Page 8 of Kill the Queens
“You forced me into the...the fire.”
I’m sorry.The words were waiting for her to say them. She was sorry that he’d gone through it but she couldn’t bring herself to truly be sorry that she’d brought him back to life.
“Shelby,” Ace whispered.
“I would have—” His throat bobbed before he scrubbedat his face and sat up.
Ace stayed on her back. She watched him as he took in the small room. There was a pile of blankets Ace used for a bed in the corner and next to that the only other pair of shoes she owned. The walls were brick and the wooden floorboards were scratched up, but the room was empty.
“Is this where you live?” He looked down at her. The tears that had been in his eyes were gone. Perhaps she’d only imagined them. His shoulders sagged and his lips curled down into a frown.
“Yes.”
He crinkled his nose in disgust before he pushed himself up to standing and crossed the room. There were thick white curtains that covered the windows facing the street below, Shelby hooked a finger against the fabric and peeked out.
“No one is panicking,” he stated without emotion.
“I noticed that on the way here. I don’t know how they didn’t hear the castle being attacked or how no one has brought word out to the city to protect themselves from the Fae.” They hadn’t seen any Fae since they left the castle either.
You must go. Your job is not done,Greshta reminded Ace.
“The queen’s dead,” Ace blurted.
The white curtains fell back over the window, swaying until they settled, stained with red where he’d touched. “Did you kill her?” He cleared his throat.
“No.”
“Did you see her?”
“No.”
She’d dead as a doornail though. Dead. Dead. Dead,Sylik almost sang.
“Then how do you know?” His steps were heavy even without his boots as he began pacing the small room, carefullyavoiding the pallet of blankets.
Ace shrugged and pointed at her head. “Gods talk.” She tilted her head watching him. “Can you hear the gods?”
His steps came to an abrupt stop. There was a silence that passed as Ace looked up at him while he thought. “No,” he finally said, wringing his hands together in front of him.
“Does your magic work?”
Shelby’s eyes went a little wide and crazy at that as if he hadn’t thought about the possibility. He took a deep breath and dropped his hands to his sides. Thick lashes lowered down to his cheeks as he closed his eyes, inhaling loudly.
A flash of orange light ignited from his palms, the light filling every corner of the room. Ace lifted a hand to shield her eyes as she squinted toward him. Where his magic was typically blue and pulsing it was replaced by orange sparks that flared off his palms into flames that ate up the length of his forearms. Wind picked up, shuffling the curtains behind him, making Ace’s hair whip around her. His eyes were still pressed closed.
“Shelby,” Ace said.
There are always consequences,Greshta said.
He didn’t answer and the orange flames grew brighter. Pink started to ignite at the base of his palms. It was getting hotter. Not his magic, but this...this holy fire. His tattered shirt blew against his chest.
“Shelby!” she shouted again.
He closed his palms and the fire disappeared. The wind calmed as he blinked at Ace. “Did I do it?”
Running her fingers through her hair, she tried to tame the mess of waves. If he was trying to create a wind storm he’d succeeded at that. “What were you trying to do?” She tried not to think too much about what Greshta had said moments ago.
“I wanted to make it brighter in here. Just a simple light spell.”
