Then he tossed his dagger to the side, smacked the desk as he marched past it, past her, and disappeared into the hall without a word.
Her questions never formed. Jesstin was gone. He’d been there, and now he was gone. She hadn’t imagined him, and she was certainly not imagining Castien slumped dead over his desk.
She spun again right as Jesstin charged deeper into the keep. Probably headed to pay Sestinn a similar visit.
Maybe, Elloven considered, flustered... Maybe Castien wasn’t dead yet. Maybe there was still time. She raced over and lifted a limp arm, checking for a pulse she already knew she wouldn’t find, but even if she had found one, it was over. It was done.
Elloven screamed her rage from her chest. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. She’d planned what to say down to the very word, how to lure him into the perfect moment for her to strike. And then Jesstin... Jesstin had done it instead? And on the same night? How could he even have known? And why?
Jesstin Skylark had taken everything from her. How dare he... How dare he take that too?
She backed away from the bloody desk—the betrayal—thrashing her arms at everything around her. Books soared from his shelves and paper scattered, raining to the floor. She swiveled again with another dredged scream and sent a candelabra flying and catching the curtains ablaze. The fire spread to the mess of books and papers immediately, filling the room with heat and choking smoke. Everything happened so fast, she could only stand there, paralyzed, as the room burned around her. Her eyes stung, and she couldn’t see anything but her own destruction. She buried her coughs in her sleeve, but the fumes were already filling her lungs.
“There! She’s there! Tear down the tapestry, Sesto!”
“Daire,” she said, choking, and collapsed.
She was in the hall. Weightless. Her feet dragged against the stones. Sesto’s and Daire’s frightened shouts were as mottled as the dream itself. But it wasn’t a dream. She remembered the office, Castien, the fire... “Jesstin,” she croaked.
“No, this corner!” Sesto yelled, then again a few moments later, “See, I told you!”
Fresh air walloped her.
“Get her over here, by the tree. A little further,” Daire said.
“Jesstin... in there...” Elloven moaned. She whipped her head around to get some sense back. “Sesto... Jesstin is inside.”
Sesto gasped. “Oh heavens, there’ll be no saving this place, will there?”
“They went back in for more,” Daire said, “but I fear all we can do is pray for their souls, Ses.”
“Jesstin is in there!” Could they not hear her? Was she speaking at all?
She wailed in frustration until she blacked out again.
Elloven snapped alert, but her mind took longer to catch up. She was outside, on a patch of moss, propped against a tree, but she’d been inside before. She’d been inside when?—
“Jesstin!” she cried and struggled to her feet, half running, coughing, and gagging as she zigzagged toward the burning manor. No one had heard her. No one was listening, and Jesstin was inside, and no amount of hatred could anchor her soul back to her body if he died in there.
Arms yanked her back. She screamed and wrenched away, but others joined the restraint. “Jesstin is inside, you whoresons!”
“El. Elloven. Shh, listen to me,” Sesto was saying, so calmly and reasonably, like he didn’t care Jesstin was inside and would die. “They’ve done everything they can to get everyone out. It’s not safe.”
“Let go of me!” The scalding in her throat turned her last word into a screech. Dozens of people were huddled together with their sooted cheeks and blankets, and not one of them was him.
“Listen. Hear me when I say this. Jesstin is stronger than you think.”
“No, you’re the one who needs to listen?—”
“And if he is in there?—”
“LISTEN TO ME!”
“Love. If he’s in there, he’s already gone.”
Those were the words, the exact perfect organization of letters and sounds to send the chaos tearing through her limbs until every inch of her was rattling. Sesto and Daire released her, or she shook them off. She didn’t know, didn’t care. She spread her fingers so far apart, she nearly tore the flesh between them, and from the edges of her vision, she witnessed the incandescent halo wrapping each one.
Elloven ran toward the house, and with all the force she could gather, she thrust her hands at the sky. Magic coursed through her like a hurricane and departed in a flash, following her command. The clouds above swelled and swelled until they crowded out the smoke, engulfed the blooming haze, and erupted in a downpour that drenched the earth in seconds.
