Page 70 of Burn of the Everflame

Alixe frowned. “I didn’t know you were working on this.”

Eleanor tensed. “Oh—well, you see . . . we, um . . .”

“We didn’t know whose side you were on,” Taran grumbled, his good humor fading away. “You were busy staying glued to Remis.”

“That’s what Her Majesty ordered,” Alixe shot back. “I had to keep a close eye on him to make sure he wasn’t doing anything in secret to target her or the mortals.”

Zalaric rolled his eyes at Taran. “I told you she was still with us.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Taran said. “Right, as usual.”

Zalaric’s chin lifted haughtily, and Taran’s smile came roaring back. He snatched Zalaric’s hand, and Zalaric threw him a look that was surely meant to appear annoyed, but all I saw was fondness—perhaps even something more.

Luther’s body leaned closer to mine.

“I’ve been volunteering at the healers’ center in Mortal City,” Lily said, bouncing on her toes. “Maura loaned me some books about herbs and old mortal remedies. She says I can start as an apprentice once I finish school this spring.”

“And Father allowed it?” Luther asked.

“Well, no, not exactly. He’s been so busy, he hasn’t noticed.” Her face fell. “You disapprove?”

He put a hand on her shoulder. “Not at all. I couldn’t be prouder of you, Lily. And if Father does try to interfere, I’ll handle it.”

Her eyes turned misty at her brother’s praise. She looked at me, desperate hope for my approval written all over her face, and I forced the warmest smile I could muster.

“You’re going to make an excellent healer,” I said, and I meant it.

The others leapt into an animated conversation about everything else we’d missed during our absence. I was pleasantly surprised to hear House Hanoverre had made no move against Zalaric, though they’d refused to acknowledge him, either. Their elderly matriarch, Marthe, had ordered all Hanoverres, and Hanoverre allies, to treat him as invisible. As a result, though he’d made a fair share of connections in secret, his social life had struggled to grow beyond the palace walls, a fact Taran didn’t seem to mind.

The talk turned to gossip of cousins whose names I didn’t remember. Eleanor burst into laughter at some comment of Lily’s, and as she threw her head back, the light from the palace’s twinkling facade caught on a streak of blue in her tight curls. She dyed it, I realized. I hadn’t noticed it before in the early evening dusk. Lily had changed her hair, too, shortening it to her shoulders.

The knowledge coiled around my chest, squeezing my heart to a stop. While I’d been trapped on an island, my friends had been toying with their hairstyles, learning a trade, and falling in love. I’d been in a miserable, endless torture, and they’d been . . . happy.

And though I could never begrudge them their joy, the monstrous loneliness inside me grew a little larger.

Teller and Luther seemed to feel it, too. They watched the merriment like it was happening in a language they barely spoke, forcing smiles when it felt expected to do so, offering only enough of a response to be polite.

I struggled to do the same, but the more they chatted and laughed, the deeper I sank back into the island’s grip. All these weeks, I’d prayed, pleaded, hoped, begged, screamed, wept for the moment I was surrounded again by the people I loved.

My dream had come true, and the only thing I felt was alone.

And yet I was very much not alone. Everywhere I turned, eyes were on me. The eyes of my friends, my brother, faces peering from palace windows, the Guardians in their distant camp, the fallen Crowns, the Descended soldiers mingling throughout the grounds. All of them watching me, studying me, wondering where I’d been and what I might do next.

The edges of my vision turned fuzzy. I flexed my hands as my fingers began to go numb. It took all my focus to keep dragging air into my lungs and pushing it out, over and over in a shaky loop.

Suddenly, I was walking.

No—being pushed.

Luther’s hand pressed into the curve of my back. He was leading me away from the group and across the palace grounds toward Sorae.

“Wh-what happened?” I stammered, struggling to get words out as my breathing turned rapid.

“I told them Sorae was injured and you needed to heal her,” Luther answered calmly.

“I healed her wounds on the flight here.”

“I know.”