He nodded. “That old bastard is unkillable. Ripped two Nightlings apart with his mind.”
I swallowed hard at that. “I thought Nightlings were nearly impossible to kill.”
His face faltered, looking more serious than ever before. I found myself studying his face, marred with ash and sweat. “In their shadow form, only the Undying Fire can do that. But if you catch them in their physical form, they can be put down.”
Good to know.
“My queen, please come back to the castle where it is safe,” a guard said to Solana, but she waved him off.
“How many people did we lose? Are the healers tending to the injured? Have we doubled guards at the gates? What else can we do to help?” She snapped rapid-fire questions at him, and for the first time, I saw her perfectly in her role as queen. She cared about her people, and she was a quick strategic thinker.
“Death count is still rising, unfortunately, your highness. Healers are tending to the injured, but there aren’t enough. Guards are at the gates with horns ready to blow if there is another attack. It would help me if you were to head back to the castle and remain safe.” He ended the last line with a slight growl, and she rolled her eyes.
“We have healers who can help,” Hayes piped up, and Master Hart, who stood beside him, nodded.
“My students are still training, but it’s better than nothing,” Master Hart said, and I noticed that he was able to speak normally in my presence for the first time. Probably because he’d forgotten I was here. There was so much going on.
Solana nodded, smoothing her hair, and then met my gaze. “Fallon, I would like a word alone, and then you may help the other healers.”
Nervousness bloomed in my stomach, but I nodded as the rest of the crowd began to break away into groups. Other than half a dozen guards who now flanked Queen Solana, we were alone.
“Ariyon is okay. He’s surviving, and although I don’t have an exact way to get him out, I have a good lead,” I said, hoping it wasn’t a lie. I had no idea who this Emmeric person was who Ariyon had spoken about before I was pulled away, but I was hoping I could find him and that it would be a game changer.
“You saved my life. Twice now.” She crossed her arms and looked at me with suspicion.
“Umm, yeah?” Was it a question?
She sighed, chuckling to herself. “You’re going to make a fool of me, aren’t you?” she mumbled.
“Huh?”
She waved me off. “You’re either playing some long-term game to gain my trust before you steal my kingdom out from beneath me…”
My head reeled back at that accusation.
“Or you’re genuinely a good kid. That would be the sadder of the two because then when you go dark, it will break my heart.” Her voice caught, and my fists clenched.
I was sick of everyone assuming I was going to lose my mind. How could I get through this if no one believed in me?
“And what if I don’t go dark?” I took a step closer to her, causing her Royal Guard to draw their blades and glare at me. I stepped backward. “What if I spend my entire life protecting yours and those of the people of this city, and on the day you finally go meet the Grim and have to account for how you’ve treated people, you will look back and see howyouhave tormentedme? Not the other way around.”
Her face went slack, and her head reeled back as if I’d slapped her. She took a long moment to compose herself and nodded. “I think it’s time you saw something, Fallon. When you come to the Winter Solstice party tomorrow, please arrive an hour early.”
Dread filled me, creeping over my skin like a sickness. What did she want to show me? I hated the anticipation, but I nodded.
“So we’re still doing the ceremony?” I asked.
She looked around at the dead bodies on the ground and the burning trees. “Now more than ever, my people need to know where your allegiance lies. But I will cut down on the revelry. It will be a somber dedication to the fallen.”
My people. Not our people. She didn’t see me as one of them.
She smoothed her dress and then turned from me, barking orders at her guard to be taken to the wounded.
That wasn’t exactly how I’d expected that to go. With a sigh, I wasted no time in finding Hayes and Master Hart and the rest of the healing students. They had set up a makeshift clinic, and I got right to work, doing everything I could to help patch up the bleeding and broken. It proved to be the hardest day in my short time as a healer. I tended to people in pain, and Ifeltit all. Stomach lacerations, burns, lost limbs. Witnessing the gore firsthand and feeling the pain over and over was so awful that I threw up twice. Now I knew why Ariyon was compelled to help everyone, even though it took time off his life.
As the hour grew late, Yanric brought word of my father and Mable being safe. The sky had darkened. It was long past dinner, and yet I couldn’t leave, not while there were people to be healed. Avis had gotten word of the attack and had brought tinctures to help people recuperate. She was outside handing them out.
“You’re exhausted. You need rest,” Ayden growled from beside me as I hovered my hands above a guardswoman whose skin was bubbled with painful burns. I felt them on my own skin, similar to the searing agony of my curse.
