Wildfire and Stars Eternal

Chapter 9: The Broken and Burned

Aelin didn't have time to move. And even if she had, she wouldn't have been able to. Not with her body still in the Cauldron's grasp.

But as that Moon-fire sword came screaming down, aimed straight for her beating heart, something happened. 

The blade stopped. Not even an inch away from her skin, it just... stopped. 

Deanna snarled, her arms straining as they tried to force the killing blow down. "What trickery is this?" 

Aelin suddenly gasped as feeling rushed back into her body. Every single hair on her arms rose at the same time. Aelin glanced at the Cauldron, then at Deanna. 

One single hiss emitted from the Cauldron. That was all the command Aelin needed. She rolled away from the strange contraption, hurtling to her feet and sprinting for the door. 

She heard Deanna scream in fury and turn to follow her. But at that moment, the Cauldron retaliated. Aelin felt the immense surge of hot air at her heels as she ducked around the wall and pressed her back to the hard stone. Not a moment too soon. Blue, white, and violet flames shot from the door, lashing at the air and stealing her breath with its sheer heat. 

Aelin couldn't move. The power thrumming through the air was one of creation and destruction. It could steal her soul from her body, and she wouldn't be able to stop it. Deanna didn't stand a chance. 

After several agonizing seconds that felt more like hours, the terrible power subsided. The flames were sucked back into the room, and oxygen rushed into Aelin's lungs. She collapsed against the wall, her shaking legs too weak to bear her weight. She watched, her ears ringing, as her trembling hands sputtered weakly with golden embers. 

Aelin raised her head, watching the doorway warily. When no other strange magic erupted from the darkness, she dared to poke her head into the room. 

The smell hit her before the sight did. Burning flesh. A smell she'd not soon forget, not after her time spent with Cairn. She gagged, covering her mouth and nose with her hand. She staggered into the room, leaning against the doorway for support. But then her eyes fell on the source of the smell. 

Aelin turned sharply, her throat constricting, her last meal threatening to reappear. Her vision spun. Breathe, she told herself. Breathe. 

She allowed herself one minute for her heart to calm. One minute to wallow in the safe place of her mind, the place that reminded her what was behind her, and what good lay ahead. Think of Rowan. Aedion. Lysandra. Even Lorcan, think of Lorcan... anything but this.

She finally dared to turn back to the terrible sight before her, keeping one hand clamped over her lips. 

Deanna, or what was left of her, lay at her feet. Where beauty once had been, all that remained was charred hair and boiled skin. Her clothes had melted to her body, her Moon-fire vanished. The goddess's eyes seemed sewn shut, her lips only cracked remains. 

Aelin didn't know how Deanna hadn't simply burned to ashes. Somewhere in her mind, she wondered if it was because of her immortality, the Cauldron's changed enchantments, or both. 

The smell threatened to choke her. It was more horrible than anything she'd ever scented in her life, filling every pore of her body with revulsion. She couldn't find it in herself to care what, exactly, had just occurred. Until a voice spoke. 

"I suppose it didn't like being violated so harshly." Aelin's eyes snapped upward, heart skipping a beat. Mala. She'd forgotten she was there.

"Did it- do that on its own?" She dared to whisper, removing her hand from her mouth. Mala merely stared at her. The goddess of Light, it seemed, had been spared any wrath from the furious Cauldron.