Page 34 of Fire to the Stars

“It’s Ma’s,” Lyle chokes out, shutting the box. “She was taken hostage.”

I let my pack slip from my shoulders. Heavy with the new equipment, it hits the ground hard, startling Lucy.

“Ijustvisited her in Ravinfort a few months ago,” I reply in disbelief, then add for Claire’s sake: “Madame Afi padded my new helmet.”

Claire covers her mouth, pity shining in her eyes. For all her lies, I can’t imagine her horror is fake. She knows what it’s like to lose a parent.

“What happened?” I ask.

“I really was helping Ma move up north,” Lyle says. “But I lied to you. I wasn’t on my way back right now. I returned to Ravinfort the night of Ignition Day. I’d only just unlocked my shop when I was cornered by two assailants. They wore blue cloaks and—”

“Silver masks?”

“Yes! How did you know?”

I exchange a strained look with Claire. “That’s how Ravinfort’s attackers were dressed.”

“Well, one of them held a sickle to my throat while the secondone revealed Ma’s hand as proof that they’d taken her hostage. It was already rotting by the time they gave it to me.” He puts his face in his hands. “Gods.They must’ve attacked her right after I left Varsonne. If only I’d stayed a day or two longer…maybe I could’ve protected her.”

“If they took a hostage, they must’ve made a demand,” Clairesays.

“Sort of.” He fidgets on the bench. “They interrogated me about Abel’s research.”

“My—” A lump blocks my airway.

“I told them I didn’t know anything about it,” he insists, leaning forward, “but they threatened to kill Ma if I didn’t confess. My pleading must’ve convinced them after a while, because eventually they riffled through my customer notes, settled on Hanna’s lead, then made a different demand.”

“They forced you to pass her lead to me?” I assume.

“That and more. They told me to tell you a dragonkilledher.”

Claire’s eyes widen. “That’s why they set Ravinfort on fire. It was staged to look like a dragon attack.”

I tense, recalling how easily I had believed it. The Ignition was just one day prior. By the time the Gendarmerie send a brigade to investigate the aftermath, Ravinfort will be reduced to a pile of ash. They’ll attribute the crime to an unidentified dragon and close the case.

My brow furrows. “So they kidnapped Madame Afi and assassinated a town full of slayers just to pass Hanna’s lead to me?”

“I swear to Diu, that’s all they asked for,” Lyle replies.

“Her dragon would’ve died no matter who hunted it. How does that connect to my research?”

“I don’t know,” he insists. “But they threatened to kill Ma if I went to the Gendarmerie. So I packed up every piece of equipment I could and left Ravinfort to find you. They said if you slay Hanna’s dragon on the next Ignition Day, they’ll release Ma at the church in Jardincourt.”

Jardincourt. The capital city of Florent.

“That’s where Hanna’s notes predict the dragon is headed,” I say, lifting my pack. “Fine. I’ll kill it. We need to get to that church.”

“Not so fast.” Claire halts me. “There’s a reason they assassinated the whole town, and not just Hanna.” She hums in thought. “Could anyone else in Ravinfort have known the results of your research?”

I brush her off. “I haven’t told anyone.”

“You’re positive? No late nights in the tavern with one too many cups and a friendly stranger?”

“I’m more professional than that.”

“That may be so, but massacres are a subjugation tactic,” she retorts. “If the assassins want your research, then it’s likely the motive for destroying Ravinfort was to suppress information. Not simply to get Hanna out of the way.Someonemust’ve leaked the idea that your journal contains something significant.”

Lyle raises his hand like a timid student. “Would it matter if peoplethoughtthey knew the journal’s contents?”