Hearts of Fire by Kira Brady Page A

she would give him one of hers. She would give him the very thing that made her Kivati: her totem, her sacred half. He could fly on Owl’s wings to the great beyond and keep watch with the spirits of her ancestors until she joined him again.
    There, where there was no misery, no bloodshed, no war, they would finally be free to love.
    “Alice, come away from him.” Will tried to pull her up.
    “Get off of me!” She sent her anger through the Aether to shove him. “How could you?”
    “He is an abomination—”
    “I love him! There is nothing wrong with our love. You are the damned one, if even love cannot move you!”
    “You’re talking nonsense, Alice,” Emory said. “Let’s get you away from this heat—”
    “No! How many must die before you are satisfied? Hattie? Will? Me? Will you throw open the Gate? Let the rivers run red with the blood of our people? What cost is your hatred?”
    They had no response.
    There, beneath her fingers, the hole in Brand’s chest seemed to shrink. His strange blue-black blood oozed over the ragged edges of the hole, and when she wiped it away she found unbroken skin. Sweat glistened on his sculpted chest. Beads formed and slid down his front. Movement. She felt movement. His chest shivered. It rose and fell, growing stronger. Breath returned to his lungs.
    “Blessed Lady,” she whispered. His eyelids fluttered. She gripped his hand and held on tight. He squeezed her fingers. A moan escaped from his lips. “Brand? Love? Can you hear me?” His eardrums would have burst from the thunderbolt, but if a hole in his chest could knit, then his healing was surely capable of more magic.
    “Alice?” His lips barely moved. His voice was a whisper.
    “I’m here.”
    “Don’t leave me.”
    “Never.” She swore it with the full force of her gift. The Aether reverberated with her oath. His eyes opened, and she stared into his beloved blue gaze.
    The edge of his mouth quirked. “Never is a long time.”
    “An eternity won’t be enough.”
    “Alice, move aside!” Will ordered. But some of the anger had left him.
    She ignored him. Ignored the burning town, so many dreams floating away into the smoky night. Ignored the Thunderbirds and humans and dragons alike who fought the flames and each other. She helped Brand stand, and even though he quickly regained his strength, she kept her arm firmly wrapped around his waist.
    Emory watched her with arms crossed. “I won’t lose my sister to those monsters—”
    “Your hatred did that. Come on, Brand. Let’s leave this place.”
    “Stop, Ali.” Emory raised his chin. “I order you to—”
    “Order me? Order me? Is it such a cold day in hell?”
    “Father is dead, so—”
    She closed her eyes against the sharp pang. “If Father is dead, there is nothing left for me here.”
    Will stepped forward, one hand out. “Wait, Alice. You don’t know what you’re saying.”
    “The woman knows her own mind.” Brand bent his head to hers. He kissed her, strong and full and brimming with life. “Lady Alice, the only way to kill me is to slice out my heart. I’ve never felt so vulnerable with my heart flying around outside of my body.”
    “I’ll keep it safe,” she whispered. “But only if you’ll do the same.”
    “Forever,” he said.
    “And always.”

Epilogue
    Alice and Brand left Seattle and never looked back. They settled in the north, where they were free to hunt through the uncut wild forests and fly. They left a town burnt clear to the ground. Upon that foundation of ash and hatred, a new city was born. The inhabitants razed the streets and built over the bones of the past. Sven Norgard took his Deadglass and founded his city of Ballard a few leagues to the north the next year. Halian Corbette’s dreams died alongside him in the battle. The Kivati scattered to the four winds. Halian’s son, Emory, wrested control of what was left and, swearing to wipe the Drekar from the face of the earth, continued to fight.