As Triaten picked her up off the ground, Charlotte caught glimpses of Aiden gathering up both Skye and Shiv.
Triaten carrying her, Aiden carrying Skye and Shiv, they went back out through the corridor of rain they had come in. Charlotte closed her eyes against the downpour, and then passed out.
~~~
When Charlotte opened her eyes again, she saw the dark brown ceiling in Triaten’s room at the ranch. It took her a moment to figure out if she could feel her arms and legs, and hands and toes again. Her leg was still shattered, she could feel the pain. But at least she was feeling it again.
She turned her head on the pillow and was greeted by Triaten’s furious stare. He sat next to the bed, leaning forward, hands clasped under his chin.
She ignored his murderous look and threw her hand out to his face, her thumb on his cheekbone, palm caressing his jaw.
Her words were soft, almost broken. “You walked through fire for us.”
“I walked through fire for you.” His hand went over hers.
She smiled. “I knew you would find a way. You always do.”
The anger hadn’t edged. “And if I hadn’t?”
He cleared his throat as he moved forward and put his hand behind her head, fingers gripping deep into her blond hair. “God, Char. Promise me you’ll never do something as stupid as that again. Promise me.”
“You know I can’t promise that.”
He searched her face, and then his hand dropped from her and he sat back on the chair. His head bowed and silence flooded the room.
His voice was rough when he finally spoke. “I can’t lose you, Char. You put too much trust in me.”
“And you don’t put enough trust in yourself.”
Charlotte reached out and grabbed his knee. “Tri, look at me.”
His gaze crept up.
“You have never failed me, Tri. Never.”
His eyebrow crooked. “Except for Thomas?”
Charlotte gave the slightest shake of her head. “I didn’t know it then. I didn’t know it for the longest time.” She moved her fingers up to reach his hand, and then pulled it to her chest. “But you brought us to here. To together. You didn’t fail me.”
Triaten’s fingers moved under her touch, trailing along her chest to land above her heart. His palm flattened, holding hard the steady beat through her skin.
Their eyes locked, and they both took the moment in time fully, without thought to the next. A moment of heart-shredding, soul-surrendering acknowledgement. There were no more questions about it. They were each other’s hearts.
An owl called out in the dark, a gentle, but insistent sound that broke into their room, breaking the moment.
Charlotte took a deep breath. She didn’t want to leave that second in time, but the moment was no longer hers to keep. And she had to know. She didn’t want to say the word, and she fought herself trying to get it out. “Shiv?”
Triaten didn’t answer right away.
“I didn’t save her, did I?”
Triaten shook his head.
Charlotte’s hand left his and went to her face, covering her eyes as her head sank deep into the pillow. She drew several shaky breaths, trying to control the crushing guilt of her own failure.
She was still hiding under her hand when she whispered, “I am so sorry, Tri. I tried and tried.”
“There wasn’t anything you could do.” He grabbed her elbow and gently pried her hand away from her face. When she wouldn’t look at him, he moved from the chair to sit on the side of the bed. He tilted her chin toward him. “I know you weren’t giving up on her. I saw that when we found you.”
Charlotte shook her head, throat hard.
“No one could have asked for more, Char.”
She buried her face under her hand once more, steadying her emotions. It took minutes, but eventually her hand came off her eyes.
“How long have I been out?”
“Two hours, tops.”
“And the fire?”
“It’s contained. It’s burning itself to the middle and then dying.”
Charlotte propped herself up to a sitting position, and winced as she moved her leg. Triaten grabbed an extra pillow and put it behind her back to lean on. She pulled the sheet off her leg to look at it.
Elastic bandaging strapped two long planks of wood around her leg, from shin to ankle.
“I know, it’s crude, but it’s holding the bones in place, I hope, until they heal. It felt like three clean breaks along the bone,” Triaten pointed to the three spots along Charlotte’s shin that were pulsating, “but you should still check the placement to make sure I got it right.”
Charlotte bit her lip and bent forward. She closed her eyes as her fingers traced their way along the skin. She nodded in relief. She wasn’t up to resetting her own leg at the moment. “They’re in place. Thank you.”
She pulled the sheet back from her other foot. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as her leg, and was almost healed already. She pulled up her leg to poke at her foot.
“How did you and Aiden gather enough rain to get to us?” She asked with a wince as she cracked and repositioned her arch.
“Horace. And Helen used her wind power to funnel it down on us.”
Charlotte’s head snapped up and she blinked in surprise. “Horace is back?”
“He is.”
She looked at him suspiciously. That was too curt an answer.
He gave her no time to question it. “I have to ask, when you were in the fire, did you see a light?”
Satisfied with her foot, Charlotte leaned back against the pillows. “A light? What kind of light? There were a lot of little explosions, and the fire was all around.”
“The kind of light that happens when a Panthenite is baptized in the river.”
Charlotte’s forehead wrinkled, confused. “What? Why in the world — shit — is Aiden worried about Skye?”
Triaten nodded.
“She still doesn’t remember if she went through the ‘birth by fire’ shit the Malefics do when Evan had her?”
“She doesn’t remember a lot from the time in the cave. Both Aiden and her were assuming Evan did it to her, but this fire — it’s way too suspicious — those fire balls were gunning for Skye. They had to have been.”
“I don’t know.” Charlotte rubbed her temples, closing her eyes. “Like I said — lots of flames and explosions around us, but I don’t know about the light. The only thing I was watching was my hands. And I was comatose by the end.” She looked over at Triaten. “Why didn’t Skye turn back time?”
Triaten shrugged. “Don’t know. And we can’t worry about that right now. Right now, I need you to visit Aiden with me. I know your leg is still a wreck, and you need to sleep to heal it, but Aiden needs you. The fire messed him.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” She was already trying to move off the bed.
“Stop. I’m carrying you in there.” He moved off the bed and then leaned over to pick her up. “And there was no waking you up. Or Skye. Even after we dunked you two in the river.”
It was then Charlotte realized she was in one of Triaten’s t-shirts, her heavy legs bare as Triaten carried her out of the room, and into the hallway. “You guys brought us to the river?”
“We wanted to rush the healing along, and it worked — after we plopped you both in the river, the two of you spent the entire time up to the ranch puking out all of that smoke in your bodies.”
“Really?”
“Yea, the jeep is a mess. But it helped. Neither of you could move at all before the river, so at least body function came back again after submerging.”
They paused at the door of the room Skye had stayed in when she lived at the ranch.
“I have to warn you,” Triaten’s voice was grave, “I know you’ve seen Aiden in pretty wicked shape, but this...this is bad. He went into the fire multiple times trying to get Skye.”
“No.” It came out in a small gasp.
�
��Yes. So steel it and fix it.”
“Get me in there.”
Triaten had not overblown the savageness of Aiden’s burnt flesh.
He was slumped in a chair, leaning back, hands across his belly and feet propped up on the bed. He was watching the sleeping Skye intently. Rafe was asleep on the bed next to Skye, nose nestled tight to her arm.
As they got closer, Charlotte silently prayed she was seeing the bad half of his face.
“Hey.” Aiden whispered, but didn’t look up at them.
Triaten set Charlotte down on the bed next to where Aiden’s and Skye’s feet were touching. Charlotte could now see him straight on, and unfortunately, she had been looking at the good side of his face when they came in. Flesh was gone, giving way to strands of matter blackened and charred on his cheek down to a visible jaw bone. She looked down his torso. The entire left side of his body shifted between various states of vacant skin, blood and pus, and bones.
“Wow.” Charlotte’s hand went on his shin next to her, and he flinched. She picked up her hand. “That is not the handsome face I’m used to. You really did it this time, didn’t you?”
“Not yet, Charlotte. No fixing me until I know Skye is awake and okay.”
“She was in that smoke for an insane amount of time, Aiden. She’s going to sleep for a long while.”
“Those fireballs were aimed at her. There was a reason for that. If she wakes up and...” Aiden’s voice trailed.
“If she wakes up,” Triaten stepped in with logic in his words, “and something Malefic suddenly got turned on from that fire, she’s still Skye, and she’s not going to wake up crazy. And we’ll all be here.”
“I’m not falling asleep.”
“Aiden, if Skye wakes up and sees you like this, she’s going to freak out,” Charlotte reasoned. “It’s hard for me to look at you right now, and you know I’ve seen the worst. I can’t imagine how it would be for Skye to wake up and see you in this much pain.”
“Just let Charlotte heal you, Aiden. Do it while Skye’s asleep — she’ll be out for hours still.” Triaten walked around the bed and tapped Rafe’s rump. The dog rolled and got to his feet. Triaten patted his neck, and Rafe licked Triaten’s arm before he jumped off the bed.
“Let me propose this,” Triaten continued. “You are in such bad shape, Char is going to pass out the second she’s done with you. So why don’t you all crawl into bed, Char can heal you, and then I will watch over my three bears.”
Triaten reached in and slid Skye’s prone body to the side of the bed, leaving plenty of space for Aiden and Char.
“I promise to wake you up if Skye so much as twitches,” Triaten promised.
Aiden looked over at him, hesitant.
Triaten walked back around the bed and gently put his hand on Aiden’s less burnt shoulder. “Just let me take his one, my friend.”
With a sigh, Aiden relented, and slowly, grimacing against the pain, moved his immense form into bed next to his wife.
{ Chapter 21 }
Four hours later, before the early dawn of light, Skye was the first to move a muscle. Triaten watched her intently, and her journey from sleep to wake was a slow one. One that looked like a fight between the world of dreams and the world of reality.
And then she shot straight up, gasping for air. Terror filled her face until she looked around and saw Aiden in the bed next to her in the dim moonlight. Her hand went to his stomach, but he didn’t move.
Slowly, she realized Charlotte was in bed next to Aiden, and she glanced up, finally catching sight of Triaten.
“Shiv?” She choked out.
Triaten didn’t want to be the one to tell her, but Aiden and Char weren’t moving. His heart breaking for her, he whispered, “I’m so sorry, Skye.”
She burst out of the bed in a blink, stepping away from the mattress, from Triaten, her hands up, fighting off the truth she didn’t want to hear.
Triaten stood up, and began shaking Aiden. He didn’t react. The wounds Charlotte had healed were so deep in places, it was no wonder he wasn’t snapping too. But Triaten kept shaking him.
It wasn’t until Skye put her hand on his wrist that he stopped and looked over at her.
“Is he okay?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t wake him. I need to be alone.” It was a whisper, and oddly flat.
Triaten nodded.
Skye stiffly walked out of the room.
Triaten followed her downstairs, keeping his distance, and then let her be once he realized she wasn’t leaving the house. She went into the library and closed the door behind her.
He was upstairs with Charlotte and Aiden, watching the morning light stream in through the window, when Aiden finally moved. Aiden’s hand went out to the vacant spot Skye had been sleeping in. Feeling nothing but sheets, he was awake and out of bed in one motion. A quick search of the room, and his eyes narrowed at Triaten.
“Where is she?”
“Downstairs.”
“Dammit Triaten — you said you’d wake me.”
Triaten stood up on the opposite side of the bed. “I tried, you were too deep. And then she stopped me.”
Aiden pulled on a black t-shirt and jeans Triaten had found for him. “She knows?”
“Yes.”
“Dammit.” Aiden punched the bed. Charlotte rustled, but stayed sleeping.
“How is she? Was she acting any different?”
“Aside from just losing her sister, she was fine. She didn’t wake up a crazy Malefic, she just wanted to be alone. I’ve been checking on her. She’s downstairs in the library.”
Aiden’s eyes closed, half in relief, half in dread at the loss Skye just suffered.
Charlotte woke up at the voices.
“I’m going down.” Aiden strode out of the room.
Triaten sank back down to the chair.
Charlotte rolled over on the bed to face him. “Do we need to go down there?”
“No –” he shrugged, “I don’t know — yes. Let’s give him ten minutes. How are your leg and foot?”
Charlotte sat up and gently swung her calves off the side of the bed. She circled her foot. “Foot’s good. But I’m going to leave your splint on my leg longer.”
“You should go back to sleep.”
She shook her head. “No, we need to go down. Let’s just go find me some pants that’ll fit over your splint.”
Ten minutes later, Triaten and Charlotte made their way down the stairs, Charlotte hobbling on her bandaged leg.
Surprise registered on both of their faces when they got to the foyer and Aiden was standing outside the room, his forehead leaning against the thick mahogany door of the library. His hand was frozen on the handle.
They came up behind him, and could immediately hear what had stopped him. Gut-crushing, screaming sobs were coming from the library.
Charlotte’s hand went over the back of Aiden’s shoulder, and she squeezed it. “You have to go in there, Aiden.”
His head stayed on the wood of the door. “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s right here. I can’t fix this for her. You hear that pain. What am I supposed to do? What can I do?”
“Hold her.” Charlotte rubbed his shoulder. “And if she doesn’t want that, sit by her. Talk to her. Listen to her. Just be there. That you can do.”
Aiden nodded. With a deep breath, he cracked the door.
Skye was a mess on the floor. Splayed out on the center of the mosaic, her cheek pressed into the floor on the face of the ground goddess, fingers clawing at the tiles of her hair. She only wore one of Aiden’s shirts, but it was long enough to reach her thighs. Sobs were racking her body, and her shoulders blades were heaving with the weight of the pain.
Minutes passed before she realized the door had opened and Aiden was standing at the threshold. Her sobs paused as she pulled herself half up, balancing on her elbows. She burrowed her legs into her stomach.
“Where is her body?” she choked out.
A
iden looked back at Triaten.
“She’s in town, waiting instruction.” Triaten answered.
Skye took the news and slid back down, burying her head into her hands. Her shoulders shook. She was pleading when she looked up again. “Why couldn’t I save her, Aiden? Why?”
He moved to her in an instant, gathering her up in his arms. “I don’t know, hon. I don’t know.”
Aiden collected her up the best he could, and she disappeared into him, his large frame swallowing her racked body.
At the doorway, Triaten turned to Charlotte and she nodded. Silently, he slid the door closed.
Charlotte leaned against the door. “She has already been through so much. I worry about when it will all be too much for her.”
“Aiden will be able to keep her sane.” Triaten ran his fingers through his hair, and then reached out to wipe a tear from Charlotte’s cheek. “Hungry?”
“No. Honestly, all I want right now is a hot shower. Smoke is still all I smell. And it’s just a cruel taunt of how I failed Skye.”
Triaten’s eyebrow rose at her comment, but he said nothing.
Charlotte started to hobble up the stairs, but Triaten didn’t let her take two steps before he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. He set her down on the teak bench in his bathroom, and went over to the marble shower. “Do you want all the jets on?”
“Yes, I need every inch of me doused, please,” she answered as she took off Triaten’s shirt.
Triaten’s fingers flew across the LED screen, and in a second, all fifteen jets turned on behind the glass enclosure. Five from above, and the rest lining up and down the sides of the spacious shower.
“Let me help with that.” Triaten walked back over to Charlotte and knelt in front of her. She had just removed the wide lounge pants and was bent over her leg, trying to find the end of the bandage Triaten had wrapped her leg with. “It was a fast, crazy wrap, so it’s not going to be the easiest to remove.”
His hand slid along her skin just above her knee, finding the spot he had tucked the end of the bandaging into. He unwrapped the long snake of the bandage, going around and around her leg, and then he suddenly stopped.
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