A Court of Flames and Shadows

32. Scorched Memories

The artwork above is not mine.

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Seren burned all through the day. She couldn't seem to wear herself out. This hadn't even taken the edge off her tension. Cassian's shields were holding strong, but she knew he was tired. Still, he let her swing at him. He continued to taunt her. She knew he would until she was done.

By noon, her flames finally winked out. Seren fell to her knees, panting. Cassian let his shields fall hesitantly. "Are you all right?"

"Fine. You?"

He stretched his arms above his head, then shook his wings out. "Not a scratch. I'm a little disappointed. I was hoping I'd have a few burns or something." Cassian sat down on a boulder. It was scorched black from soot.

"I can fix that, but Nesta would probably kill me," Seren chuckled.

"Yes, she would. I'd have fun explaining that to Elain and Az."

"Do you think he's all right?"

"I'm sure he's sleeping like a babe, provided Nyx isn't shrieking his head off again. Madja is a skilled healer. She's fixed all of us up more times than we'd care to admit."

Seren wiped sweat off her forehead. Her skin was warm to the touch. She knew ashes covered her hair and face. Lady of Ashes, she thought. The shadows would be delighted to see me now. In response, the shadow wiggled around her arm.

"Why did you two make that bargain?" Cassian asked. He pointed to the shadow. "I know this shadow liked you when you arrived, but then Az started wearing a band of your fire."

"We made it after you brought me back from the House of Wind that one time. He told me that my flames don't scare him. Sometimes, he just can't stand fire of any kind. I apologized and so did he. I asked him if we could make it an official bargain and he agreed. Whenever the shadow is with me, a band of my fire will be with him. The shadow has rarely left me since then," Seren explained.

"And the other bargain? The one from the water drop tattoo?"

Seren held up her hand, eyeing the waves that filled the water droplet. "He would help me overcome my fear of weapons and I would help him overcome his feelings about physical contact."

"Oh?" Cassian raised an eyebrow and smirked.

She threw a fistful of ash at him. "Nothing like that."

"Yet."

Seren tilted her head and watched him curiously. "What makes you say that?"

Cassian shrugged. He gestured to the ravaged clearing. "The fact that you've been on fire for a little over twenty-four hours because you're worried about him. The fact that he would have threatened Feyre if she came close to you when you were unable to defend yourself."

Seren narrowed her eyes. "He did that?"

"Almost. The first time you burned yourself out, Feyre, Rhys, and I came to investigate. Azriel wouldn't let us come near you. He warned us to stay back. When Feyre acted like she was going to approach you, he just...I think Rhys was actually worried he might do something to her."

"Would he have?" Seren rubbed her palms together. I don't want him hurting anyone in his family because of me.

"Honestly," Cassian glanced at her, "I don't know. He's always been protective of Feyre. He's usually the second person to leap to her defense, right behind Rhys. The fact that he would actually react to her like he did...I don't know. I hope not. Rhys would never forgive him."