed. We both survived. Everything else could be fixed.