“One of you talked about a traitor,” she called. “If you’retalking about me, why didn’t the queen come herself?”
“The queen can’t protect you any longer.”
Thana peered into the darkness of the forest, trying to determinewhere the voice was coming from, but sound echoed strangely in the dark. Shefrowned, trying to think of what the words could mean. So it was her they werelooking for? But if this pyradisté thought the queen had been protecting herbefore, whom was she a traitor to exactly?
“Just…get out of here,” she yelled. “Or give up. She’ll blow youto the spirits if you don’t.” Something brushed her leg. Sylph was trying tosit up. Would moving make the desire to reach for the pyramids better or worse?Thana clasped her hand, fear rising but not for herself, for what it would doto Sylph if she had to hurt someone.
A cry came from the forest, then a shout, the words lost in painor anger.
Sylph’s grip tightened on Thana’s. “It’s coming closer.”
“Fuck,” Thana muttered. Any closer and an explosive pyramid mighthurt the people inside the manor, too, but by the way Sylph’s breathing grewsharper, that was inevitable.
Thana bit her lip, torn. Sylph seemed to fear hurting people morethan anything, but what choice did they have when it was between the two ofthem, the innocents in the manor, and some idiot determined to attack? With herheart in her throat, she leaned toward Sylph’s ear. “Do it.”
Sylph sucked in a great breath, then slumped as if all the airhad left her.
An explosion rocked the night outside, and light gleamed throughthe hole in a blinding flash. Thana cried out and curled over Sylph as theground shook, and tiny flecks of stone trickled from the dome.
But nothing crashed atop them, and Thana opened one eye, blind inthe dark. When a soft orange glow came from the opening, she launched herselfforward. The forest was alight, the heat from the flames billowing toward themanor and filling the air with smoke and a high-pitched whistle as the firepulled in the surrounding air.
“Sylph, there’s a fire. Can you use your power to smother it?”
Sylph nodded weakly, and the dome around them fell away, theblocks collapsing outward. The earth of the forest lapped into the trees,smothering the fire and looking for all the world as if the land was eatingitself.
Thana shook the thought away, stopped marveling at the sheerpower, and rubbed Sylph’s shoulders for a lack of anything else to do. “Are youall right?”
“Yes.” She rubbed her neck as she sat up, her pyramid clutched inone hand. Light from the fire dappled across her as the flames died. Her facewas tight and pained. She cradled her head and winced. Thana helped steady her.“It’s not so bad with that…siren pyramid gone.”
“You just felt one?” Thana frowned, but Sylph didn’t elaborate.This siren she was talking about might have been unique simply because Sylphhadn’t encountered its type before, but after her reaction at the academy,Thana bet it was made with the new crystal.
She looked at the dying fire. Rows of broken trees stabbed thesky like spears. Every pyramid the faceless attacker had been carrying musthave gone off when Sylph touched her siren. When the fire dribbled out,darkness returned, though the smoke diffused the moonlight, brightening theyard as it put the forest in a haze.
Thana marveled at the woman in her arms. For her, accomplishingthe impossible took far less focus than simply not using her power. “You did wonderfully.”
Sylph moved, her eyes glinting. “I killed someone.”
“You didn’t have a choice.”
Sylph shifted away, and guilt stabbed at Thana’s heart. She hopedthat wouldn’t be a scar between them.
Something moved at the forest’s edge. “If you’re finished doing…whateverthe hell that was, would you mind helping me?” Timmony called, his voice sharpwith fear and anger.
Thana stood and took a few steps toward him, not feelingparticularly charitable. After all, he’d tried to prevent her from going toSylph’s aid. He’d whispered something about keeping under cover to avoidattack, but she hadn’t cared about his reasons.
He and another person dragged someone else into the yard…whichwas now significantly larger than it had been with the flattened trees. “Whatin the spirits’ names happened?” He dumped his burden and gestured wildly, asif trying to take flight. “You asked about the queen, and that man said shecouldn’t protect you. From what? Who were they? What happened with that fire,the soil? What…are you?”
Thana didn’t know where or how to begin. She nodded at the lumpand Timmony’s helper. “Who are they?”
“This is Jamie, one of the grooms,” he said slowly, as if she wasan idiot. “Youtell me who inthe spirits’ names this is?” His finger stabbed toward the lump before he threwhis arms in the air. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. This clearly hasnothing to do with the manor or Carisse, so you need to leave.”
The way he pointed imperiously toward the forest almost made herlaugh, and his use of the countess’s name confirmed that she was more to himthan just an employer. “I don’t know who these people are or what they wanted,but they’re clearly…” She pointed at the destruction, at the lump in the grass.“Dealt with. We can’t go anywhere right now. It’s the middle of the night, andwe’re both exhausted and…” She’d been about to say hurt, but she made herselfstop, not wanting him to know how close Sylph seemed to falling over. “Tired,”she finished lamely. “And I’d like to search your captive and try to find outwhat happened. Did you find anyone else?”
She bent over the lump, trying to see his features, but shedidn’t know if she’d recognize the person she’d hit before. If the othersweren’t dead, surely that last fiery explosion had driven them off.
“We found one more, dead,” Jamie said. “And I saw two othersblown up. And Owen, the other groom. They only wounded me, but they got him.”
“There, you see?” Timmony asked. “You’ve done enough damage. Go.”
Thana took several deep breaths. “We can’t
