18
Kamira woke up like a drowning person who finally reaches the water’s surface: with a desperate gasp. Her whole body ached from overexertion, as if the magic she had channeled had burnt it inside out, but with enough rest, she’d recover, and that alone brought a sigh of relief. Yet at the scent of burnt flesh, her eyes snapped open and all the concerns returned. Veelk still kept her close, but his clothes were gone, and his skin was covered with deep burns, the price he had paid for protecting her. She’d seen him heal from worse, but his scars, pulsing with intense red, made her scramble to get up. Putting her weight on her broken arm sent her back to the ground with a groan, so she resigned to resting on her healthy limb and looked Veelk over.
The blisters on his skin brought tears t
