Read Firebrand for Free Online Page B

head. Gave up. Tilted it instead.
    Rose knelt beside me. There was a candle on the floor, which meant that it was night. “How long have I been asleep?” My voice sounded strange—not really mine.
    â€œNot long enough.” She dipped a piece of cloth into a bowl, wrung it out, and draped it across my forehead. “How do you feel?”
    â€œTerrible. What happened?”
    â€œAlice kicked you in the head. And the arms. Body too.” I must have looked puzzled, because she continued, “She saved your life, Thomas. You brought your father back, but you wouldn’t stop. Everyone was shouting at you, but it was like you couldn’t hear us. So she made you stop.”
    I closed my eyes to shut out the pain. “I can feel that, yes.”
    My senses had returned with a vengeance now. I felt the humidity of the night, the smell of salt water on the cloth. What I couldn’t see was my father. “Where is he?”
    â€œHe’s in the next cabin. Griffin cleaned his wounds. Ananias found new clothes for him.” Rose reached for the wooden bangle she always wore and twisted it around her wrist nervously. “Your father’s alive, but he’s really weak.”
    â€œAnd what about you? How are you doing?”
    She let go of the bangle and touched the pendant I’d given her instead. She lifted it up and admired it in the candlelight. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel right now. My mother seems lost. Dennis is crushed. The only thing that kept him going was rescuing my parents—”
    â€œThat’s what kept us all going.”
    She let the pendant fall. “No, it wasn’t. Not just that. I did what it took to keep
us
together too, Thomas.” She removed the cloth from my forehead and dipped it in water again. “I loved my father. Trusted him, even when I thought he was wrong. But he lied to us—all of us. And at the end, when he was dying . . .” She raised the cloth and watched it drip into the bowl. “He spent his last breath making me promise I’d stay away from you.”
    I swallowed hard. “Why?”
    â€œBecause he was frightened of you and your family. Even though you couldn’t have known about Dare being your uncle, he still wanted to punish you. And me.”
    I couldn’t look at her anymore. The name Dare made me sick. “Who told you about that?”
    â€œMy father. So did Alice and Griffin. There’s no use keeping secrets anymore, Thomas. There aren’t enough of us left to take sides.”
    Rose squeezed the cloth and ran it across my forehead, past my left temple and over my cheek to my lips. The thin material was all that separated her fingers from my skin.
    We moved at the same time, sleeves brushing lightly, then hands touching. I tried to rein in my energy, but it wasn’t necessary. The hint of a smile on her lips told me she was just fine. Either my element was weakening like everyone else’s, or I was too exhausted to pass any energy at all.
    Our fingers intertwined, skin gliding over skin, like a warm breeze. Rose dropped the cloth and ran her free hand up my arm, kept moving until it rested on my shoulder. A finger glanced my chin, then another touched my cheek. I closed my eyes and tilted my head toward it. Here was hope. Here was proof that life would be better without an element.
    Rose uncurled her legs. “You should rest.” She picked up the bowl and the candle, and stood.
    â€œWait,” I called out. “What made you break the promise to your father?”
    She rested her head against the door. The braid had come undone now, and her hair hung lank across her face. She looked tired, but still beautiful. “I didn’t promise him anything.”
    I couldn’t hide my surprise. “What?”
    â€œHe was dying, and of all the things he could’ve said . . .” She bit her lip. “No. Of all the things