These Hearts We Shatter by Lir Shannon R

Author:Lir, Shannon R.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798986380216
Publisher: Gold Knot Press LLC
Published: 2023-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

29

The empty shore felt too tight to contain the fire in my veins.

All the blood rushed to my toes as Sin gently placed me face-down on the sand. Wraiths reached skeletal fingers toward us from the shallow water. Irian had brought us somewhere warm, the air no longer crisp, and if not for the edge of the sea kissing my shins, the jarring conditions might’ve felt unbearable.

But I was freezing, my lungs tight from the pain of each expansion. One ragged breath after another, it was like they had to shatter a coating of ice first.

I had the urge to cough and couldn’t. I wanted to stand, but a cold sweat crept across my skin, leaving me simultaneously shuddering and gasping from the heat building inside me.

Recognition burned in Sin’s eyes, and a single look from him was like a key in a lock, a door opening to reveal his exact thought. What we both recognized.

This was death.

He shook his head. “No. No, it’s not.”

His voice was thin, unconvincing, and I needed to move. I needed distraction from the pain.

Gods, the fucking pain.

A splintering scream ripped up my throat as I confronted those sensations all over again. Hot. Cold. Burning. Freezing. The aftermath of the burns I’d endured was worse than the actual moment I’d gotten burned.

“Keep her still,” Ranir hissed at Sin.

Her fingers worked quickly, plucking at the back of my shirt, the fabric in singed strips after I’d fallen into the wall Riona had scorched.

Or it’s strips of my skin she’s picking at.

The putrid scent of sweet, roasted meat told me more than I wanted to know. It reached the back of my throat, wrenching up a dry heave from my empty gut.

I tried to prop myself up and failed. Repeatedly. I pedaled my legs, digging my knees into the damp sand to be sure I could move at all as my fingers curled into claws.

“Ness—”

Another screech replaced my plea, followed by those of the Sluagh.

Irian.

I reached toward him instinctively as another whip of lightning cracked between my shoulder blades.

“Keep still,” Ranir hissed again.

“Don’t move,” Sin whispered, the quietness of his words startling me when inside I was screaming.

I tried again and again to swallow, to no avail, forcing wheezes down a windpipe that felt like I’d swallowed all the sand on this shore.

“I’ve got you, love.”

Ranir’s hands halted.

Silence.

Deafening silence.

“She needs a soul.”

Her assessment was unsurprising.

“No soul,” I insisted.

A few feet away, I blinked between flickering images to see Laisrés digging his forehead into the sand, fighting through his own agony. A second later, Ranir was kneeling in front of him, slowly lifting the back of his shirt that kept fluttering up like something was…

Trying to get out, I thought right as a crow emerged and attempted to take flight. The poor creature’s shriek communicated so much pain in a single sound, and I sobbed as I watched it try to work its broken wings while Laisrés clawed toward it.

“Yeserra,” he gritted out, rising to his feet with jerky movements.

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