Sylph looked around Thana and shook her head. “I’d rather nottouch them, to be honest.” Her eyes widened slightly, and Thana knew that angermust still be present on her face. “No offense intended, of course.”
Breathe, Thana told herself. Nothing would be served by yellingagain. “Something about that moment, then.” She thought back to the garden butrecalled nothing out of the ordinary.
Except her own abilities had seemed enhanced, too. She let herthoughts drift, thinking aloud as she always did with a difficult problem. “Youfelt compelled. I felt stronger. For someone like you, incredibly powerfulunder normal circumstances, some…special condition might force you to use apyramid. Where the same condition made my pyramids more powerful.” But thereason still eluded her. “Is that what happened to the other pyradistés? Themurder? The explosions?”
“Murder? I heard some gossip, but—”
Thana waved for her to hush. “But did the pyramids explodewithout warning? Or were their creators compelled to set them off? But thatwouldn’t explain the queen’s—” She cut herself off. That one was a secret.
“The queen’s what?” Sylph asked, a bit of emotion in her voice,as if she’d thaw for a piece of juicy gossip.
Thana shook her head. “Did you see anyone out of place in thegarden?” Sylph recited everyone she’d seen so quickly, Thana stared. “Did youmemorize the guest list?”
“No, I have a good memory for faces, and I know what every noblelooks like.” She said it without crowing, a mere recitation of fact. Just likethe tone she used when speaking about peasant magic.
Unable to avoid twisting that knife just a little, Thana asked,“What about the servants?”
Sylph’s mouth tightened, the closest she’d come to an actualfrown. “I remember their faces but not their names. Is that enough to escapeyour derision?”
“Maybe,” Thana muttered, embarrassed again. “Were all theservants dressed in the palace livery?”
“Those I saw, yes.” Her lips quirked now, a hint of a smile. “Didyou not notice them at all?”
Someone had tried to serve her a drink, but the face was a blankspot in her mind. “I…”
Sylph took another step, close enough to touch. “You ignore theservants? Too far above them?”
“I ignore everyone, high and low, so there.” How in the spirits’names did this woman bring her blood to boil so quickly?
That tiny smile was still in place, the most open Thana had seenher since she’d been terrified in the garden.
“Until I know what happened there,” Thana said after a deepbreath, “I can’t help you contain your power. You might feel compelled again,and I don’t know any pyramids that could keep someone from using their power.”Maybe a modified version of the pyramid that kept the Umbriels from presentingtheir Fiendish Aspect, but she couldn’t mention that.
She’d become the keeper of many secrets lately, and it weighed onher.
Sylph sagged as if Thana had destroyed her dreams. Thana couldn’tresist touching her forearm lightly, a safe distance from the familiarity of ashoulder pat and the intimacy of holding hands. When Sylph glanced at her hand,Thana went to release her, but Sylph put her fingers over Thana’s, arecognition that touched Thana as much as it frightened her. She dropped herarm and tried to think of what else to say.
“They’ll shun me,” Sylph said softly, looking at the floor. “Ifthey find out about the…pyramids, the nobles will no longer see me as one oftheir own.”
Thana fought the urge to grumble. So she wouldn’t be invited toparties any longer? Thana would have been celebrating.
“My father will disown me.”
“What?” Thana’s mind reeled. “Really?”
Sylph nodded, and the little smile turned sad when their eyes metagain. “You were honest with me, so I thought I might try it with you. Not thatI’m usually a liar. Most times, I say nothing.”
A habit Thana knew she should practice herself, but she couldn’tdo it now. “The duke wouldn’t disown you. He can’t, not if he…” She’d beenabout to say, “loves you,” but Sylph seemed so sad and certain. And resigned.No matter what her father’s feelings were, she clearly believed he’d throw herout with nothing.
Well, that was worse than not being invited to parties. Thanadrew herself up, tired of the emotional gamut she’d run this day but determinedto help. Strange that a barely emotive noble could put her through so much.“Can you feel the pyramids sitting here? If you’re able to sense them withoutthe aid of a detection pyramid, like some pyradistés can, you can at least turnand go in the other direction.”
Sylph’s smile was a little wider, grateful, and she glanced atthe table. “Should we…stand away or something?”
Not a bad thought, considering the power she’d managed to pullfrom the light pyramid. “Let’s start on the other side of the room. Then we candetermine just how close you have to be in order to sense them.”
They moved as far away as they could, nearly on top of somesheet-covered furniture. Sylph stared at the pyramid table with a worried look.
“Relax,” Thana said. “Remember the way the light pyramid felt.”
Sylph’s intense face relaxed. As she breathed out a contentedsigh, a burst of flame engulfed the table with a loud crack. Thana fell backamidst billowing smoke and a blast of heat, panic overtaking her as firedevoured the furniture and climbed the wall to lick at the ceiling.
Chapter Six
Sylph came out of her pyramid stupor slowly.
The wall was on fire.
She blinked, but the flames remained, roaring and spewing heatand smoke. She remembered the pyramids on the table shining like diamondsbefore she’d focused on one that held flickering flame at its heart, containeddestruction waiting for freedom.
She’d set it loose.
“Get down!” Thana jerked on her arm, hauling her around andsideways.
Sylph fell to one knee. Jarring pain vibrated up her leg. Shegasped, and smoke burned down her throat, searing her chest into a coughingfit.
“Stay near the floor, the cleaner air,” Thana said, her own voiceragged. “Where’s the door?”
The door, yes. They needed to get out. The room seemed a mazearound the dark smoke and crackling flame. Was the door on one end of the leftwall or in the middle? Her
