Good thing Vance has been adorning the streets with listening—Imogen’s voice cuts off so suddenly that I whirl back.
What is it, Immy?I ask, my feathers vibrating with heartbeats.
Vance. Ilya apparently needs a lift to West Sheva.
ToWest Sheva orfrom?Aodhan asks.
To.
He’s back?the Glacin Crow asks.
Yes,I say.I saw him before joining you all. He seemed shaken.
When Aodhan increases his pace and overtakes Imogen, Ilya’s gaunt face scores my lids anew.
Instead of asking Aodhan what could’ve happened, I head back to the castle to find out for myself.
32
KONSTANTIN
Ilya is bloodless as he walks me through the explosion that killed Yuri’s half-blood fiancée and injured my governor.
“Start from the beginning,” I say, as he paces the length of my private office.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
“While we were on the train, I remembered that Volkov had stormed the castle after Atsa turned down his bid for the wagons’ manufacturing contract. So I decided to payVolkov & Sonsa visit, just to see if I could learn anything, but Tiana insisted that the prince showing up on the carpenters’ doorstep would spook them. She offered to go with Yuri instead.” My brother regards his shuffling feet. “So they went, just the two of them, while I stayed behind in the tavern across the street. The next thing I know?—”
He begins to tremble.
“—there’s this horrible boom, and then the windows of the tavern blow, and I’m tossed to the floor along with the rest of the diners. When I get up, the road is full of black smoke andcharred corpses. There were children and—” He shudders. “And overturned sleighs. And…”
He shuts his eyes and breathes in deep.
“I tried to put out the flames with my magic, but I didn’t have enough water, and the fire…it…it wouldn’t stop catching, Kostya. By the time I found Yuri and Tiana, she?—”
When his voice breaks, I drag him into a hug and hold him.
“Yuri’s burns are so bad that I can see his bones. His fuckingbones,” he croaks.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes, but he’s unconscious. They rigged the place, and not just with regular explosives. There was iron. I could smell it. I could feel it on my skin. I can still fucking feel it on my skin.” The strangled sob he muffles against my shoulder wrecks my godsdamn heart.
I hold Ilya tighter, hating how selfishly glad I am that he’s unscathed. “What of the Volkovs?”
He gulps in air, sniffles, then extracts himself from my embrace. “They’re on vacation. Left West Sheva last week. All of them, with their respective families.”
Convenient. “Do any of the villagers know where they were headed?”
“No. Apparently, they just vanished in the middle of the night along with their sleighs.”
I give his shoulders a squeeze. “We’ll find them. We’ll find them, and we will make them pay.”
Ilya wipes his damp cheeks. “That won’t bring Tiana back.”
