Finally Elena spoke.“I keep replaying it in my head.”
“Tell me what happened,” I said.“If you’re ready.”
“I went to the market to get food,” Elena said, then quickly added, “Not the Citadel Market, just the small one by our home.I did as you asked.But something felt off.There were people there who I didn’t recognize, and they weren’t shopping, just standing around.”
“Did anyone say your name?”I asked.
“I…I don’t remember.Maybe?Why?”
“The Royal Guards know our names,” I said, and Elena’s eyes went wide.“So what happened next?”
“After the market, I went directly home.They must have followed me.Darion got there just before the Royal Guards surrounded the house—I guess he’d been keeping an eye on me.Then I smelled the smoke.I was really scared, Cas.I thought I was braver than that.”
I nodded, arm around her shoulder, and felt a pang of guilt for not being there to help her.“Elena, you are one of the bravest people I know.”
“Darion was there, and that made me less scared.The next part is confusing.One second we were in the barn, and then we were outside.”
“Darion used his Ember.He can pause time.”
Elena’s jaw dropped.“How?”
“I don’t really know, exactly.There are many things I don’t understand.Embers are something I didn’t even believe in until recently.”
“And all I can do is lift things,” Elena said, a smile cracking her glum face.
“You seem to be pretty good at tearing things down, too.”
We both laughed at that.It felt good to laugh.It meant we weren’t broken beyond repair.
“You saved us from an entire company of Royal Guards,” I said, giving her a playful shove.“That was amazing.”
Elena smiled at me.“It was pretty good, wasn’t it?”
“It was.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier about my strength,” she said.“I wanted to, but when you told me about the Sentinels…I dunno, I was just afraid.”
“Hey, I’ve kept a lot of things from you, too, so I understand.But that’s all in the past.We can talk about anything now.Deal?”
Elena nodded.“Deal.But I still don’t understand what we did to deserve losing our home.”
“We are Emberborn.There are people who hate us just for that.But hopefully we can do something about it now.”
“Because you’re joining the Order of Emberlight,” Elena said.
“That’s right.”
“But what if I lose you, too?”Elena said as a tear streaked down her cheek.She wiped it away quickly.
“I’m not going anywhere.I promise,” I said, but I felt a pang of guilt at making a promise that I might not be able to keep.
Chapter twenty-five
A Moment of Peace
UsingherEmbertwicewas taking its toll on Elena, and her eyes began to close right in front of me.That on top of the emotional weight of the day made her practically incoherent.She could barely walk, so I helped her back to her room.That left me alone with my thoughts, lying on my bed, staring up at the stone ceiling, absently counting its imperfections.
Our world had changed so completely in the last few hours that my mind felt like a ship in a storm, lost at sea.Where would we live?Where would we even be safe now that the Royal Guard was hunting us?Hopefully I could keep myself busy with the Order of Emberlight once I joined their ranks, but what would Elena do?As hard as things had been, she and I had carved out a life for ourselves, but now that life was gone.It was a lot to take in.
