A Fractured Light (Beautiful Dark)

in the eye while he did it.”
    Asher’s face clouded over.
    “Why?” I asked, panic and confusion and a deep, aching sadness welling in me. “Why would he do that? I thought—he said—he loved me.”
    “As if I needed a reason to hate him more,” Asher muttered, avoiding my gaze. I immediately regretted saying anything. The Order and the Rebellion would hate each other until the end of time, and Asher and Devin were just pawns in the great rivalry. They couldn’t look at each other without the air between them turning at least ten degrees colder.
    “I didn’t say I loved him back,” I said quietly.
    “I know.” He continued to be fascinated by a knot in the wooden planks of the floor, his hands balling into fists at his sides.
    I took his hands in mine and slowly uncurled his fingers. He looked up at me, something in his eyes softening. “Did you save my life?” I asked.
    Asher’s face turned a brilliant shade of red, and I could feel his fingers trembling slightly. “I don’t know, I mean . . .” I grinned, and he suddenly seemed to snap out of his embarrassment. “You bet I did,” he said, some of his old cockiness returning. “And I’m taking full credit. I was able to get you here just in time, too. The fact that you didn’t die immediately from that sword is a credit to your human blood. If you were a full angel, you’d have died in a heartbeat.” He frowned. “I’m sure the Order is real thrilled about all this. They thought they’d eliminated you as a threat.”
    “Well, they were wrong,” I said.
    “Glad to see the coma didn’t knock out the fighter in you.” Asher smiled and leaned back in his chair.
    “What happened to Devin? After we left?”
    “Don’t know.” He crossed his arms over his chest, watching me. “Maybe he burned up in the fire? That would be a happy ending to all this.”
    I thought about the golden-haired angel who’d been my friend. He’d been more than that—the only one I could turn to when I was feeling alone and scared and had no one to trust. And he’d been prepared to betray me all along. Rage simmered just below the surface of my skin. But still, I couldn’t quite wish him dead.
    I leaned back on the pillows, suddenly exhausted.
    “So how long was I out? Aunt Jo, my friends—will they be worried?”
    “It’s been a couple of days.”
    I stared at him blankly, trying to suppress the panic.
    “Yeah,” he said. “They’re probably pretty worried.”
    “Does Aunt Jo know I’m all right? Have you heard from Cassie?” Asher’s face twisted uncomfortably. He looked almost guilty. “What?” I said, the panic building. The last time I’d seen Cassie, she was in a coma, in the hospital. “What about her? Have you talked to her?” Suddenly the thought of life without my best friend caved in on me. I could do a lot of things. I could create fire and cause a flood and had angel blood running through me. But I couldn’t live without Cassie. “Asher, is she okay?”
    He looked down and shook his head. “I couldn’t . . . I didn’t know how without revealing myself. I couldn’t just call your aunt on the phone and say, ‘Hey, Skye is in a coma! But I can’t tell you how it happened or where she is, so don’t ask!’ Imagine if all I could say was ‘Trust me’? Come on, Skye. Look at me. Even I don’t trust myself.” He looked up and spread his arms wide, showing off. The rumpled shirt. The faded jeans. The scuffed-up boots and the devilish grin. If I was Aunt Jo, I wouldn’t have trusted him with my life, either. It had taken forever for me to trust him myself.
    “I guess.”
    “That and . . .”
    “And what?” I asked.
    “They wouldn’t let me. The elders. They forbade me from contacting your family and friends until we knew what would happen to you.”
    “How could they do that?”
    “The truce is over. All bets are off. Just because the Rebellion doesn’t control your fate doesn’t mean they don’t want things to go their way.”
    An uneasy anger took over me. “They need me, don’t they? They need my powers.”
    Asher stood up and gripped my hand.
    “You’re so important to this fight, Skye. I wish you knew just how important you are.” His eyes glittered, serious. Suddenly I wondered if we were talking about the Rebellion anymore.
    Asher put a tentative arm around me. “Hey,” he said. “It’s going to be okay.” I leaned into his chest and felt another rush of emotions at the familiar scent