Blue Blood (Series of Blood Book 3) by Emma Hamm (books to read this summer .txt) 📕

“And you worry about that? Were you not the one threatening to kill everyone in the prison?”

“That was different.”

“No, it wasn’t. You just didn’t know the people you would have been hurting.”

He was right. She knew he was right. She would have destroyed everyone in that prison and felt no guilt. But she also would have stepped further towards creating the monster she knew they could become.

Mercy sighed and lay down on the remaining blankets. She pressed her face into the soft fabric, breathing in the scent of ash and scorched cloth. Ignes crawled up her leg and wound himself into the hollow of her hip. He was careful not to touch any part of the bed he could burn.

She shuddered as she inhaled. “What are we going to do, Ignes?”

“What we have always done. We are going to survive.”

“Can we live with others?”

“I don’t know.” He stretched his lizard head and rested it gently against her shoulder. “But if it makes you happy, we can try.”

She didn’t know what made her happy anymore. Mercy’s body slowly relaxed as Ignes’s heat sank into her. Her jaw cracked in a wide yawn.

“Watch over me tonight? So I don’t have nightmares.”

Small sparks of light appeared throughout the tent. These were controlled, fed only by their magic running through their veins. “Rest easy.”

Her eyes closed as the shadows were chased from her prone body.

“Mercy!” The Hag shouted across the fields. “You have grown weak in your slumber!”

Mercy chuckled and wiped at her brow. Perhaps she had, but did the old woman really expect her to keep up?

Gardening hadn’t sounded daunting when Mercy had agreed to help. The Hag, Priscilla, was so kind this morning. Mercy had awoken to the smell of sweet porridge brought directly to her tent. When asked politely to assist, Mercy had been all too pleased to help.

She hadn’t realized “gardening” really meant tilling the fields.

“I’m going to bring you back a horse!” she bellowed.

“No need!” the old woman shouted back. “I have you!”

Mercy shook her head with a rueful grin. They were trying to kill her; surely that was the only explanation. Her back ached, her feet throbbed, and there was a headache building between her eyes.

She straightened. A headache. Her grin widened. When was the last time she’d had a lasting headache?

“Nope.” Ignes poked his lizard-like head out from underneath her shirt.

The slight pain of the headache vanished.

“Oh come on, that’s not fair.”

“Yes it is.” Tingling started in her blistered feet, which cooled as the healing began.

“Ignes! How am I supposed to be satisfied with my hard day’s work?”

“By being able to work again tomorrow,” he grumbled as he disappeared back down her shirt.

She shook her head, but Ignes’s interference did not hinder her pleasure of the moment. A real sun was shining down upon her back and a sweet breeze that didn’t smell of destruction or ruin brushed past her skin. This was not her Dream World; she was here.

Priscilla had loaned her shoes, but Mercy wanted to take them off. Though the ground would likely hurt the soles of her feet, she longed to feel the coolness of the grass and the squish of mud between her toes. Just to feel the sensations once again.

The hoe in her hands suddenly felt a little heavier. She wasn’t really tired — thanks to Ignes — but she wanted to leave. Gardening had been entertaining. She had enjoyed giving back to the community that had helped keep her sane.

Now she was ready for something more.

Tiny stomped by her, his bare feet digging through the ground much faster than her hoe. “You can go.” He chuckled. “We appreciate the help. But you’re holding all of us up.”

She cocked a hip and leaned on the tool. “Really? Then why did you ask for my help?”

“Pity. We didn’t want you to feel useless.”

“I’m not useless!”

“Of course you aren’t.” Tiny’s voice rang with barely contained laughter. “Why don’t you run to the river and get us some fresh water for the night?”

“I don’t do water.”

“No, but we do need water.”

She raised a suspicious eyebrow. “To drink?”

He pressed a hand over his mouth. His shoulders shook with mirth as he managed to stammer, “To put out the fires.”

“Tiny!” she shouted as he wandered away. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and his laughter boomed all around them.

Mercy shook her head and planted her fists on her hips. She would have to get the Giant back somehow. But that might take immense planning and likely a few weeks to prepare.

She blinked a few times as the thought solidified. She was thinking she would stay. After just a few days here, this place felt safe enough to linger. The clearing was filled with gypsy tents and fields full of crops, but it was in the middle of a forest that frightened most travelers away. Surely no one could find them here.

It had been years, hundreds of years, since she was able to call a place home. Even before her slumber, Mercy remembered life being difficult, rough, and her mind being emotionally disconnected. She had never felt at home in any place. Nowhere that had lingered through the depths of time.

“I also need water hawthorne.” The croaky voice came from Priscilla who had snuck up behind Mercy.

Flames immediately curled from Mercy’s palms and up her arms. As her heart slowed from being startled, she breathed in through her nose. “You really shouldn’t frighten me.”

“One day, you will gain control.” Priscilla reached out to pat her on the shoulder. “Until then, I will start to walk loudly through fields towards you. Still, if you wish not to be startled, then you should stop getting lost in your thoughts.”

The Hag had a point. Mercy didn’t know how to answer her. Saying she was right seemed redundant, and an argument felt wrong. So she shrugged. “Hawthorne?”

“I use it in my healing spells.” She pointed a gnarled finger towards the forest. “The river is not far.