The sight of more burned skin and great purple bruises made Esha wince. A shuddery breath escaped her lungs as Ana sat on the side of the bed, laid her hands lightly on the broad expanse of Warren’s chest, and closed her eyes.
Esha watched as Ana tried to heal Warren’s various wounds. It didn’t look like much, but as Ana removed her hand from each burn or broken bone, smooth, healed skin was revealed. It was working. The terrible tightness in Esha’s chest eased.
Eventually, Ana rose and turned to face her. “That’s all I’ve got.”
Esha rushed to Warren’s side and ran her fingertips gently over his chest. It rose, steady and even. Nearly all the bruising and burns were gone. His limbs were all straight and he slept peacefully.
“His body can take care of the rest.” She spun and threw her arms around Ana. “Thank you.”
“’Course. What happened?”
They walked over to the doorway so that they could talk without waking Warren. In a hushed whisper, Esha told her all about Aurora and Warren.
“Maybe it’s not as bad as you think. Maybe he wasn’t trying to kill her. Just trying to protect himself,” Ana said.
“I guess it’s possible.” Gods, she’d been scared when she’d seen Aurora blast Warren. She’d worried initially that Aurora might use her love for Warren against her, but never that she’d actually try to kill him.
Esha’s mind skidded to a halt. Love? Did I just think the word love? She swallowed hard, her head reeling. She scrubbed a hand over her face. Gods, she was a mess. She couldn’t actually love Warren, she just liked him a lot. Less now that he’d tried to kill her sister. But then, Aurora wasn’t innocent herself. There was no question now that Warren was right and she’d been blinded by her desire for a sister. Aurora was too dangerous.
“Are you okay?” Ana asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I just—”
Warren shifted, and her eyes locked on him.
“I think he’s waking,” Ana said. “I’m going to go explore. I’ve never been to a place so weird. I’ll be back in a while.”
“Thank you again.” Esha hugged her friend, so desperately grateful.
“Esha.” Warren’s scratchy voice made her let go of Ana and run to his side.
She dropped to her knees next to the bed. “Hey.”
He sat up on the bed and said, “What the hell happened?”
“You and Aurora tried to kill each other.” The boiling tar of anger surged within her at the memory, spurred on by the stress and frustration over everything that she couldn’t control. “You faced her alone, when she’s insanely powerful and could take you out. She could take anyone out!”
“Hey, hey.” He reached out and gripped her arms, trying to calm her. “I wasn’t trying to kill her. And hell, Esha, you did the same damn thing! You went there alone.”
“Don’t turn this around on me. And what the hell do you mean, you weren’t trying to kill her?”
Warren glanced over the bed and the floor as though he was searching for something. “I was no’. Where’s the dagger I had in my hand?”
“Um, I don’t know.” She searched her memory. “I think it’s on the floor downstairs in the foyer. Why the hell does it matter?”
“It’s a soulceress weapon that I found in that museum. The painting on the wall of the temple says that dagger will remove the stolen souls from a soulceress, but it won’t kill her.”
Shock left Esha temporarily speechless. He hadn’t been trying to kill Aurora? Finally, she said, “What?”
“The shade who’s been following us helped me get to the temple, then showed me the painting.”
“That’s how you navigated.”
“Aye, without it, I never would have made it. The soul wants to be set free. It’s trapped here until the temple is destroyed.”
Understanding dawned. “Oh, crap. I’ve heard of souls like that, but only briefly and I didn’t make the connection. When soulceresses who steal souls die, their own souls can’t pass on to their afterworld because the stolen souls are tangled up with their own. It pulls them in so many different directions that they can’t leave earth. So they come here.”
“If we destroy the temple, they’ll be freed.”