An explosion sounded somewhere in Reignom, causing a current of hot air and smoke to push through our intimate party.
The smoke didn’t simply filter through the air, but it lingered like the unnatural fire I’d witnessed at the first compound. It was as if it was cognizant, with a life of its own, as it flooded toward us. No, hunted toward us.
I braced Teddy against me, tucking the girls into my side while the gray smoke clung to us, swimming around us as if it was searching us for . . . something.
“Inside,” George called, ushering everyone into our cottage.
Alastor built a protective shield around us and our home, while the lirio ran from the trees in the forest, also trying to make their way into our home.
Teddy wheezed out a series of coughs I felt in my chest. I ran my magic through her, pulling out the smoke she inhaled until her lungs cleared.
Once inside, George and I joined our magic with Alastor’s, thickening and lifting the protective barrier so the smoke couldn’t get inside. It stilled at the front door, slamming against a barrier I didn’t see.
“Our protection spell,” Teddy said, looking at Alastor.
“It’ll keep everyone in here safe.” Alastor paced, his shoes clapping loudly against the hardwood floor.
“I have to go,” I said, turning toward our closed door.
“We’ll all go,” George said, “but first, let’s figure out what’s happening so we don’t run into a trap or ambush.”
I couldn’t stay here, though. Not with the smell of the multiple fires blazing infiltrating my nostrils. Worse than that, though, was the scent of burning flesh and the sound of the wails coming from the fae being burned alive.
I couldn’t wait until it was safe when my people were in immediate danger now. I needed to get to them and help those I could. Every beat wasted planning and thinking was another life we forfeited.
Vith.How was this happening again . . . on today, of all days?
Chapter
Twenty-One
ELIAS
I leftTeddy and the others in our home and let my instincts guide me to bend space to the grounds of our military training school. Or what remained of it. My stomach tightened with bile rising as I thought of the younglings living in the dormitories that burned with the unnatural fire.
Those living here were young, some too young to train for the military. But, like Brenton, the youngest who attended the school didn’t have families and opted to enlist rather than stay at the orphanage. The younglings’ shouts rushed me toward their blazing dormitories while I ignored the training gyms that I hoped were empty this late in the evening.
It was the younglings I needed to get to, not the buildings. The rest didn’t matter.
I raced into the closest dormitory without thought. Slipping further into my primal instincts, I followed the nearest cries, where I found a group of little males and females coughing with tears streaming down their young faces. They huddled together in the corner of their smoke-filled room.
“Hold on to me,” I told them, reaching out my hands as the seven littles grasped different parts of my arms.
Within a couple of beats, I bent space so that we were standing in the school’s courtyard, where the black and gray smoke made it difficult to see. I pointed toward a tree far enough away that they’d be safe.
“Stay there until more arrive to help,” I told them, my voice rough from the smoke I’d inhaled.
I didn’t wait for them to reply before I bent space back into the same dormitory. By the stairwell, I found more younglings. Only four this time. Their coughs wracked inside my devastated heart, and when one of them stumbled forward, I grabbed her by her shoulders. Her knees buckled, so I scooped her in my arms, where she lay limply as her eyes rolled back.
“Hold on to me,” I told the rest of the younglings.
Eyes wide, they did as I said, and within a few beats, we were outside in the courtyard.
One male, who couldn’t have been older than twenty, stepped forward. While I scented his fear, he kept his features clear of emotion.
“What can I do to help, Your Majesty?” It wasn’t fear that made his voice crack, but rather his age and the physical changes his body was undergoing.
Although I needed to go back into the dormitory to check for more younglings, I forced myself to stop and face this young male. His wild eyes ran across my face, but his lips thinned in resolution.
