Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 93948 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93948 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
“You bloody little fool!” I take a step forward to rush to them, but the moment they go down, the carefully controlled fire in the ruins of what used to be their desk flares back to life. “Damn it.” I lean out the doorway. “Water-user! Get in here! Fire!”
Two people rush in. I belatedly recognize Callen and Gable. They move as a coordinated unit, one pulling water from the sea and the other “catching” it and sending it in a controlled burst onto the desk. Within seconds, the fire is gone.
Which leaves Nox, passed out on the floor of their cabin. “Medic!”
The call is passed down the line. I go to my knees next to Nox and carefully turn them onto their side. Their chest rises and falls in a steady rhythm, and best I can tell, their heartbeat is steady. I recognize this even before Orchid arrives in a rush and then curses under his breath. “Magical burnout.”
“You bloody fool,” I snarl. “Couldn’t ask for help. Had to do it all yourself.” I scoop Nox up, hating how slight they feel in my arms, and look around. The fire may be out, but the soggy mess of the desk and stink of smoke permeates the room. It should be easy enough to clean out in the morning, but that would require hauling people out of bed and…Nox shouldn’t be alone right now.
Orchid sighs. “This has happened before regularly enough that I can say with the utmost confidence that Nox will be fine in the morning. They just need sleep and a hearty meal when they wake.”
This happens regularly enough…
Oh, I am going to strangle them when they wake up. Despite all current evidence to the contrary, Nox isn’t a complete fool. They must know that every time a person experiences burnout, it runs the risk of their magic reserves not replenishing fully. And that change is permanent. “I’m taking them to my cabin.”
No one bothers to argue with me as I sweep out of the room, across the deck, and down the hatch to the crew’s quarters. Bastian sticks his head out of his door as I pass. “What’s…Is that Nox?”
“Magical burnout,” I say shortly.
I should have expected him to follow, but somehow I’m still surprised when he catches my door before it can shut and slides into the room. I do my best to ignore him and lay Nox out on my bed. They look better already, some of the color returning to their pale skin.
“What were they thinking?” Bastian mutters. “We’re on a ship full of magical people and they just had to…What were they doing?”
“Burning the desk that communicates with the Council.” A smart thing to do, but that doesn’t mean the way they went about it was smart. They could have asked for help from one of the dozens of people capable of it. Instead, they ran themselves into the ground to do it themselves. “Stubborn ass.”
“They always were more likely to take on too much rather than ask for help.” Bastian sinks onto the edge of the empty bed, apparently having no intention of vacating the room anytime soon. He looks up at me. “Siobhan, talk to me. I know you’re furious. I am, too. But we can’t move forward if we’re all being strangled by the past.”
“You left me.” He’s right, but I still choke on the words. “We had a fight, and yes, it was a nasty fight, but you left me.”
“You know that wasn’t intended to be permanent.”
He sounds so sure, but doesn’t he know by now that there are no guarantees in life? Our current situation is proof of that. Maybe he intended to return…and maybe he didn’t. Maybe he was finally sick of our differing outlook about the future. “I don’t know that.”
“Siobhan.” He sighs. “I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what you wanted, and if you had wanted it, this isn’t how you would have chosen to reveal yourself. We have to make do with what we have. The rebellion is out there, whether we want it to be or not.”
He’s right, but that doesn’t make the truth easier to swallow. This was always going to happen, but I worked damn hard to ensure it didn’t happen before we were ready. “We’ve saved so many lives,” I whisper.
“Yes.” Bastian doesn’t move, hardly seems to breathe.
It makes it easier to say what I need to say next. I close my eyes, taking solace in the darkness. “I’m scared.”
“I know.” The words are barely more than a whisper. “We’re all scared.”
And just like that, the words are pouring out of me. “I’m not supposed to be scared. I’m the leader of the damned rebellion. There are thousands of people putting their lives in my hands, trusting me to take care of them. I can’t—”