“Aye.” He was blackened and burned, but he was whole.
Relief rushed through her, and she spun to kneel at Aurora’s side. She looked like hell, her golden skin sallow and her eyes closed.
“Aurora!” Esha shook her gently. “Come on, wake up. You have to be okay.” The wound in her back seeped blood, but not enough to be fatal. Right? Even without the souls, her sister shouldn’t die from something as small as that. “Come on!” She shook her again.
“Hey, chill out!” Ana said. “Give her a second.”
Esha drew in a shuddery breath and realized that fear was making her a bit crazy. She was appearing in the foyer of this house holding broken bodies far too often. “Let’s get her up to the bedroom.”
She wrapped her arms around her sister and aetherwalked them to her bedroom. By the time she got her sister up onto the bed, Aurora was stirring. A second later, she popped upright and shoved Esha away.
“It’s okay! You’re safe!” Esha shouted.
Aurora leapt to her feet and threw out her arm, but no power hit Esha. Esha’s shoulders relaxed. Her sister must be tapped out, and with Ana downstairs, she couldn’t refuel.
“What the hell happened?” Aurora demanded, her eyes wild but her color turning golden again. She swung her head, searching the room for threats.
“We took your souls.”
“I know that! But why? You betrayed me!” Aurora backed into the corner, her hands raised as if to fight.
“I didn’t. I helped you! The souls were making you crazy. It was only going to get worse. Eventually, you’d be trapped here like all the other soulceresses who stole souls. A shade stuck in this miserable city.”
“What? Where am I?”
“The old soulceress city. The one with the temple that led to your world. I had to do it, Aurora. It was killing Warren, and it was killing you too. We aren’t meant to own souls.”
“Damn it, that’s how I protected myself!” Aurora’s eyes gleamed with anger and desperation, but not the black madness that had haunted her when she’d been influenced by the trapped souls.
“The world isn’t that bad anymore. You’ll be fine. I’ll help you be fine. You’ll be with me. And don’t you feel better without them weighing on you?”
“I doona know. Everything feels wrong!” Her sister’s brow wrinkled. She looked so desperate and confused it made Esha’s heart ache.
“I’ll help you, Aurora. I promise. Everything will be fine.” Esha backed up to the wall and slid down onto the floor, trying to look nonthreatening and helpful. Her sister mirrored her, sinking down to sit against the opposite wall.
After a while, Aurora’s breathing calmed, and the frantic glaze to her eyes eased. She finally seemed to believe that Esha wouldn’t hurt her. She said, “I suppose I do feel a little better. No’ torn in so many directions. And my mind feels clearer. But damn it, Esha, what the hell am I supposed to do now?”
“I’m going to figure that out. You’re still a powerful badass. It’ll be fine.”
“I know I’m
a powerful badass, damn it. I just need to get powered up. But the future doesn’t look so bright from here.”
“Sure it does. You’re not being driven mad by souls or hiding out like a hermit on your island.”
“I liked my island.” Aurora glared at her.
“The world is better. Come on, we’ll go get cleaned up in the hot springs. You’ll love them.”
An hour later, once her sister was no longer freaking out, Esha went in search of Warren. It was getting so late, and she’d only slept a few hours the night before. Exhaustion dragged at her shoulders like ten-ton boulders. She found him in the bedroom he’d claimed as his own for their short stay, standing at the window and looking out at the city. He was standing straighter, and most of his wounds appeared to be healed, probably with Ana’s help.
“Hey,” she said.
He turned around and she gasped. In the craziness of stabbing Aurora, she hadn’t really seen him since he’d received his soul.
He was so different. Golden. Perfect.
She’d always thought him perfection before, and it had kind of annoyed her even as it had intrigued her. But not having his soul apparently had physical ramifications as well. He was so handsome that he made her head swim. So strong, honorable, kind. So everything.