She gave a small nod. But fear cloaked her blue eyes. Fear, and guilt, and that dull, vacant haze that he recognized as her slipping into herself. So he forced lightness into his breathless voice as he said, ‘Fire and ice, huh?’
Aya took a shuddering breath as she looked to where Aidon knelt, the prince still staring numbly at the burning flesh. ‘The fire wasn’t me.’
Will cut his gaze to the prince. He hadn’t seen it before – the scorched stretch of ground that lay in front of the prince, as if the fire had poured directly from where he sat. Aya’s hand slipped from Will’s grasp as she took a step toward Aidon. ‘Hepha’s flame,’ she breathed. ‘You’re an Incend.’ Aidon sat back on his heels, his jaw tight as he turned his gaze to her.
‘And you’re not just a Persi.’
‘Later,’ Will rumbled. It was too dangerous to have this conversation here.
Aidon staggered to his feet, his face still a mask of distrust, and for a moment, Will expected him to argue. But the prince nodded, and Will turned to Vi’s crumpled figure, his footsteps growing heavier as he approached the dead woman.
He’d failed Josie miserably.
He crouched before the broken figure and tugged at her hood, his heart stuttering in his chest as he gazed at the face that had frozen in terror in her final moments.
Blue eyes, wide and unseeing. Full lips parted in a gasp of pain. And bright, blond hair that he hadn’t noticed beneath her hood in the dark.
He swore softly.
This wasn’t Viviane.
It was Helene Lavigne.
54
The walk to the palace was long and slow with Helene’s lifeless body in Will’s arms, the silence so strained Aya could feel it pressing in all around them.
Visya members of the Bellare, Aidon had said as he burned the men’s bodies, each marked with a rose tattoo.
Aya hadn’t argued. And while Aidon had mentioned that the Bellaredidinclude some devout Visya, it still didn’t make sense, tattoos or no. This attack … it had been different than the last.
Aya tucked her suspicions away as they reached the chaos of the palace gates, where guards rushed about. Peter darted through the melee to meet them, his eyes wide as he took in their ghastly appearance. The blood drained from his face as he noticed the bundle in Will’s arms.
‘Is that—?’
‘Helene Lavigne,’ Aidon cut in. And it was the voice of the general that said, ‘Get her parents, immediately.’
Peter swallowed and gave a small shake of his head. ‘Avis and Claire are already here. In the throne-room. Your father sent for them as soon as Viviane was taken.’
They followed Peter, their footsteps impossibly loud on the marble floors. Peter pushed through the heavy driftwood doors to the throne-room, where the king, Enzo, Zuri, Josie and the Lavignes were gathered. Josie whirled to face them, her eyes immediately finding the broken body in Will’s arms. Her face crumbled as she lurched forward. ‘No,’ she cried. ‘No no no no!’
Aya rushed forward, catching the princess in her arms.
‘It’s not her,’ she soothed her friend. ‘It’s not her.’
But Claire Lavigne already seemed to know – had caught sight of the whips of blond from under the hood. Her wail of agony tore at Aya as the mother sank to her knees, Zuri moving with her, her arm across the woman’s shoulders.
Avis didn’t spare his wife a glance. His eyes stayed on Will, his face rapidly changing from white, to red, to a deep purple.
‘You,’ he snarled, his long stride propelling him forward. ‘You did this, youmurderer!’ His shouts reverberated through the hall, his fury like a cresting wave as he continued toward Will. Aya went to untangle herself from Josie, but Aidon stepped between the men, his brown eyes dark.
‘Your daughter was killed by two rebels before we could overcome them.’
‘Bullshit!’ Spit flew from Avis’ mouth as his body trembled with rage. ‘You know who he is. Queen Gianna’s Enforcer. You’ve heard what he’s capable of. And yet you allow him to walk among us like he wasn’t born straight from the hells.’
Will’s face betrayed nothing as Avis flung his accusations – just the same grimness that had settled over his features as soon as he’d discovered Helene. But Aidon took a single step forward and pointed to Will.
‘This man nearly died trying to save your daughter’s life. He saw to it that her body was returned to you.’
