“Adara! Wake up! You need—smoke and fire—cancel—”
I spun. The familiar voice came from far away, but I saw no one in the distance. “Hello?”
“You’re too early,” answered a different voice. The words vibrated in my bones instead of entering my ears.
I spun again. A glare, too bright, rimmed in rainbows. I shielded my eyes.
“You need to go back,” the Voice said.
“Who are you?” I said.
Far away: “Byron, help me with a shield. Mettalise says—”
Mettalise? I knew that name. She… she was a dragon…
“Hiding is not the solution,” the bright figure said. “And yes, dying qualifies as hiding.”
“Dying?” I said. The word triggered something else. “Rose! Is she—”
“She will survive. Cancel the spells.”
Spells? Oh, magic. I’d been casting Fire—my Gift. There was no giddy ball of energy inside my chest. There was barely a spark.
I grabbed my seeping Gift and yanked as much as I could back into me.
Darkness replaced the light.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Singing. A woman with the sweetest voice sang a song of love lost to death. I drifted in the darkness, floating in her emotion. The sorrow, the loss, the beauty.
The singing abruptly ended. “Finally. I thought I’d sit here forever.”
Wait. I knew that voice. Lately, I didn’t care for it.
“Go on, open your eyes. I saw you twitch.”
My heavy limbs felt drained of blood. How I had twitched, I didn’t know. It took draconian effort to crack open my eyelids.
Tressa scowled at me. Behind her, on the wall, rainbows. The room… the bed was softer than mine, and it smelled of soap… and dragon… and man. My neck creaked as I turned my head. The portrait of Shamino’s mother smiled at me.
I must have mumbled, because Tressa made an impatient sound. “Yes, that’s Shamino’s—wait, you have no idea who she is, do you? Ha! Poor, ignorant Adara.”
In the painting, the auburn-haired woman continued to smile with confidence and… determination? She looked as if she could not only take on Tressa in the Game, but crush her.
I decided to try speaking. My lips split as I spoke. “Why am I here?”
“The healers didn’t want to move you, so everyone gently carried you by litter to the closest bed. Shamino’s bed.” For a moment I thought Tressa would cry. Instead, she hissed, “You ruined everything.”
Dull triumph buzzed in my head. Or maybe it was simply my head buzzing. “If you had pretended to care about Shamino and let him do his duties, nothing would have been ruined. Although it’s nice for everyone to see how demanding you are.”
She stiffened.
“You can’t touch everyone in the Kyer and make it better.”
Tressa blanched. Then her eyes narrowed. “I see I’ve misstepped in more ways than one. Let me tell you, Adara, Jeweltongue accusations are hard to prove. When it comes down to it, whom will a tribunal believe? The daughter of Blackveil, or a halfblood?”
She whispered in my ear as she caressed my cheek. “Leave, Adara. Forever. And if you dare threaten me again, I will not only tell Shamino your secret, I will tell the court as well. Cross me, and I will make you wish they had done their job and put you to death as a baby.”
This time, I noticed her magic washing over me. My Gift tried to flare, but it sputtered instead. It didn’t matter. I had ample terror of being found out without her Talent.
Tressa straightened as footsteps approached the door. “Smile, Adara, and be careful.”
Shamino entered. He was careworn, like he’d been of late, but when he saw me, something sparked in his eyes which made him as handsome as ever. He rushed to the bedside, lifted his hand as if to take mine, dropped it.
“You should have told me she was awake,” he said to Tressa.
Her gaze lingered on his empty hand. “I’m sorry, my dear. I was telling her of how we’ve been watching over her, Paige and Zoland, you and I. Byron purchased the crystals.”
At the mention of my friends, I was able to think past Tressa and her threats. “Mettalise?”
“Worried,” Shamino said. “No telepathy until you’re stronger. And before you ask, Rose has recovered.”
The First One had told me so, but to hear it aloud made it more real.
“Thank you for saving her life,” Shamino whispered.
The world stopped as forest eyes met my sapphire ones. He admired me, he respected me. He loved me.
But it didn’t matter.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Tressa studying us both. She cleared her throat. “Her medicine?”
“Yes,” Shamino said. He tore his gaze away from me. “One moment.”
He left the room. Tressa still studied me.
“You love him back,” she murmured. The hardness had left her features, making her tender and lovely. And sad. “I knew he loved you, but I thought you merely saw him as a friend… I guess we each have our romantic tragedy.”
“Jerroth loves you,” I said.
Bitterness hardened her once more. “I will never love anyone again, so my only course is that which I have chosen. I’ll promise you this, Adara. Out of regard for lost friendship and lost loves, I will take care of Shamino and make his house great.”
Something told me she was being sincere, that she honestly thought her words soothing. They weren’t. “Shamino doesn’t want greatness. He wants to stay with his dragons.”
She shook her head. “The Game is everywhere, whether you wish it or not. It is something you can never understand.”
Shamino returned with a potion and a steaming cup that smelled of broth. He set them on the table and kissed Tressa’s cheek. “You’ve been with her all day. I can stay with her now.”
Tressa’s jaw twitched. Surely she didn’t want to leave us alone, but she bid me a sweet goodbye. The moment Shamino didn’t look her way, she mouthed to me, I will tell.
As the door clicked, the tension seeped from Shamino’s shoulders. This time he took my hand. He bent at the waist and brushed my knuckles with his lips. “I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry. You nearly
