I threw my arms around her again, blinking rapidly to keep my tears of relief from falling. She hugged me back, her gripstrong. As I held her, the weight on my chest finally lifted. “I am fine. And you were amazing.”
Her voice was muffled by my hold. “I’m out of practice. And I was holding back a little, I didn’t want to hurt the tyger.”
I chuckled.
But when Edith met my gaze, grief was carved into every line of her face. “They burned it down. The whole hut. And…Rainbow didn’t make it.”
I went still.
“They what?” My voice came out strangled. “What—when?”
Edith nodded, a tear running down her face. “The king’s Tyger Warriors. They—”
I didn’t hear the rest, fury flaring to life. Not the king’s.Blake’sTyger Warriors. A roar built inside me, white-hot and searing. My hands shook, breath sawing out too fast, heat prickling beneath my skin, dangerous.
“Did they hurt you?” My voice was deathly quiet.
Edith shook her head. “They had orders to slaughter all the livestock, but the others got away. Only Rainbow wouldn’t leave. She was always such an affectionate chicken.” She swallowed hard, her red-rimmed eyes glistening. “Everything is gone. My herbs, the scarf I was making for you, our furniture, everything. I was left alone, and then, sometime later, a guard from the palace came and brought me here.”
We’d already lost so much. Now everything from my life with Edith had been destroyed as well. A rush of wrath burned through me. My vision blurred at the edges.
Flame’s phantom roar echoed through my mind, and then a violent tremor ran through me. The sound escaped before I could stop it: a single, fractured note, raw and venomous.
The fireplace in the corner of the room exploded with heat,the flames surging upward in a violent column, licking at the marble mantel. Shadows flickered wildly across the gilded walls. A crystal glass shattered.
Edith stumbled back, eyes wide. “Rubi—”
But I barely heard her. My rage was a living thing, clawing at my throat, demanding to be sung into existence.
Blake: the king’s blade. The Ambush Master.That unfilial son of a wolf. May his ancestors turn their backs on him. May every meal he eats taste like ashes for the rest of his miserable life. Turtle-born bastard with no shame or honor. Returning my ribbons and telling me to trust him. Never.
Then came a thump.
I froze.
From the shadows, a cream-and-orange soot-streaked shape slunk forward.
“Mrrp?”
My breath hitched. “Couscous?”
The moment I saw her, the magic in my throat stuttered. The humming in the air died. The fireplace’s flame calmed, though the shattered crystal was still scattered across the floor.
My sweet, timid cat padded toward me, avoiding the glass, her tail flicking. A tremor of relief shook through me so hard my knees nearly buckled.
“They didn’t get her.” I dropped to the floor, reaching for her. She sniffed disdainfully, then leapt onto my lap.
Edith let out a watery laugh. “I put her in my satchel.”
I buried my face in Couscous’s fur. “Of course you did.”
Is that a cat? It is quite a funny color, Flame’s voice whispered along my mind.
Don’t insult her.
Though she has some white between her eyes, like me. She looks like a patchwork tyger cub. She must come visit me.
As I looked at Edith from across the room, a reckless part of me felt a surge of relief despite everything that had happened. She was unharmed and whole. She was here. With me. I was just so happy to see her.
