This time, fire pours from him. It surges outward with a force that fills the room, a wave of heat and light that engulfs Hurstinal completely, and I freeze because although he had told me about this ability, seeing it released without warning was something else entirely.
The scream that follows tears through the air before breaking apart as the body that holds it begins to collapse.
The flames do not stop until there is nothing left. Ash drifts downward, spreading across the floor, across the table, across what remains, and I stand there, my body still trying to process what I have just seen, the heat of it lingering against my skin, the knowledge of it changing something I cannot yet name.
Silence stretches across the room.
CHAPTER 39
The Vyrecall
The silence does not break all at once. It stretches, thin and strained, the heat of what Colsar has done still pressing against my skin, the ash settling across the table and floor as though the room itself is trying to absorb what just occurred.
Then Venya moves. Her hands lift slowly at first, then with a force that does not belong to her, light pouring through her fingers in a way that is too bright, too uncontrolled, her head tipping back as her body arches with it. Her eyes roll upward, showing nothing but white as her voice spills out, wrong in its cadence, wrong in its shape.
"Bring death and ruin to the Queen Heir," she says, the words spilling over themselves, repeating without breath. "Bring death and ruin to the Queen Heir, bring death and ruin to the Queen Heir, bring dea?—"
Uralish moves before she can finish, his hand clamping down hard around Colsar's arm, his attention snapping to me with a clarity that cuts through everything else. "Up," he says.
We are already moving.
The room fractures behind us, voices rising, chairs scraping, power building in uneven bursts as we push past it, Colsar's hand closing firmly around mine as we leave the chamber, Syle falling in behind us without question.
We do not slow. The corridor blurs past, the quiet of it broken by the force of our movement, until we reach my chambers and the door closes behind us with a soft, final sound that feels entirely out of place.
Uralish turns immediately. "You must pack and go," he says, the words coming fast now, stripped of everything unnecessary. "There is no time. She just issued a Vyrecall."
"What the fuck is that?" I ask.
“It is a summons,” he says, impatience cutting through the words. “A sanctioned call for blood. Anyone within range who bears you ill will will feel it… and be given cause to act.”
Colsar lets out a low sound beside me, something close to a growl.
"I see," I say, my voice quieter than I expect. "How long do we have?”
“Not long,” Uralish snaps. "And everyone in that room heard about the twins. Now they will know what you carry is powerful. They will come for you."
I look between them. "How did a deathmage get into Alarna?"
Uralish's jaw tightens. "I have never seen it happen before. Not once."
Syle's voice comes through my mind, controlled."It likely did what they always do. It killed him and took his body."
"Yorali usually steers clear of us," Uralish adds. "They have never shown interest in Alarna. Not like this."
I hesitate, then say it anyway. "I think Aunt Jularin had something to do with it."
Syle shakes his head at once.
Uralish lifts a hand slightly, stopping him before he can continue. "Why do you think that?"
"Because she was the only one who knew I was carrying twins," I say. "She took an interest in me when I first arrived. My pregnancy. My skills. I thought it was kindness."
Syle exhales, slower this time."She has always been the kind one,"he says."This would surprise me. But I suppose nothing is impossible."
"I cannot figure out what the motive would be," I admit.
"At this point, none of that matters," Uralish says. "You must leave. Tonight."
