Page 260 of Burn Her They Said
“Thank you.” My voice comes out calmer than I feel as he grabs hold of my arms to keep me close.
The haze clears enough that I can see where my Guards once stood, and my stomach flips to witness the hunk of stone piercing the ground just inches before it.
“Tasch!” My heart pounds as Varic’s voice cuts through the shouting and screaming.
Or am I imagining what I heard with the vision?
I frantically scan the perimeter, unable to form the words to ask if Lars heard Varic—too afraid of what his answer could be.
Cracking sounds as Malin’s magic rises, catching a section of wall to keep it from crushing us. My heart hammers harder as he tosses the fragment on top of the boulder, which juts out of the stage where all of my Guards were last known to be living, shattering my heart when both stones crumble from the impact.
Lars tightens his grip, preventing me from turning while I anxiously scan every shadow and jutting edge of stone, needing to find some sign of the sorcerers I am missing.
“Varic!” I scream so loud it shreds my vocal cords.
I hold my breath and strain to hear his response among all the screams and crumbling, when a spark—a glowing pinkish-red ember—floats through the gray and hovers before rushing toward me. I gasp when it embeds itself in my chest. Tears roll down my cheeks as it imbues me with a familiar elixir of admiration and devotion—each carrying the hue I’ve only ever seen encapsulating Varic’s love for me.
The warmth of his gaze courses through my body until I feel that welcoming tingle as it rises up my neck to settle in beneath my cheeks like it has so many times before this. My chest shudders with my breath as I crane my neck with the need to see him.
Where is he? Did he send this? Did he send his love to find me here?
He must be able to see me, because the distinct heat is the most convincing, while the hue itself could not be fabricated.
It has to be him. He’s alive! He’s?—
No.
Not necessarily.
Because my magic can conjure old emotions. My heart sinks with the awareness that my own power has imbued me with feelings from the past—oftentimes so convincingly, it feels as if it is happening, though it’s only an impression.
Out of every witch on the Continent, I am the one most capable of this.
The one who draws emotions from memories I reserve for this very purpose. To manipulate others into believing their own feelings have shifted without my influence.
“Tasch,” Lars says, as if from a distance. “Are you okay?”
I shake my head and hide my disappointment. This is not the time to be rendered helpless. Instead, I will use this power to get us through this.
“They’re alive,” he reassures me. “We are going to see them soon, I promise.”
I nod, though my eyes will not focus as I gather the love I feel for Varic, having increased since the first time I felt it?—
Flames dance in his eyes as he stares back at me, sitting in the center of the white bed. His expression is filled with fear and a hint of shame as he openly shares the parts of himself others hide.
I pull on the sensation of loss at the thought of being parted from the being who so openly bared his soul to me. I allow it to conjure my feelings of love for the same sorcerer, then tie it in a knot and send it in the direction from where the ember of his love floated. With the hope that he is alive. With the hope that it finds him so he might sense what he means to me—to know just how much I need him to come back to me.
Malin’s eyes widen at something just above my head, and I swivel around to where Fray drops to the ground beside me. My heart constricts as I stare at the thick layer of dust covering him, from the top of his head to the toes of his boots. I open my mouth to ask when he last saw everyone when Malin says something, though I cannot make out the words through the high-pitched ringing in my ears.
All my muscles tremble now that Fray has returned to us safely. And a strange urge comes over me—so I smack his chest and look around for emphasis before telling him, “This isn’t what Hendry meant when he called us the ‘Twin Flames of Chaos’.”
Lars releases his hold on my arms when Fray spins me toward him and crushes me to his chest. I pull in a breath of his fresh, earthen scent. Yet not even his tight hold on my body can keep me from seeking the rest, as my eyes scan every pile of rubble for Cirrin and Varic. My pulse pounds every time I confirm none of the uniformed beings are the ones I seek. While I am grateful to have evaded the Emperor, his Guards, and every other member of court thus far, it is a stroke of luck I assume cannot last forever.
Suspicion itches beneath my skin, and I can’t make sense of it. Not even Raki has found me, and I would be the first being it would seek aside from the Emperor.
Blood-curdling screams pierce through the ringing in my ears as a group of citizens at the bottom of the stairs scramble to avoid another large section of stone from falling on them.
Malin drops to his knees once more, and my heart constricts with the strain he’s under. Veins in his temple protrude while bursts of purple magic pulse from his hands, helping the gargantuan section of ceiling descend slowly.
