Chapter 40 · After the Ashes

Kellan woke to the taste of metal and rain.

Not rain from a sky. Rain from a ruptured coolant line, cold beads striking his cheek before sliding into the hollow beneath his jaw. Somewhere above him, pumps groaned in uneven cycles. The sound had the rhythm of a dying animal trying to breathe.

He opened his eyes.

A woman leaned over him, framed by emergency lights. Red washed across her face, turning the sharp planes of it into something carved from blood and fire. Dark hair clung to her temples. There was a cut at her lower lip. Her eyes were wide, furious, and wet.

She said his name.

“Kellan.”

The word moved through him without finding a place to land.

He stared at her.

The woman’s breath caught. “Kellan, look at me.”

He tried. He found the shape of her face, the tremor in her fingers, the tiny silver scar crossing one eyebrow. He found a hundred details and no meaning. Her voice should have opened a door.