Page 75 of The Incendiary

“I didn’t get my fire from you!” I spat defensively. “Take something of mine again, and I will kill you. Touch these again”—I clutched the rings between my finger and thumb—“and I will do it slowly.”

Elias leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap while studying me with a stare that made my skin crawl. “Are you threatening your commander, Cadet?”

“Yes. Enough with the stupid questions.” I didn’t need a mirror to know my face was red. I could feel the burning under my skin. “If you have a punishment for my insubordination, deliver it. I don’t care.”

When he tapped his fingers together, the glint of a golden ring caught my attention. Either it was new, or I hadn’t noticed it before. Freshly polished with a flat-headed design I couldn’t make out.

“Who do the rings belong to?” he demanded. I looked up from his ring to see him peering at mine.

“That’s none of your business.”

Elias chuckled loosely. “You’re in my fortress. Among my cadets. Everything you do is my business.”

“The rings are mine.”

“Both of them?”

I gritted my teeth. “Yes. Both of them. Why do you wear that ring?”

His eyes dropped to his hand. He pressed his tongue to his cheek in thought. The hesitant silence made my palms and feet itch.

“Two birds mid-flight,” he finally said. “ ‘Winged souls’ is what my grandmother calls them. For my dead sisters, Helena and Willa.” Elias ran his thumb over the rounded center setting where the birds were carved, then looked up. “Your turn.”

I owed him nothing, nor had I agreed to exchange secrets like we had in the woods. My empathy and boundaries could coexist. He could bare his soul to me, and I would still owe him nothing.

“Maybe they were my parents’ rings,” I started, confidently lifting my chin. “Maybe they belonged to old friends whose lives were taken. Maybe I found them in a Brinnean pawn shop and made up a story of long-lasting love to help me sleep at night. It shouldn’t matter to you. They are not for you to touch.”

We stared at each other, neither of us willing to yield to the other. I wasn’t arrogant enough to think my will could no longer be broken, but it wouldn’t be broken by him. I decided not to give him time to consider my response before I turned toward the exit.

“The lake,” he called out. “I knew you’d find a way. How did you do it?”

I came to a halt, turned halfway, and doubled the strength of resentment in my glare. “The murderous fish were napping, and I’m fast.”

His eyes darted up and down the length of my body. “You’re fast,” he echoed dryly.

“Yes.” Was something wrong with his hearing? Why did he find it necessary to repeat everything I said?

“If you hadn’t made enemies of your peers before today,” he went on, “you certainly have now.”

I scoffed. “I’m sure you’d relish burying my body.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Fera,” he answered immediately. “I knew you’d be just fine. I hadn’t even thought of burying you.” I waited for him to admit he would have just tossed me in a river. Or burned my body along with their waste.

But Elias just smirked and said, “If I wanted you dead, you already would be.”

TWENTY

ARYELLA

Do not go south of Winterton’s border into Tugaf. Not until you’re as strong and practiced as possible.

Promise me. Please.

I’m terrified of what you might see.

—FROM THE BUTCHER OF NYRIDA’S LAST KNOWN LETTERS TO QUEEN ARYELLA I

Light footsteps on cobblestone ricocheted off ancient stone walls. My footsteps. And the walls in question formed a dark hallway on both sides of me. No visible end in either direction.