Kingdom of Ash

But—those were her own bare fingertips
brushing over the cool, rough metal.
He’d taken off the iron gauntlets. Or had
forgotten to put them back on after what he’d
done. The way he’d held them over the open
brazier, until the metal was red-hot around her
hands and she was screaming, screaming—
Aelin pressed her palms flat against the
metal lid and pushed.
The shattered arm, the splinters of bone
jutting from her skin: gone.
Or had never been. But it had felt real.
More so than the other memories that
pressed in, demanding she acknowledge them.
Accept them.
Aelin shoved her palms against the iron,
muscles straining.
It didn’t so much as shift.
She tried again. That she had the strength
to do so was thanks to the other services