Lia welcomed it as she took large frigid gulps of air and tipped her head back to stare at the cloudless night sky.
Jaiix was wrong.
Dahlia wasn’t running from love.
She was hiding from death.
And it would be coming for her all too soon.
A sigh slipped from her lips as she stared at the sky. A flicker of light caught her eye. Lia pushed from the wall and stared as the ball of fire raced toward her, growing bigger by the second.
Her pulse pounded, and her body screamed for her to run, to cry, to move, but Dahlia was frozen to the spot. A high-pitched whistle echoed in her ears, and she tipped her head back, her eyes watering from the heat as the flaming boulder soared above her head.
The ground shuddered beneath her feet, and she was blasted forward, chunks of rock and debris pelting her skin. She hit the wall and crashed onto the ground. Ringing filled her ears as she curled in a ball, covering her head.
The city was under attack!
Smoke and dust filled the air. She coughed, pulling herself away from the flames catching on the inn at the end of the alley, blocking her escape.
Get up. Run.
Dahlia managed to climb to her feet, her head swimming. She stumbled back toward the tavern’s exit door and wiped dirt from her face. The bloody door was blocked by rubble. Her gaze widened, and she spun around in disbelief. The walls were too high to climb. She spotted a large drainage pipe that ran from the roof of the tavern and stumbled over to it, only to find the metal covered completely in ice.
She faced the mouth of the alley, a pit forming in her stomach.
The only way out was through the flames.
“Help!” she screamed, her voice hoarse.
No one came.
You have to get to Loshika and your brother.
She shook as the heat grew more intense.
Dahlia knew she would die from her sins but not like this.
Get it together.
Painfully, she dropped to her hands and knees and rolled in the snowy alleyway. Lia scrubbed the snow along her arms until it melted and sank into her clothes. She forced herself back onto her feet, swaying as the world blurred. She clutched at her temple, her hand coming away slick with blood.
Dahlia closed her eyes and attempted to take a deep breath, only to choke on smoke. She tucked her damp hair into the back of her wet dress. The wall of flames seemed to grow larger. There was no time to wait. No one to save her.
Lia licked her lips and glared at the fire.
She would not die like this.
Letting out a warrior-like cry, Dahlia ran for the flames.
Praying for the first time in a long time that she survived.
If only to see her brother’s face again and make things right between them.
Chapter Sixteen
Dahlia
Dahlia hit the ground hard,her teeth clacking together. The metallic tang of blood burst on the back of her tongue.
