“She admitted to making it.”
“She… what?”
Katherine’s breath was gone now, nothing left to hitch. She took a step toward the door, and it felt like she was walking through mud, but she needed to go, needed to get out, because there was no stopping the panic attack now, and she needed to not be here when it happened. Silas couldn’t see her like this, couldn’t see her this weak, not when he—
Warm hands on her shoulders. “Look at me.”
She couldn’t.
“Katherine,” Silas said, a crack in his voice. “Please.”
She looked up. His eyes were wide, brows knitted together in concern.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said it like that. I just… I thought you already knew. Or suspected, at least.”
“I… No, she couldn’t have done that.”
“She told me she did.”
He didn’t know—didn’t know what he was saying, what he was implying, but Katherine did. If Sylvia was the one making altum, then that would mean that she was the one who gave it to Lily, which would mean…
He had to be wrong. He had to be.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not, Katherine,” he said, his lips pursed. “She told me.”
“You’re lying,” Katherine repeated, the panic fading and turning into something else, something white hot. “You’re just saying this so that you can kick Sylvia out and Noctis can take over.”
“I know she’s important to you.”
“Important?” Katherine scoffed. She was burning with rage, so angry that she could feel sweat dripping down the back of her neck. “She has done everything for me. Everything. And you think you can come in here and make up lies—”
“I’m not lying!”
“Yes, you are!”
“Katherine, I’m on your side! I went to Sylvia when I found her caster instead of my parents because Iwanther to prove her innocence. I don’t want—”
He stopped, and Katherine stared at him, daring him to continue. But his eyes were instead glued to the door behind her, widening with alarm.
She whirled, stifling a curse as she took in his view.
Smoke, pouring in tendrils under the door.
“We need to get out of here.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Sweat beaded Katherine’s brow as the temperature in the room climbed. She covered her mouth with her sleeve and tried to blink the sting of the smoke out of her eyes as Silas fiddled with the door.
“Just pull it,” Katherine said. Silas turned away from the handle, leveling her with a quick glare.
“I tried that. It’s not working.”
She stepped in front of him, taking the covering off her mouth to pull at the handle herself and getting the same result of absolutely fucking nothing. She let out a frustrated huff, which turned into a hacking cough as unfettered smoke filled her lungs.
“Spelled shut,” Silas said. He pulled his caster out of his pocket, a rune lighting up as he pressed his hand against the door, but nothing happened. Katherine did the same, her palm glowing purple as she tried the Class 4 universal unlocking spell she kept loaded at all times. It was meant to open any lock, but it did nothing against the door. She cursed—that spell was a one-and-done, and she couldn’t think of anything else in her arsenal that would help.
