“No!” Cinder called out.
And her voice was a boom that shattered the air around them. Her energy burst forth in a wave that knocked Oro off his feet. To keep himself from being hurled across the cliff, he had to exert the same amount of energy in return. It was anextraordinaryamount of energy.
How could Cinder produce so much with simply aword?She was not of the ruling line. Isla was the one who had absorbed all of Aurora’s incredible power. But Cinder...this young...seemed to have more Starling ability than all of them combined.
He remembered Isla asking about it. He had told her that this sort of random power outside a ruler’s lineage was rare but not unheard of.
Maren had been knocked onto the ground from Cinder’s outburst. She had nearly reached the forest of sky-blue trees with thick curling branches.
The little girl was standing on the cliff’s edge, chest heaving. “I want to help you,” she said. “I’ve seen a place in my dreams my entire life. Something there...is waiting for me. It’s calling me. I need to answer the call.”
“Stop this,” Maren chided, getting to her feet. And through her irritated tone, Oro saw fear. This was clearly not the first time Cinder spoke of this. “You’re going to bed. I shouldn’t have ever let you—”
“NO.”
A tide of power exploded from the girl. Oro barely created a shield around himself and Maren in time. But the grass and forest behind them was flattened as if cut down by a scythe. Sparks of energy swirled around them like a storm. A roaring filled the world.
When the sparks settled, all they saw was Cinder, curled into a ball, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean—”
Oro released the shield, and Maren bounded forward, collapsing on her knees in front of Cinder and pulling her to her chest. “I know. I know, sweetheart,” she said soothingly, stroking her silver hair. “Deepbreaths. Ten, remember? Do them with me.” They counted them down. When they were done, Maren asked, “Do you want to rest?” Cinder nodded. Her head was bowed, her eyes on the ground. Oro could almost feel her shame. “Let’s get you home.”
Maren scooped Cinder up, even though the girl was nearly too big to be held. She shot Oro a scathing look as he followed them down the hill in silence.
But the Starling did not tell him to leave—so he didn’t. He waited outside the small cliffside cottage they shared—with a sloped roof, wooden door that barely fit its frame, and lopsided window—as Maren tucked Cinder in for the night. When she reemerged, she sighed, leaning against the door with her eyes shut.
“I’m sorry,” he said, because he was.
She shook her head. “It’s not...an uncommon occurrence,” she said. That was when Oro noticed a long scar snaking down Maren’s arm.
Maren opened her eyes and tracked his gaze, rushing to pull her sleeve down. “It was an accident.”
“I never said it wasn’t.”
Fear bloomed across Maren’s expression again. “She’s a child. She—she willlearn.”
Oro raised his hands. “I’m not going to imprison her.”
Maren didn’t look convinced. “Azul has been kind to all of us Starlings, but we can leave. We can pack enough supplies and go somewhere far away, even more isolated—”
He put what he hoped was a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I know what it’s like to lose control. To make a mistake.”
An image of the attendant that he had accidentally gilded flashed through his head. Oro had been a child when it happened, too, around Cinder’s age.
Maren searched his eyes. “What do you want?” she asked, warily.
He explained everything as best he could. Where Isla was. What Azul’s husband had said. What was coming. Maren’s mouth tightened in worry the more he spoke. He knew she wasn’t concerned about herself but about the little girl asleep in the room behind her.
“How much time?” she asked when he was finished.
“I’m not sure,” Oro replied. “But the longer she’s there...” He frowned. “She’s in danger. We need to get her back as soon as possible.”
“How do you know she’s still alive?”
He explained the life bond between her and Grim. How he would be dead if she was. How they had seen her in their dreams. And in the images from Lynx.
Maren shook her head. “You know...Cinder has asked about Isla almost every day recently. Sometimes more often than that. It was like she could sense something was changing.” She paused. “It’s been hard not to tell her my true feelings. About Isla.”
“Which are?” Oro ground out, knowing he wouldn’t like her response.
