Wilde's Fire (Darkness Falls #1) (35 page)

Someone pounds on the door, rattling the wood on its hinges. An hour has passed—maybe. I don’t reach out for the sun. I’m too tired to care about the time. Opening my eyes, I find Arland already dressing. I’m captivated by his half-naked body.

Turning around, he catches me staring, and smiles.

I motion with my finger, and he obeys.

Arland crawls on top of me, holding himself up by his arms. “Can I help you?”

“My mom did say she wouldn’t interfere, right?” I bite my lip.

“That she did. However, I believe it would be a little obvious if we did not come out of this room for another hour … or two.” He tempts me with a kiss on my jaw.

Pushing myself up, I kiss his neck below his ear. “Mmm, but she wouldn’t mind?”

“
I
would not mind,” Arland whispers, gripping my bare skin in his hands.

Another loud knock rattles the door.

Arland falls over and groans.

I already hold a grudge against whoever is knocking on our door, but I get up and get dressed.

Arland hops from the bed then stands in front of me, blocking my exit. “Today is going to be difficult, if Brad wakes up.”

I look at my feet. Guilt, over how much my relationship with Arland is going to hurt Brad, has been mounting for days. “I know.”

Arland lifts my chin with his finger. “You can do this. You just have to remain strong.”

He places his soft lips on mine, and, for a moment, stress disappears.

Arland takes my hand in his, and we leave the room.

Mom stands outside the door with her hands on her hips.

“Sorry,” I say, staring at the floor.

“Kate, I’m not upset. We need to start on Brad.” A quick check of her face reveals she isn’t lying. She’s smiling. “Arland, can you collect Flanna and Cadman to help us?”

Arland kisses my hand. “I will return shortly.”

Mom drags me by the arm toward Brad’s room. After hearing of his betrayal, I have a hard time entering, a hard time not to be angry with him right now, a hard time wanting to heal him.

“Why are you so shaky?”

I take a deep breath. “I’m nervous.”

“Are you worried about how Brad is going to react when he finds you’re in love with Arland?”

This is the question I’ve been trying to avoid.

“That’s one thing I’m worried about,” I say. Honestly, his reaction is the biggest concern I have. What if he never wants to talk to me again? What if he throws away our friendship, because we weren’t friends in the first place? If he beat up other guys who showed an interest in me, how could we be?

Mom puts her hands on my shoulders. “You have nothing to feel guilty about, dear. You never loved Brad that way. He will have to deal with that on his own. That’s how life works.”

“In the forest, we were getting closer than we ever had before, Mom. I was beginning to think I might have those kinds of feelings for him. He poured his heart out to me, and I jumped right in with someone else as soon as he got attacked. I would be stupid to think he wouldn’t be upset by that.” If I was in his place, I would hate me when I woke up; although, after years of betrayal, he more than deserves not having my friendship.

“Do you love Arland?”

I have zero doubt in my mind. “I do.”

“Then you have to let your guilt over Brad go, and you have to commit to getting him home safely.”

We move the chairs around Brad’s bed.

Arland returns with Flanna and Cadman, but he’s brought Kegan, and not my sister.

“Where’s Brit?” I ask Arland, while eyeing Kegan.

“You can trust Kegan,” Arland says.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Mom says.

Kegan gives her an appreciative smile and walks to the other side of Brad’s bed, then takes his pulse.

“Where’s Brit?” I ask Arland, again.

“Lann is training her. He was quite happy to do so, too.”

Flanna turns up her nose as she crosses her arms. “Saidear could have trained her just as easily.”

He scowls. “Saidear is in the communications room, contacting the Watchers, so they may come in for rest.”

She stares at him, but doesn’t speak another word.

I don’t know what has her so upset. Maybe Flanna thinks Leaders shouldn’t be in relationships, but that can’t be true; she practically begged me to be with Arland.

“Okay, everyone, take a seat around the bed.” Mom motions for me to sit in the chair closest to Brad’s head. “Arland, sit as close to Kate as possible. I want everyone to hold hands, understood?”

Mom explains that when she saw Arland and me fight together last night, the magic was much more powerful when we were touching than when I acted alone. She feels our connection will give Brad a better chance of pulling through.

Arland tells her of my reaction to the coscarthas in the forest, and how he had to kiss me to get the portal to open again.

“As I said before, you two
together
are the key.” She turns her eyes toward me. “Now do what comes naturally.”

Taking a few deep breaths, I close my eyes and grab hold of Brad’s right hand. He’s warm, but not too hot; whatever medicines Kegan and Shay have given him seem to keep the fever down.

Mom sits across from me, holding Brad’s left hand, Cadman next to her, then Flanna, Kegan, Arland, and me.

As we sit here together, I ask for you to heal my oldest friend Brad, please. We need to get him home to safety.
I send out my prayer to the magic enchanting this land, hoping it works.

I open my eyes.

Everyone glances up, down, then at each other … waiting for something to happen, but nothing comes.

“You guys should ask the magic to wake up and heal him, too.
Nicely
.” I give Flanna a pointed look.

“Be nice—I can do that.” She stares at her cousin and shifts in her seat.

The others close their eyes, and I hope they’re sending up silent prayers.

Energy flows among us, warming my skin and rumbling in my core, but Brad still lies, almost lifeless, on the bed. There’s no fire burning on my skin, or on Arland’s.

He squeezes my hand as he leans into me. “Think about how much better you will feel when Brad is home.”

I nod and return to concentrating on the fire, but all I think about is how much Brad hurt me, how many times he lied to me. Instead of feeling better, my chest tightens. Tears streak my face. I open my eyes and stare at him. My heart is heavy.

Mom watches me snivel like a baby. “Will you all, please, wait outside for a moment?”

Arland releases my hand and kisses my forehead.

“Except for you, Arland,” she says.

Cadman and Kegan follow Flanna from the room. She glances at me before closing the door, giving me a reassuring smile.

“I know you’re upset with Brad, but Kate, you must learn to control your emotions. If you can control your emotions, you can control the magic,” Mom says.

I sigh. “I’m trying.”

But, I don’t know how to control my emotions. My best friend lied to me forever, but his actions don’t genuinely matter because I have Arland … and love.

“You need to try harder.” Mom straightens her tunic, then clasps her hands behind her back. “I’ll be outside. Come get us when you’re ready.”

She closes the door.

I’m trapped, watching the boy who used to be my friend while he breathes.

Arland observes me staring at Brad. “Would you like for me to leave, as well?”

I lay my head in Arland’s lap, and he plays with my tangled hair. “No.”

My grief over Brad must hurt. “I’m sorry if I’m being selfish.”

“Kate.” Arland laughs. “You have not once acted selfishly. You trusted him. He took advantage of that trust, and you are hurt.”

I stare up into his understanding eyes and thank the gods for giving him to me. I don’t want to hurt Arland, don’t want to make it appear as though I’m confused over who I love. I don’t ever want to lose what we share.

“I
have
to do this.”

Arland leans down and kisses my temple. “You
can
do this.”

From some unknown place, a tiny bit of courage makes its way into my soul. I stand, ready to take this on. “Will you tell them they can come back in?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

He opens the door and motions for everyone to rejoin us.

I point at the chairs around the bed. “Sit around him. Just like before.”

When everyone takes their places, I think, not about Brad, not about the horrible things he’s done, but about love. I think about my family, Arland, my desire to be alone with him—without distractions—and my desire for this war to be over, and for us all to be free.

Please, God.

On a gust of air, the sweet smell of honeysuckle drifts into the room, bringing the brilliant colors of magic. Thousands of sprites overtake the space above Brad’s bed. Their tiny faces observe his mangled body.

Flanna and Cadman stare wide-eyed at the millions of little beings. They haven’t experienced old magic the way Arland and I have. It protected them before, but now, with the beings filling the room and moving in the air all around us, the soldiers are touched by magic.

Blue flames cover everyone’s bodies.

A few times, Kegan leans forward and tries to free his hands, as if he wants to reach out to touch the little beings—like I tried to in the forest—but Mom shakes her head, and he must think the better of it. I don’t know how she stays focused; the sprites are intriguing.

“Will you heal him, please?” My question brings everyone’s attention to me.

Sprites fly around each other, whispering things impossible for our ears to hear. Confusion fills their faces.

I lock eyes with my mom. I’m worried this might not work, worried Brad really might die if magic cannot help him, worried he will die and I’ll still be mad at him, but her eyes remain hopeful.

The beings stop communicating with each other. At least an hour has passed since they entered the room. A swarm of blue sprites, shaped like sheets of flowing silk, covers every inch of Brad’s skin and heals him before our eyes. The blisters covering his body, and the remaining fever, fade away, but he’s still not moving.

When Mom first spoke of her plan, I didn’t think it would work. But I thought if it did, the process wouldn’t be this slow. The magic’s lethargic reaction stops, and, as fast as they showed up, the sprites disappear into the earth.

Our group breaks our linked hands, and the fire on us diminishes.

My shoulders slump. “They didn’t seem to know what to do.”

“I don’t believe they did. They have been asleep since well before Darkness entered the land. Magic hasn’t had the opportunity to heal any wounds of this nature,” Mom says.

“His fever and blisters are gone, though, ma’am. If we give him the antidote to the sleep he is under, do you believe he will be okay?” Kegan heads toward the dresser along the back wall.

Mom lifts one of Brad’s eyelids, then takes his pulse. “It is possible that will work, but if he is not completely healed, it could cause him more trauma. We should take a break. We’ll let the magic rest for a while. I need to think some things over.”

We all leave the room. Everyone looks somewhat deflated, me more than anyone else. It’s my friend who lies in that bed—someone who was my friend.

He may not have
ever
been my friend.

am going to retrieve your sister from the training facility.” Arland leaves me with Flanna in the kitchen.