From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

into myy chest. I had no idea how much time had passed. Could’ve been
minutes, or it could’ve been hours before Hawke called out to me.
Myy eyyes fluttered open to find him staring down at me. His features
were a little out of focus, fuzzyy around the edges. He was leaning back
against a wall, head tipped against it, and he looked utterlyy relaxed in that
moment, as if he were the one to have tasted the magic and not I.
“How are yyou feeling?” he asked.
I wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Was myy bodyy burning as if
it were on fire? Did it sting and pulse? No. “I’m not cold. Myy chest…it’s
not cold.”
“It shouldn’t be.”
He didn’t understand. “I feel…different.”
A small smile appeared. “Good.”
“I feel like myy bodyy…isn’t attached.”
“That will go awayy after a few minutes. Just relax and enjoyy it.”
“I don’t hurt anyymore.” I tried to steadyy myy thoughts, but theyy were
swirling. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s myy blood.” He lifted his hand, brushing strands of hair off myy
cheek. His touch sent a shiver of awareness through me, and I liked the
feeling. I liked the wayy he made me feel. I alwayys had, but I wasn’t
supposed to now. “The blood of an Atlantian has healing properties. I told
yyou that.”
“That…that is unbelievable,” I whispered.
“Is it?” Reaching over, he picked up myy arm. “Were yyou not wounded
here?”
Myy gaze followed his to myy inner forearm. Dried blood and dirt
smudged the surface, but where claws had ripped the tissue open, the skin
was now smooth under the grime.
“And here?” he asked, moving his hand so that his thumb swirled
around myy upper arm, right below myy shoulder. “Were yyou not clawed
here?”
Myy gaze snagged on the pale scar of the old Craven attack, just inside
myy elbow. I forced myy gaze to where his thumb continued to glide in small
circles. There were no fresh marks. No gaping wounds. I stared in wonder.
“There’s…there’s no new scars.”
“There will be no new scars,” he said. “That is what I promised.”
He had. “Your blood…it’s amazing.”