The Ascension Read Online Free PDF Page A

understand, later.
    For now, there are wounds to see to before they become grievous .”
    Sparks nodded dul y, then looked over to where Gem and Rio were pinned. The sight seemed to spur him to action, because he hurried over to Gem, a look of pure concern creasing his features.
    “Gem…”
    He looked at the arrow sticking from her shoulder.
    “We have to get this out.”
    “I know.”
    Gem also knew the part that he wasn’t saying, which was that it would hurt a lot. It wasn’t like there were any anesthetics nearby. Worse, with no antiseptics , there was every chance of the wound getting infected if they didn’t manage to keep it clean.
    “Just make it quick,” she said, and tried to brace herself for the pain. It was worse than Gem could have imagined. She screamed with it as the wood and metal of the arrow tore from her flesh, then nearly col apsed with the pain. Sparks caught her, holding her close to him.
    Something happened then. For no reason that Gem could see, Sparks placed his hands to the wound in her shoulder. Light, bril iant as the sun, seemed to pour from him, into the hole punched by the arrow. The pain vanished, replaced by a sensuous rush of pleasure that verged on the ecstatic . It felt like the best kiss Gem had ever experienced, mixed in with something deeper, a connection that she couldn’t describe even as she felt the blood around the injury coagulate and the flesh close up over it.
    The light stopped flowing from Sparks, and the two of them stood there, holding on to each other, looking into one another’s eyes. The green of Sparks’ eyes seemed to glow with an inner light, as though the iris were a planet blocking out some distant star. Amid it al , Gem could see the mixture of joy at saving her, uncertainty at al that was happening to him, and contentment to be so close to her. Gem wondered what Sparks would see of her in that moment of empathy . It was somehow more intimate just standing there than any of the few chaste kisses they had shared before.
    “I… am, aren’t I? The Summer Prince. Her son. Al of it.” Sparks breathed it, barely above a whisper. Gem nodded, putting a hand to his face.
    “It wil be al right,” she promised. “Now, go and help Rio.”
    To his credit, Sparks did turn towards the other boy to help him, but he hesitated.
    “Um… Gem, that was pretty… let’s just say that it’s not real y the sort of moment I want to share with Rio.”
    He said it louder than the rest. Obviously loud enough for Rio to hear, because the other boy made a face.
    “I’m not exactly elated either, farm boy. Just pul me off of this stupid tree.”
    The Summer Queen managed to solve some of the awkwardness of the moment, moving forward graceful y to help Rio. She pul ed the arrow from him with a speed that barely gave Rio time to bite down and stop himself from crying out, then put those delicate hands over the wound in his leg. It closed up seamlessly.
    “Brave,” she commented with a gentle smile that made Rio look away. “Now come, al of you. Join me in my home. In your home,” she added, looking at Sparks.
    There didn’t seem to be anything else to do but fol ow, and Gem fel in with the rest of the group, doing her best to stay close to Sparks. Rio loped alongside them, while the fairy warriors and the goat-legged men – satyrs, Gem guessed, walked along in a rough bunch. They didn’t have to walk like that for long. After ten minutes, perhaps less, the trees gave way to meadow, and then to a lawn as careful y maintained as any Gem had seen.
    Not that she was looking at it by that point.
    Instead, her gaze was focused firmly forward, on the palace that stood in the center of the garden like a glittering prize. “Glittering” was certainly the right word for it. The wal s shone golden in the sunlight, word for it. The wal s shone golden in the sunlight, while half of the windows seemed to be mirrored.
    P ri sms refracted light into rainbows around the eaves, while