Chapter 16 #3
Places in the temple were withered, an ashy gray instead of vibrant colors.
Scorch marks from my fire covered almost every surface.
Skylights and those beautiful stained-glass windows had been blasted to pieces.
The destruction was worst where the body of the hufen had dissolved, in front of the altar to Solais.
It was as if in its death, it had decided to take everything it could with it, then turned its wrath on Solais herself.
The altar was broken in three pieces, the golden wood planks resting on each other as though even in its destroyed state, it was still attempting to function as it was designed.
There was a deep hole in front of the altar, where the hufen had been standing, as if the stones that had weathered time had not been able to stand its destruction and had disappeared along with the demon, leaving bare earth instead.
I attempted to pull the fire back in and shove it down my channel, but having had a taste of freedom, it hungered for more, and it wanted to burn, burn, burn.
I struggled, fighting with it, as it surged beyond my control toward the pews, but it was like trying to hold back a surging river with bare hands.
The water and fire priestesses stepped forward and each put a hand on my shoulder.
Their combined powers crashed over mine like a cooling wave.
The fire priestess didn’t argue with my flames as I did; instead, she spoke to them coaxingly, gentling them under control and drawing into itself.
The water priestess added restraint, containing the fire’s desire to destroy, until my fire channel had subsided into a low simmer once more.
The power expenditure instantly caught up with me, and I barely made it to sitting before my legs gave out.
The priestesses gave me a nod of thanks, releasing me from my obligation to assist. The earth priestess paused, her hand on my shoulder. “You did well, Orlaith. We thank you.”
“The days are upon us once more, my sisters,” one of them said as they walked away.
As their footsteps faded in the silence of the temple, reality pressed in on me. I took short, sharp gasps.
If the priestesses hadn’t been here…
My hands began to shake. Killing the hufen had been hard enough, but its darkness had spread so fast, consumed everything immediately.
The innocent worshippers had been terrified.
Finn had almost been hit when the shadow dagger had flown past his head.
If I hadn’t raised the shield fast enough, if my aim had been off…
What if the corruption had left these walls? Spread into the city?
I couldn’t get enough air. The temple walls were closing in. How many more hufen were out there? How many times was I going to have to make split-second decisions that either saved someone’s life or doomed them to be transformed into that hollow, rotting shell?
What if next time my fire wasn’t enough? What if I wasn’t enough?
How the hell was I going to fix things so that people were safe?
A hand touched my shoulder and I jumped, my breaths still coming in pants.
“Easy, Lexie.” Finn sat down next to me and carefully wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Just breathe. In and out.”
I leaned into him, focusing on matching my breaths to Finn’s, when I felt his presence striding toward me. I looked up, the emotions resonating from him breaking through my panic.
Griff was furious. I’d never seen him like this before.
While the mask was intact—barely—a primal rage was radiating off of him, pouring from every line of his body.
The set of his shoulders. The careful way he moved through the temple, holding himself back.
I was starting to realize that the calm was simply a facade Griff maintained.
Underneath, he was just a man barely holding himself together, and there seemed to be only one thing that could break him.
Me.
As he strode through the destruction, past shattered glass and scorched stone, his wild eyes never left mine.
I felt a momentary hesitation before steeling my spine and slowly making my way to my feet.
When he saw how much effort it took me to stand, saw the steadying hand Finn rested under my elbow, his jaw clenched so hard I could see a muscle jumping.
His burning gaze roved over me like a physical touch, taking in every inch as though he could see through me, assuring himself that I was unharmed.
“Tell me he didn’t touch you.” His tone was measured, deadly quiet. His fury was leashed, for the moment, like a barely contained storm.
“He didn’t touch me,” I assured him, in a steadier voice than I thought I’d be able to manage.
“Good.” There was a world of violence contained in that single word.
Then, to my surprise, he rounded on Finn with such speed that I flinched. And I saw something I’d never predicted I’d see—Griff lost control.
“How the fuck could you let this happen?” His voice was even quieter, if that was possible, and twice as dangerous. “She could have died, Finn. She could have been corrupted. She could have—” He cut himself off, his hands held at his sides through sheer force of will, trembling with the effort.
Finn stepped back, genuinely shocked. “No one could have expected a hufen here—”
“I don’t give a damn what was expected!” His roar echoed off the scorched rafters, the few bystanders scattering.
He tried to regain the mask, but the damage was done.
I’d seen underneath. Seen the man terrified beyond reason.
“You took her out here without protection, without clearing things with me, without even being armed. There’s more than just hufen after her.
What if all seven priestesses hadn’t been present?
What if there had been two hufen? What if—”
“I didn’t realize I need to clear ‘things with you,’” Finn interrupted, his own temper flaring. “She’s not your possession, Griff.”
Something dangerous flickered across his face. “No. She’s my—” He cut himself off, angrily swiping a hand through his hair.
“It was my fault.” I stepped between them, before this could escalate further.
Although I very much wanted to know how he’d been planning to finish that sentence.
What exactly was I to Griff? Was he so furious right now because his charge had been placed in danger, or was it more?
It shocked me how much I wanted an answer to that question.
He turned to me, eyes flashing. The fury that had been directed at Finn was now pointed at me. “Don’t worry, you’ll have your turn.” His voice was low and dangerous, all control gone.
Finn made to step in front of me, as if he could physically shield me from his brother’s wrath.
“No.” I stepped around Finn, my anger rising to match Griff’s own and fueling me through my exhaustion.
“You’re done berating Finn for something that wasn’t his fault.
I asked to come out to the city. I called up the fire to destroy the hufen.
Finn had turned his dagger on him and was ready to slit his throat when I fired the place. ”
“Which she did because he had spread darkness and started infecting the very foundation before I killed him,” Finn said mildly.
“And you thought burning everything in sight was a good solution?” Griff’s voice cracked with rage as he took a step closer to me. “Do you have any idea what could have happened? What forces you were playing with?”
“It worked, didn’t it?” I fired back at him, my exhaustion making me reckless and choosing my words without care. I took a step toward him, bringing us almost nose to nose. “The priestesses agreed—”
“The priestesses?” he echoed with a laugh tinged with wild desperation. “You bet your life on seven strangers in robes? If one hint of that darkness had touched you—”
“You don’t get to decide that for me! You don’t get to decide what risks I will and will not take!
” I was shouting now, long past caring if others overheard.
“I will not let you lock me away in that moldy castle! People are dying out there. People could have died here. Today. And if I have the power to help them, I’m going to do it, whether or not you approve of my actions! ”
“I don’t want to lock you away.” In contrast to my shouting, he was spitting out words through clenched teeth, looming over me. “I’m simply trying to keep you alive!”
We stared at each other, both breathing hard. We were standing on a precipice, and I saw the moment he made the decision to withdraw, pull the mask back up, and shut me out. He took a step back but I moved forward. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, to keep the walls from coming back up.
But then Finn cleared his throat. “You two are both idiots. Griff, she saved many lives today. Including mine. And Lexie, he’s just being a protective ass. Well-intentioned, but an ass. He can’t help himself, he just is,” he added with a glare at his brother.
The anger keeping me on my feet left me in a rush, and I swayed.
Griff took a step forward as if he was going to grab me, but stopped himself at the last minute as Finn took my arm instead.
Griff let out a heavy sigh and scrubbed a hand through his hair.
“I have to get you back and report this to Zachariah. Especially if hufen are infiltrating the city.” He turned to Finn.
“I trust you will help here, then find your own way back?” Without waiting for Finn’s affirmative, he removed Finn’s grasp on me, lifted me into his arms, and spun.
We landed in the clearing outside the gates, and I stepped away from him. He let me go, somewhat reluctantly, but immediately steadied me when I wobbled, his hands holding on firmly to my waist.
“Are you injured?” His eyes scanned up and down my body even as his hands tightened, reassuring himself that there weren’t any wounds that he had missed.