Silver Blood (Series of Blood Book 1)

by Emma Hamm

  The roses shuddered again before they started to swallow the stairwell whole.

  “I hope you’re giving me a hint,” he muttered before sprinting towards the stairs.

  The roses bit at his legs. They were beautiful flowers, but their thorns tore into his flesh. He didn’t want to know what the state of his body would be when he returned to reality. Gritting his teeth, Burke forced himself further.

  His hand reached out to catch on a sharp edge of stone. The roses hadn’t managed to gain much height yet. They were trailing up the stairwell in the same path someone would walk.

  A vine wrapped around his leg and pulled. He grappled onto the wall and angrily growled as the stone bit through his hand. The vine was easy to tear as he pulled against it. The soft sound of roses shuddering warned he had made the monsters angry.

  “This is what you want?” he yelled as he pulled his way up the stairs. “You want to hurt me?”

  The roses seemed to pulse around him. Was this her heart? Were the roses blood that had spilled? Burke couldn’t understand what she was doing. Why she was controlling the dream like this.

  Finally, he fought his way past the angry plants and onto the stairs. He put a good distance between himself and the flowers he now hated and looked up.

  Had this ruin grown? It appeared much taller than he had originally surmised. Placing his hands on his hips, he gathered his breath before beginning the long trek.

  “Why are you making this a battle?” he asked her because he knew she would be listening. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help you.”

  The stones behind him began to crumbling.

  Cursing under his breath, Burke began to run again.

  “Wren!” he yelled as he skillfully traversed the stairs. “You know me! And I know you!”

  The stones beneath him were giving way. He pushed hard against the rocks that were falling and launched himself once more onto the wall. The steps were no longer safe. He clung to the stone wall. The stairs crumbled to the ground that was suddenly much further away.

  “You don’t want to see me, I take it,” he muttered as he turned his attention towards the top of the crag. “But I need to see you.”

  Hand over hand, he climbed. He had a feeling that cheating would only make this harder. Though it was tempting to turn into a bird and fly into her face, he was going to have to do this the old fashioned way.

  His hands cramped quickly. He had never been much for climbing. Burke preferred to do things the fastest and most efficient way possible. Therefore, the easiest.

  “This is getting a little ridiculous, sweetheart,” he grumbled as he stretched for another hand hold. “You know I’d do anything I can for you, but this is getting old quick.”

  He grabbed onto the stone that was jutting out and put most of his weight onto that hand. This was his mistake. At the last moment, the stone retreated back into the mass it had grown from. His handhold officially gone, Burke had a moment of startling thought.

  If he died here, he wouldn’t wake from his trance. Death was still death even in the dreaming world.

  He tumbled backwards into the air and figured that he would. This would be the end of him. It wasn’t a terrible way to go. He was dying for a woman he loved. He could admit that to himself now. He loved her in such a way that the word was far too weak.

  Every corner of his soul and body were filled with her. She was in every shadow that made him a bad person and every bright spark of good was her doing. Wren had wiggled her way into being the most important person he had ever met.

  And he didn’t get to tell her that.

  Burke closed his eyes and waited for the solid thump of his soul hitting the ground. The sound did not come. Slowly, he blinked open his eyes to feel his body gently lowered onto the very top of the stone mountain.

  She was close to him. He didn’t need to look around for her. Burke could feel her soul, because his own rose to answer hers.

  Wren had always been a question. She was a question in his life that he had never known the answer to until this moment. When it came to her, the answer would always and unequivocally be yes.

  He turned onto his knees and stood. She was at the very edge of the peak he stood on. Her body was covered with a dark cloak that hid the fine white dress he could see dancing at the edge of her ankles. Curls of smoke billowed from underneath the fabric that covered her form.

  “Are we done fighting?” he asked.

  “I don’t know if that’ll ever happen.” Her soft laugh was music to his ears. “But you are now here. What do you want, Burke?”

  “Are you sane for now?” He couldn’t help but ask. “I need to actually speak to you.”

  “As sane as I can be. I am not myself.”

  “No, you’re not.” Again his hand touched the vial around his neck. Reassured, he continued. “We found something that can save you.”

  “I don’t know if I want to be saved.”

  Her murmur stunned him, but it was the sight of her face when she turned that made him flinch backwards. It wasn’t Wren underneath that cloak. Not entirely.

  She was made of smoke and fog. A creature that had no form, no entity, no original thought. Wren was nothing more than the outline of herself. Beloved features were hidden or erased entirely as the breeze fluttered around her.

  “You must,” he said quietly. “You must be saved.”

  “For your precious prophecy? I have no wish to be part of your prophecy.”

  “No.” He stepped forward and froze when she stepped dangerously close to the cliff edge. “Not for the prophecy, you foolish girl. For me. I selfishly need you to return with me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you are as much a part of me as Dream Walking.”

  Her intake of breath seemed to be a good sign. He continued.

  “I missed you when I was no longer in your shop every day. I felt whole again when you were with me at Haven. And when you slipped through my fingertips through that portal I felt as though it was the end of all I knew. You don’t complete me, Wren. You are me.” He moved forward again. This time, she stayed put. “Everything I am is because of you. I was created for you and for this exact moment.”

  Now that his soul was bared, there was only so much else he could do. Burke froze where he was and waited. He waited for her to make her decision. He waited for her to love him back. He waited for the answer to the question she was.

  Wren stepped forward. She reached out a hand to touch him, and he wanted nothing more than to feel her fingers upon his skin. But just before her fingers brushed against him, a wind blew her fingers into oblivion.

  He watched with rapt attention as the smoke that made up her hand disintegrated before him. The expression on her face crumbled as she withdrew into herself.

  “You should go,” she whispered.

  “I’m not leaving you. Wren-”

  She flinched back from him again. One foot hovered above the edge of the cliff. That too disappeared as a wind blew past them once more.

  “Jiminy, please.”

  But he didn’t know if she was begging him to leave, or if she was begging him to stay. He took a chance and hoped that it was the latter. He stepped closer and raised his hand to reach inside the hood of her cloak.

  Against his fingers, she felt warm. The smoke parted in billows from the weight of his hand. Pink stained cheeks were revealed as he pressed his calloused palm against her. His hand guided her towards him until they were nearly touching.

  “Please what?”

  She tilted her head until the hood fell onto her shoulders. He leaned down and blew against her mouth. The smoke disappeared and left soft lips in its place. White tendrils of smoke were her hair, but they remained as the wind around them started to buffet at their bodies.

  “Please don’t let me go.”

  Wren raised up onto her tiptoes and crushed her mouth to his. He inhaled her beloved scent, and the wildness that made up her body. She was th
e earth and the air. A storm that raged around his heart and swept him into her currents.

  Both his hands tangled into silk strands of hair that now existed. His arms encircled the black cloak, and he willed her into existence. As his lips and tongue tangled with hers, she became whole again.

  “You’re going to have to trust me eventually,” he whispered against her.

  “Never.”

  “Yes you will.”

  “You sound so certain.” She chuckled as they leaned just far enough away from each other to breathe.

  “I am.”

  “Cocky.”

  “I’m not letting you out of my sight for a good while,” he muttered. “You’ve given me enough of a fright. No more adventuring.”

  “Adventuring every day. Heart attacks for you whenever I can manage them.” She interrupted herself to press against him. “Don’t worry.”

  “I will,” he grumbled.

  “I can save myself.”

  He certainly knew that. She had managed to save herself more times than he had. But this time he was going to be the one that brought her home.

  Her fingers tangled around the vial at his throat. He watched as her eyes grew large. “Is this?”

  “You know what it is too?”

  “E always showed me what the elixir of life looked like,” she spoke with awe. “But I never thought there was any left.”

  He let her lift the cord off of his neck and hold the vial in front of her. Within seconds, the wind suddenly stopped. Calm, sweet smelling air was the only thing between the two of them now. That and the glinting bottle that held the finest silver powder he had ever seen.

  Clarity had returned to Wren’s eyes. He could see the parts of her he loved now. She wasn’t muttering or rambling. Burke selfishly wanted to think that it was because he was close to her now. Even in her madness, Wren had recognized him.

  “Is this for me?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You think it’ll work?”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged.

  She didn’t know anymore about it than he did. Burke’s hand flexed against her back as she uncorked the bottle. A fine silver dust rose from inside the bottle. Just as she was about to tip it back, he closed his hands over hers.

  “Let me do it.”

  “Why?” She gave him a curious look.

  “Because I haven’t managed to save you once, controlling woman. Let me do it just once.”

  “So you can take it to the grave with you?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I saved the damsel at least once in my life.”

  The sparkle in her eyes was one that he recognized. He leaned forward to press his forehead against hers and growled. “Insufferable is now added to the list.”

  “List?”

  “Of words I use to describe you. Insufferable. Headstrong. Foolish. Wandering.”

  “Beautiful. Intelligent. Strong.” She shook her head at him. “Can we go home now?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Together, they tilted the vial backwards so that she could inhale the fine powder. The pieces of her that hadn’t been quite right snapped back into place. From her chest and arms, black flecks of ash fluttered to the ground.

  Pieces of E. He realized with awe. Those pieces were the ones that were holding her together so that her mind didn’t shatter entirely.

  “I’m going to have to thank E for keeping you together for me,”he muttered.

  “E?” she asked.

  “Right here, darling.”

  They both turned to look at the creature that was using the shadow of the cliff to form itself. Faceless and shapeless, E remained an indistinguishable humanlike shape. But when it opened its arms, Wren flew into them.

  It could hold onto her. Burke shifted backwards uncomfortably as he realized this was the first time Wren and E had ever been able to touch each other. He felt like an intruder in this moment that was obviously so sacred between the two of them.

  There was a significant difference between speaking every day and being able to touch. These two souls had never been able to hold each other. Burke couldn’t imagine how many times E had wanted to pick her up from the ground and give her a hug. He couldn’t imagine how many times she had needed one with no one to offer comfort.

  He would offer that comfort from now on. Burke would make certain that she was taken care of the way she was meant to be taken care of. As he watched the two of them, he realized that he would be taking care of the two of them.

  He was perfectly happy with that.

  “Come on you two,” he finally said. “We’ve got work to do.”

  Wren sniffed hard and stepped back from the shadow that had enveloped her. She wiped her hands against her cheeks and under her nose. “Thank you. Thank you for this moment.”

  “I didn’t break your mind?” E asked.

  “You saved me. Just like you always do.”

  E wrapped an arm around her and held out a hand for Burke. He took it without question and wrapped his other arm around Wren.

  “We’re an odd family,” he muttered.

  Tears glistened in Wren’s eyes. “Family?”

  “Yeah. Family.” He leaned down to press a kiss against the top of her head. “Should be red.”

  Together, they rose through the depths of Legion and into the top level of its mind. The entire time they held onto each other. Burke couldn’t imagine what was going through their heads. Wren the orphan and Legion who was one of many. Neither had a family for a very long time.

  “Wren, it’s your turn to take control over your body,” E said as they finally stopped moving.

  “Okay.”

  Burke watched in astonishment as she stepped away from both of them. “Okay? That’s it?”

  She arched an eyebrow. “I know how to take control over my own body.”

  “We thought it might be… Difficult.”

  “Because I was weak?”

  “Well. Yeah.”

  “The elixir was a good choice. I can do this.” She leaned forward to press a kiss against his lips. “It’s time for you to go Jiminy.”

  His soul was tossed from inside her mind like a ragdoll. He had never been so forcefully expelled from a dream. Perhaps the first time he had been thrown from her mind rivaled this, but he thumped so hard back into his body that he instantly awoke out of breath.

  Inhaling through ribs that felt bruised, he moved from his seat to crawl on top of the table with her. She was still wounded. The healers could only do so much when there were so many other people that were wounded in Haven around them.

  He pressed his hands against either side of her head. The bruises would be a surprise to her, he knew that. But at this moment all he wanted was to see her open her eyes.

  “Come on, open your eyes,” he whispered. “Please open your eyes.”

  When she didn’t immediately answer him, he worried that everything had been a dream. Had he fallen asleep instead of jumping into the dreaming world? Had everything he had just experienced been his own mind trying to feed into his fear?

  She blinked.

  A great whoosh of breath expelled from his chest as he slumped against her. “Oh thank God.”

  “Jiminy,” she croaked.

  “Yes?” He leaned back just enough to peer into her eyes. “I know you’re in pain. The healers did what they could, but you’ll still ache for a while.”

  “You’re kneeling on my hand.”

  His cheeks flamed red.

  “Sorry,” he muttered as he replaced his knee somewhere other than the delicate bones of her hand. “Got a little excited.”

  “That’s okay.” Wren lifted her hand to open and close her fingers in front of her face. “I’m back.”

  “You’re back.”

  “I’m in control.”

  “I should hope so.”

  She stared at the vial dangling from his neck. Her fingers tapped it and sent the glass into a dan
cing whirl. It was empty.

  “You’re going to tell me how you got that,” she said.

  “You’re not going to believe who showed up with it.”

  Wren pressed her fingers against his lips. “Later.”

  “Later?”

  Her arms threaded around his neck, and her teeth sparkled in a bright grin. “I’m alive. And I’m in control of my body for the first time in a long time.”

  Slowly catching on, Burke eased his body over hers and grinned. “Do you know what you want to do with the real estate?”

  “I think I do.” Her lips pressed against the cords of his throat. “E you might want to close your eyes for this.”

  She could hear the beloved creature grumbling in her head. “I don’t have eyes to close.”

  But Wren could tell they had privacy. E disappeared from the corners of her mind, and she was able to focus entirely on the man in front of her. His hands danced over the tangles of her hair and down her arms.

  “Bruises?”

  “Ignore them,” she whispered as she worked on the buttons of his shirt.

  “Don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t. You haven’t. You never will.”

  Wren pulled his shirt over his head and danced her fingers over the ridges of his ribs. Scars decorated his pale skin. Bullet wounds, knife slices, even magical burns marked every edge of his body.

  She was not repulsed in the slightest. He shuddered as her hands made certain to touch each and every mark that had been left on his body. Underneath her hands, he was whole.

  Burke grabbed onto her hands and held them against his beating heart. He said nothing. Words weren’t enough to express what was dancing through his head. Instead, he pressed her hands against his heart and then lifted them to his lips.

  “Oh, Burke,” she whispered.

  He rose, leaned over her, and pressed his lips against hers. “Jiminy.”

  “Jiminy.” She arched into him as his hand skimmed the hospital gown aside.

  “You captivate me,” he whispered against her skin.

  “You are color.” He held her tight against him.

  “You banish the shadows of my soul.”

  Their bodies melded together as one. And in that moment he swept the hair from her face to peer directly into her soul. “I love you. I love you and every part of that crazy soul.”