“Nothing happened. Why?” I demand, snarling at the bitterness on my tongue.
He lifts his eyebrows.
“You look more insufferable than usual,” Zed observes, sidling up to us after having completed another lap of the perimeter. “Also, I thought you didn’t lie?”
I glare at my friends and drain another goblet of wine.
Enya peers at the empty chalice, completing our group. “I haven’t seen you drink this much in centuries.”
“Yet he maintainsnothingis wrong,” Zed says wickedly.
Enya looks concerned. “What—”
We all notice when Grim and Isla walk into the ballroom. They might as well be hand in hand, the way they look at each other. This room might as well be on fire for how my anger is heating it.
The Nightshade stares at someone in the crowd, someone I can’t see. Then, the group shifts, and I see silver. Celeste? The Starling? Before I can wonder too much about it, Grim catches my gaze. Instead of looking pleased, he looks ... concerned.
I’m a moment from setting his cape aflame before he murmurs something to Isla, then slips out of the room.
“Where do you think he’s going?” Enya shifts, peering around a pillar that’s blocking her view of Grim.
“Should I follow?” Zed asks.
I nod almost imperceptibly, and the Skyling is gone.
I watch as Celeste approaches Isla. They seem to be becoming friends. I can’t hear their conversation, but it seems intense. Is the Starling concerned about Grim? Suspicious of him? Is that why he left after catching her gaze?
Suddenly, I’m grateful for the Starling’s presence. Suddenly, I could kiss her fucking feet. I take a step forward. Maybe I can hear what they’re saying. Maybe—
The room lurches.
Then, it shatters.
And Isla is gone.Gone.
Before I can find her, the ground beneath my feet parts, and Enya pulls me out of the way before it caves in completely.
The castle is shaking. It feels like the entire world is shaking. I meet Enya’s fiery gaze. “Grim,” she says, voice acidic. “It has to be Grim.” Zed went after him. My heart hammers in my chest. Is the Skyling okay?
The ceiling crumbles and screams echo through the hall. I shoot my hand out to create a Starling shield, to keep more of it from falling, but the blue sears into my veins, my diminishing power constricting. The shield fractures. It won’t hold.
“Go, save as many as you can,” I order. Enya nods, and I pull her back, my voice breathless. “Do you—”
She shakes her head. “No. Not today,” she says, and then she leaps away to pull a group of Sunlings out of the room. Her flames create ropes across the ceiling, strengthening the hold of my shield, keeping the rest of it from giving way.
The floor is coated in blood.
I fly across the room in a burst, taking people with me, carrying them to the side, while simultaneously trying to close the hole that’s formed in its center. Every time I mend something, it breaks. Stone shatters. Shards of ceiling fall through the cracks of my power. Ceaseless tremors rattle the castle down to its very foundation.
Screams. People being crushed all around me. Cries for help.
Sharp pain shoots down my side, and I crash, sliding against the remaining marble.
My shield disintegrates. The ceiling collapses. I reach for my power.
But my skin is on fire. It’s tearing, like I am one big seam, one scar, ripping open. The pain is blinding, all-encompassing. My fingers dig into the floor, trying to stop the shaking of the castle, trying to stop the tremors. I’m the only one who can stop this. I have to stop this.
But I’m not strong enough.
