Keres’ scarred face hung over mine, pale in the torchlight. A thin thread of shadow still ran from her fingers into my chest where she worked her healing gifts on me. The ceiling above her was jagged rock, slick with condensation. I’d made it back to the cave.
“Did we win?” I croaked.
Keres’ mouth twitched. “That’s one word for it.”
A face appeared over her shoulder.Slade’s hair was singed, one eyebrow missing, soot smeared across his jaw. His smile was fuzzy with barely contained adrenaline.
“You scorched the entire fucking valley,” he said cheerfully. “Took out half the army. Very dramatic. Ten out of ten for spectacle. Zero for self-preservation.”
I tried to sit up. My body protested, every muscle trembling. Keres’ hand shifted to my shoulder, pushing me back to the bedroll I was lying on.
“Slow down,” she said. “You burned yourself out. Makarios or no, your body’s still fae and very much mortal.”
I didn’t have the energy to argue, which likely proved her point. Already, exhaustion tugged at me, trying to pull me under, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist it for long.
“Lesha?” I rasped.
“Alive,” Slade said. “Barely.”
My eyes went wide. Panic spiked.
“I’m already working on her,” Keres assured me.
I looked around but didn’t see anyone else.
“Daegel’s with her farther in,” Slade said. “We’ve set up as far from the collapse as we can without getting lost in this gods-cursed maze.”
Lost? Where was Eirnan? Or the rest of the Withered?
“What… happened?” I asked.
Pieces returned in jagged flashes. The Frostwights. The surge of power. The valley burning like a sacrificial pyre.
“Your gifts happened,” Keres said dryly. “You pulled enough life out of that camp to live for a thousand years. Then your Furyfire did the rest.”
I swallowed hard. “The camp?—”
“Gone,” Slade said. “What’s left is a scorch mark big enough to see from the moon.”
I closed my eyes, seeing again the way the flames spread faster than I’d meant them to. The sound of screaming. The pull of all those lives ending, rippingthrough me like I was a conduit carved just for that purpose.
“What about our people?” I whispered.
Silence.
It stretched long enough that I forced my eyes open again.
Keres’ jaw was tight. “Many made it into the tunnels,” she said. “Some didn’t. We’re still counting.”
“And Rydian?” The name tore itself from my throat before I could shape anything more neutral.
They traded a look.
Panic slammed into me, hard enough that I shoved at Keres’ hand and lurched upright. The world reeled; my vision went black at the edges. Slade caught my elbow, bracing me.
“Aurelia,” he said quietly. “Let us explain before you set something on fire in here too.”
I grabbed his sleeve. “Where is he?”
