Elydes

Chapter 282 - Headstrong Will

A series of successive fires blasted the burning house—Herry Rickson had been nothing but thorough with the defenses of his house. The explosions showered their backs in heat and shoved them forward.

Kai leaned against the grimy stone wall of a building to not lose his footing. His right ankle sent a piercing pain up his leg. He could still move his foot, so it was just sprained, a modest price for jumping out of the second floor of a burning building.

Damn lunatic. Couldn't even blow himself up alone.

He took a vial from his ring, the alchemic potion flowed down his throat like an icy drink on a hot day. The pain dimmed into a dull ache, though his ankle couldn’t entirely heal for as long as he kept moving.

What a mess.

The conversation they had eavesdropped in the study swirled in his head. When Kai tried to knit the knowledge into a coherent tapestry, he had the inkling he wouldn’t like the result. He pushed the thoughts aside, pressed by the worry for his sister.

Aside from dust and soot, Kea came out unscathed from the fall—at least physically. She helped support his weight, her gaze lost among the shadows. “He’s dead… I thought I could save him… They’re all dead…”

This he could only refer to Caeden, her lost companion. Kai had no idea who the guy was, but he could understand the numb grief in his sister’s eyes. They both knew the pain of losing someone close. From her mutterings, she also felt responsible for failing her teammate.