A deepwhoomphthat vibrated through my ribs and snapped whatever was left of me back into my body. Instinct took over—I ran.
Sirens wailed.
Lights exploded awake across the courtyard.
Doors slammed open as guards sprinted toward the commotion.
“Fire! Fire!”
Screams echoed off the stone walls. Smoke rolled across the air like a living thing.
And then I saw her.
A body on the ground.
Jess.
My heart lurched. I slid to my knees beside her, grabbing her shoulders. Her lighter lay abandoned inches from her hand, still warm from use.
“Oh my god—Jess? Jess!”
The inferno roared behind us, a wall of heat that scorched the back of my neck. The entire hall was blazing—glass shattered, flames curling up the walls like hungry fingers.
I hooked my arms under Jess and hauled. She was dead weight in my arms, her head lolling, limp. Guards shoved past me with hoses, shouting orders I barely heard over the blood pounding in my ears.
“Get out of here!” one roared at me. “Move! Get to the front!”
“Jess—wake up!” I yelled, shaking her. “Put out the fire!”
Nothing.
Nothing but her shallow, unconscious breaths.
Panic rose sharp in my throat.
I did the only thing I could think of.
I tore off my glove.
One more. Just one more tonight.
I pressed my bare fingers to her skin—
—and felt…
Nothing.
No spark.
No rush.
No energy.
Just the faint thrum of her life.
That was all I could take from her.
All that was left.
