Page 92 of Burn Her They Said
No amount of wishing, hoping, or dreaming can change what’s happened.
I can’t fucking believe they’re gone.
I can’t believe Varic just took his vow to protect me, and this is how his life ends.
The fear I experienced when he said those words on the stage—it’s all too much.
Grief floods my chest, weighing me down, as memories—from the details of their faces to their laughter and disdain—flood me, then sobs rend me open, as the despair threatens to consume me.
Heart faltering. Emotions tugging at me too strongly, too deeply.
Pulse slowing. Alarmingly. Fray’s concern grows.
My magic knows. What little is left.
Two frigid fingertips press into the pulse point in my throat as the only other thing I notice is his fresh, earthen scent—strangely comforting as my consciousness slips.
“Shit. Hold on, Tasch.”
Darkness envelops me.
“Stay with me.”
The cold night air flows around us, and the faint tickle of hair whipping around my neck indicates how fast he is flying.
“I’ll get us to safety, I promise. I won’t let them take you from us. I won’t. I won’t let them.” Fray’s voice grows faint, and my vision fades to nothingness.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Give
“Give her everything you’ve got!” Varic’s voice is a mix of fear and determination.
A cruel machination crafted by my evil mind. A fucking nightmare presented to me at the precipice of death. Or is this the afterlife?
“Give her everything, Cirrin, everything! That can’t be all—you have to have more.” Varic’s voice cracks. “She needs more.”
“I promise I’m trying, but I don’t—my healing, it’s not penetrating.” Cirrin’s voice wavers. “I swear I’m trying, Varic. She’s blocking me or something. I’m not able to get through.”
Be careful, Tasch. Mirinea’s warning reverberates ominously.
Varic’s hand travels down my jaw in this cruel conjuring of my mind, and the rough texture of his fingertips feels real as they rove, then press into the pulse point in my throat.
“That’s impossible,” Varic says. “It takes the strongest force sorcerers years to learn how to block magic while awake. She couldn’t possibly do so while unconscious.”
This gift of yours is not one to reveal to just anyone. Mirinea’s voice is louder this time.
Varic scoffs, then pauses. “You can do this.”
Cirrin grunts with effort, and it feels as if the sound pulls me closer, though I can’t push past that sleep-wake plane, forced to endure this nightmare even longer. “It’s not working.”
“What do you mean it’s not working? What does it feel like—” Varic begins.
“Here, do you want to try it?” Cirrin asks, exasperated.
“I…yes. Tell me how you pull on your healing magic, what it feels like.” Varic says.
A chill rolls from the top of my skull all the way down my spine into the tips of my toes.
