Silver Blood (Series of Blood Book 1) by Emma Hamm (bill gates book recommendations .TXT) 📕

“Red,” he whispered. “You’re hair should be red, sweetie.”

Her eyelids fluttered.

“That’s it, Wren. Come back to me, honey. You’re alright. You’re going to be alright.” He whispered the words against her skin as he pressed his mouth to her forehead, her cheeks, her chin.

“Burke?”

A great expulsion of breath heaved from his chest. She was alive. She was talking. He could not describe the flood of relief that took all of his strength. He drifted to the side with her in his arms before he pulled her closer to him. His strong arms held her safe.

“Jiminy, my name is Jiminy. I came for you.”

“I knew you would.”

He couldn’t stop himself. Carefully, oh so carefully, he pressed his lips to hers. He had to reassure himself that she was alive. This strange creature whom he had only just discovered but found was necessary to breathe. She was alive. She was safe. She was finally in his arms.

His arms tightened around her. He didn’t want to hurt her, but God, it felt so good to have her alive.

Pounding feet finally caught up to them. He broke away from her to see Lyra bend down and brace her hands against her knees.

“Damn, Burke. You can really run,” she huffed out.

“We have to get her home.”

“She’s injured,” Jasper growled as he stooped down next to them. The giant was hardly out of breath. Burke again wondered just how strong he really was. His hands reached out to touch the knife that was still sticking out of her side. “Djinn bound.”

“Is that bad?”

“Poisonous.”

“Wren,” he whispered as he looked down at her pale features. “We’ve got to go.”

“Burke, wait,” Wren muttered.

“We’re going now.”

“What about Malachi?” Lyra asked.

“Leave him. We’ve got her.”

“Burke.” This time, Wren’s voice was strong enough that the three of them looked down at her in surprise. “It’s not Wren.”

“What?”

“Thanks for the kiss, sweetie, but it’s not Wren.”

“E?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Where’s Wren?”

“I don’t know.” Her features shifted into an expression of profound grief. “I don’t know, Burke. I can’t find her.”

He looked up to meet Jasper’s eyes. The other man was remaining stoic, but he could see how badly he wanted to move.

“Let’s go.”

Jasper nodded and reached out to touch all of them. With each hand resting upon his broad forearm, he exhaled. Instantly, the four of them disappeared from the snow covered fields.

“C ongratulations is in order. You three have managed to bring her back home safe.”

The three in question were standing before Gaia covered in blood, gore, sweat, and other unmentionable things she wished not to dwell upon. But they had managed to bring back possibly one of the most important people in the world. She was suitably impressed.

Burke stood in the back of the room, itching to leave and see Wren. She was hurt. She was in pain.

She wasn’t there.

His heart constricted as the thought passed through his mind. They hadn’t had much time to speak since they returned to Haven. They had all been swept into separate rooms. She to the healers in hopes they might be able to stop the poison. He and his team to report to the Five.

He wanted to see her. Even if it was just her physical form, it was something. He could see that if she was still inside that great darkness that was E, that he might be able to get her back.

“Burke,” Gaia said his name with a gentle quality he had yet to hear from her.

“Yes, ma’am?”

She appeared surprised. “Ma’am? Since when do you call me ‘ma’am’?”

“I have other things on my mind.”

“I can see that.” She tapped her nails against the table she was seated at before waving her hand. “Lyra, Jasper, please leave.”

They hesitated for the barest moment, and Burke was grateful for it. Though he wasn’t as close to them as he should be with his team, he appreciated their worry for him. He was worried for himself.

The door clicked shut behind them, and Gaia continued to watch him. Her eyes danced over the bruises that were starting to form on his cheekbones and the cuts that decorated his knuckles.

“So,” she began, “she’s gone.”

“Not gone,” he answered gruffly. “Lost.”

“Lost.” A slow nod accompanied the word. “Burke, I hope you understand that you are a trusted member of this team. Your happiness is… considered in moments like this.”

“Considered?”

She scrubbed a hand over her face and suddenly appeared to be exhausted. “I am not capable of kindness like my sisters are. I was not made to be a soft woman. The Earth is not gentle, it is cruel.”

“I have seen the earth be gentle.”

“Not the kind I came from.” She attempted a smile then. Perhaps it was more of a grimace, but Burke appreciated her trying. “I want to make sure you are alright.”

“I will be once she awakens.”

“Burke, her body is already awake.”

“But not her mind.”

“I would have you aware that her mind may never heal from this.”

Burke flinched backwards. “It has to.”

“But it might not.”

“I will make it.”

“You don’t have a choice in this.” Gaia pointed to the chair in front of her. “Please.”

He sat down when she asked. Not because he wanted to hear anymore of what she had to say. He sat because his knees had suddenly gone weak at the idea that he might lose her.

“Legion is an incredibly powerful creature. It’s limits are… Well they aren’t really known to us.”

“It has no powers of its own.”

“Not entirely true,” Gaia said quietly. “Legion is not a result of our power. It is neither dark nor light. Which is precisely why Wren happens to not follow the generic qualities that our kind managed to take in human form. Her blood is not what ours is. Her mind also does not work in the same way. Legion is truly an untapped source of power.”

“For Malachi. He can use her.”

“Legion can use itself. It simply has to be trained.”

Burke looked at her then as the gears in his head turned. “You’re saying that Wren