I noticed that the front gates of the city were closed.
“They’re not even going to open the gates,” I said, sick to my stomach as rage boiled just beneath my skin.
“No,” Cassian said. “They won’t dirty their hands for Dreg filth.” He didn’t say it like he believed we were filth, he said it liketheywere. “I’m so sorry, Brynn.”
Somewhere, a child wailed.
“My family!” I sprang into motion. I was still half asleep when I’d gotten down here, and seeing Cassian had distracted me. But hearing a child scream, it reminded me of my brothers and sisters.
My legs pumped as I ran harder.
Smoke filled my lungs as I passed burning house after burning house. My eyes stung, and I shoved past a tangle of fleeing bodies until I reached the top of our street. My street.
A few more strides and I could see that my house was gone.
The roof had collapsed, flames licking what was left of the frame. The door hung open, one hinge melted to the ground. And behind it, smoke. Just smoke.
“No,” I choked out. “No, no, no.” I moved to rushthrough the half-open doorway and see if my family had gotten out, when I heard a familiar voice.
“Brynn!” Tyrus shouted.
I spun around.
Kaelric was in wolf form, white fur streaked with ash, herding my family away from a collapsing building. Little Sable was riding on his back like he was a pony.
Tyrus was soot-covered, wild-eyed, and holding the twins, Wren and Willa, by the hands. Behind him came my mother, wrapped in a blanket, coughing but walking, Caro on her hip. Mira, Tobben, Renna, Kess, Isla, and Finn walked behind. I did a quick headcount, and when I got to eleven, I whimpered in relief.
They were safe.
“We were asleep. Kaelric woke us and got us out,” Tyrus said, dragging me into a hug so hard it knocked the breath from me.
My gaze flicked to the wolfkin, just as my little sister slid off of him.
“He saved our lives,” my mother said, coughing into her hand, her voice hoarse.
Of course he did. The man I couldn’t have was perfect for me.
“Aunt Lynn, Aunt Gracine, Uncle Gregg—” I muttered.
“All fine,” my mom said. “Your cousins, too. We just saw them. They went to help neighbors.”
Kaelric shifted then, shirtless, breath heaving, and covered in soot. He stood off to the side as I looked over the rest of my family. They were soot-smeared, shaken, but alive. All of them. Even Finn, clutching his bent stick sword.
I pulled them all in for a group hug and held them for a long moment.
When we broke apart, I looked back. The house I’d grown up in, slept in, read by candlelight in, was collapsing in on itself, taking our past with it.
I reached out to hold my mother’s hand and squeezed it tight.
Then I let go, because people were still screaming. There were others who weren’t out yet.
And Kaelric and I could help.
“You guys go to the farm fields and wait there. I have to help the others,” I told them.
“No!” Little Sable clung to my leg, but my mother gently pried her off.
“Be careful,” my mother told me, and then took one last look around our burning village and left.
