Duality

part twenty

The arrow hit Anna square in her chest.

She fell on top of Mila, her heart beating a few seconds after she'd stopped drawing in air. Her weight on top of Mila's wounds wasn't what hurt: it was her death. Even as Ashton hauled Anna to the side, Mila found herself straining not to be free, but to go to Anna.

From a young age, Mila had known she wouldn't die and Anna would. She'd thought they had more years, though, and more recently, time for Mila to turn Anna around. Maybe Ashton saw a troubled person, but Mila saw the woman who had tried to kill her and take her powers... who would always be her guardian.

"Hang on," Ashton said, though Mila hadn't struggled. Her gaze locked on Anna, trying to forget the past few days. When even at her angriest, Anna was on Mila's side.

The ropes slackened as Ashton burnt through them. Without the restraints, Mila rolled to her side and brought her knees in to stretch her way to Anna's fallen form. Hands captured her shoulders, stopping her, and a warm shoulder blocked her view.

"You'll be okay."

Ashton's words sounded like an echo, a memory. Futilely, Mila stretched against his hold, trying to find her way to Anna. He cradled her in his arms, checking her for injuries.

The tears hadn't fallen yet, but she knew when they did, she wouldn't be able to speak. "Let me see her."

"Don't do this to yourself," Ashton whispered. He stood, taking her with him. The movement made her dizzy, and her limbs felt like lead where Ashton didn't support them. With her head lolled back, she could see Anna, though.

Ashton tightened his hold on her, and Mila knew he was going to take her away. "Please," she begged, hand reaching behind him.

In refusing to look at his face she couldn't figure out why he continued to hold her after her request. With obvious reluctance, he lowered her to the ground, about a foot away from Anna. "Don't hurt yourself," he said, placing a hand on Mila's back when she immediately sat up.

Trying to keep herself calm, she ignored him. She'd deal with his broken promise later. Pressing her palms into the dirt, Mila dragged herself closer. Anna's cheeks looked pale already. Mila started to reach for her chest, to pull the arrow out, and remembered her missing fingers. Using the power she'd started to feel stirring, she yanked the arrow out.

"Easy," Ashton said.

Mila wished he would stop talking. Next she removed the arrow from Anna's hand, not that it would bother her now. Placing her hand over the wound on Anna's chest that had stopped bleeding, Mila wished there was something else she could do.

Ashton must have noticed her missing fingers—or just decided they were a problem—because he said, "Why don't we heal you?"

Fatigue swamped Mila and everything ached, but she was immortal: these pains meant nothing. Anna lay dead, and that meant everything. She pressed her hand firmly against Anna, trying to transfer some of her heat.

"Let's leave," Ashton encouraged.

"Stop." Mila didn't know what his rush was, but if he wanted to leave, fine: she would stay until she felt she'd properly atoned for Anna's death. If she'd tried to hide better from Ashton, if she'd never gotten so involved... Sure enough, the tears bloomed.

Unaware he was the source of her problems, Ashton said, "You're hurting. Let's—"

"I said stop!" Her voice cracked at the end and lightning forked from the sky, but at least he'd shut up. "You can leave."

She'd known he would stand there, but his silence irritated her. "You're badly hurt," he gave as his explanation for hovering.

And Anna was dead. "I'll manage," she lied, letting the tears drop onto her chest instead of moving her hands from Anna. Without a guardian she actually didn't know what she'd do: she didn't need the hut, or rest. She would live alone in the woods, reminded of Anna's absence with every breath.