Zephyrus stepped in with one of those walls, except it went around me while he and Tray knelt to check on Ella. I stood frozen on display, unable to move, and confused as hell.
“Did I do it wrong?” I asked, but my words echoed around me in my makeshift prison. I pressed my palm to it and jolted at the zap. Then cocked my head as the energy signature seemed to unravel in my head, allowing me to absorb the knowledge just like I did with the binding spell.
Strange, I thought, even as I memorized the spell Zephyrus had woven and, more importantly, how to undo it.
Closing my eyes, I disentangled the threads, removing the enclosure and allowing me to hear the chaos erupting around me.
Questions and accusations flowed from every inch of the courtyard, followed by someone screaming, “Zephyrus! She’s escaping!”
He spun around to find me free of his cage and narrowed his green gaze. “You. Come with me.Now.”
I wasn’t given an option to comply, some sort of invisible noose tightening around my waist and yanking me forward.
Kolstov fell into step on my other side, his jaw tight. “Why didn’t you tell us you could do that, Aflora?”
“Do what?” I asked. “All I did was dismantle her water monster.”
“You attacked her with WarFire,” Kolstov snapped.
“What? I don’t even know what that is.”
“It’s the giant purple ball you just threw at my brother’s mate,” he returned through his teeth.
“Purple?” I blinked at him in confusion. “It was blue.”
“And again, I saw red,” Zephyrus added, opening a door to a nearby building and ushering us inside. “What role do you want? Peacekeeper or guard?”
“Peacekeeper,” Kolstov replied. “I’m the only one with the right bedside manner for it.” His focus fell to me. “Do exactly what Zeph tells you to do, or I’ll be left with no choice but to reprimand you publicly.”
He turned on his heel, leaving us just inside the archaic stone structure. I gaped after him, startled by both the threat and the plea in his gaze as he uttered it. “I don’t understand.”
Shade materialized beside us, his amusement palpable. “Well, that was exciting. You sure do know how to make friends, little rose.”
“Did you know she could do that?” Zephyrus demanded.
“No, but I’m thrilled by the prospect.”
“Would someone tell me what I supposedly did?” I cut in before the headmaster could reply.
“WarFire,” Zephyrus said. “You created WarFire and threw it at Ella. It’s a lethal flame meant to kill. And it requires high-level magical skill, something you claim not to possess, but that little act suggests otherwise.”
“I…” I wasn’t sure how to reply to that. “All I did was destroy her water lion.”
“What color did you see?” Zephyrus asked, ignoring me in favor of Shade. “I saw red. Kolstov swears it’s purple. You?”
“Green,” Shade replied. “Just like yesterday.”
“It’s cerulean blue,” I insisted, annoyed that they kept talking about the color of my flame and not focusing on what the heck just happened. “Is Ella all right?”
“Cerulean…?” Zephyrus repeated, trailing off and sharing a glance with Shade. “That’s impossible.”
“Why are you all so obsessed with the color? You’re telling me I almost killed Ella. Is she okay?”
“Tray’s healing her,” Shade replied, still holding Zephyrus’s gaze. “And I agree; that’s impossible.”
“Do you have Quandary Blood in your history?”
“No. It’s a dead line.”
