‘The Duartes are practically royalty in Rowell. We can’t risk making an enemy like that.’
‘Come on,’ Jonas says before I try the next one.
‘Where are we going?’
‘I guess I’m going to have to give up my solitude after all,’ he replies, leading me to the very end of the corridor where a thin spiral staircase sits. With rusted metal and screws that jut out from dubious angles, I can barely believe it hasn’t collapsed already.
Jonas leads us up the rickety staircase, and though the metal creaks under my feet, it holds, and that’s all that matters.
The burn on my leg stings like a bitch and every step is agony. That is one nasty talent Zara Duarte has, and considering she’s going to be up against people who have been fighting battles for years, it’s also a bloody good one to have.
Trying not to show any pain, I follow Jonas onto a small stone landingwith a single door. He nudges it open, and once he’s inside the room, he picks a bag up off the narrow wooden bed and drops mine down instead.
‘What about you?’ I ask wearily. ‘Do you have somewhere else to go?’
‘I’ll be fine. Plenty of rooms I can bunk in. More importantly, what in the Mother’s name was that?’ His eyes are wide as he stares at me. ‘You never had fire magic. And what magic you had was stripped. I was there. I saw.’
The last part of his comment takes me by surprise. Of course, I knew there was an audience to our punishment, but I never realised Jonas was part of it.
‘I have skills, not magic,’ I respond, being deliberately elusive. I don’t need anyone, including Jonas, knowing that my one and only ‘skill,’ as I chose to call it, has now been used up. ‘All that matters is that they got me out of a tricky predicament.’
‘Well, now everyone knows what skills you’ve got, and that little stunt has likely put you in an even worse position.’
His patronising assessment puts my back up. ‘Worse than letting her kill me?’ I ask pointedly.
‘No, that’s not what I meant.’ He lets out a low sigh. I might not know Jonas well anymore, but I can read the worry in his eyes. ‘She won’t forget that. I wish you’d let me handle it instead.’
‘And confirm to her and everyone else that I really am a runt? No, not a chance.’
‘You know, I forgot how stubborn you can be.’ His eyes drift to my hand and he steps forward. ‘Shit. Is that all right?’
‘Stings a bit,’ I concede drily.
He takes my hand gently in his, and a tingle spreads down the back of my knuckles where he touches me. From the way he draws lazy circles on my skin, I’m wondering if he’s reconsidering looking for another room.
‘Is that how she killed the others?’ I ask, feeling a sudden need to fill the silence. ‘By opening their old wounds?’
‘Not sure. She didn’t act alone.’
‘The others from Rowell?’ I ask, resigned.
‘Yeah. And not just the ones who were with her just now. There are a few more of them, including her twin brother, Shim.’
‘There are two of them?’ My eyebrows rise. Fantastic. No doubt Zara’s sibling is going toloveme.
‘Yep. And they’re both as nasty as one another.’
I let out a low sigh and try to swallow the lump in my throat. Kyor,Zara, Shim and the rest of the Rowell Rettlings. The list of people who won’t want me to survive this thing, let alone win it, is growing. ‘Fuck. What does his magic do?’
‘Not sure. Wasn’t entirely sure what her power was until she did that to you.’ He shakes his head. ‘I should have stepped in. What other injuries did she bring back? You were limping.’
I’m tempted to lie, but as I start to shake my head, I change my mind. ‘The top of my leg … I burned it a few months back.’
His eyes wander down to my thigh. ‘Do you want me to have a look at it?’
‘Are you a healer?’ I question. Jonas is a year younger than me, but his powers hadn’t yet settled when I left. Meaning I’ve got no idea what he’s capable of.
‘No,’ he admits. ‘Not a healer.’
