Ascension Saga: 9. Grace Goodwin

blast rocked the air and moved through the ground beneath us like an earthquake. I clung to Nix, in so much pain I could do nothing else, every sound like a cannon blast inside my skull.

      The rumbling stopped. Fire blazed into the sky behind Nix’s outline where he hovered above me. His large, warm hands were gentle on my face and he turned me so that I looked up at him. His lips were moving, but my ears hurt. I couldn’t hear a word he was saying, but could read his lips. “Destiny, what have you done?”

      My back burned, the uniform sticking to my flesh where the explosion had seared my skin. Contact with the ground under me added to my misery, but I felt the welcoming cold numbness of shock setting in, and I didn’t even try to hold it off. Numb meant bliss at the moment.

      Nothing mattered. Morson didn’t matter. He had been in front of us, far enough away to survive. And if he didn’t, well, we’d tried. I looked Nix over the best I could from my position. Satisfied that he would survive relatively unharmed and with just a ReGen wand pass or two, I smiled with relief. Mission accomplished. I loved him. And I protected the people I loved. The list wasn’t all that long, and Nix had somehow clawed his way to the top. “I love you, Nix.”

      “Goddess damn it, Destiny.”

      That one I knew. I read his lips easily, he’d said it often enough.

      I was still smiling when I lost consciousness.