Aoife pushed herself up so quickly that James startled. “I’m sorry,” she said, breath trembling. “I’m so sorry.”
She grabbed a handful of petals. Kit reached out to take them gently from her hands.
“It’s all right, miss. We’ll clean up,” he said.
She reached for more, but James’s hand closed over hers.
“It’s all right,” he repeated, meeting her eyes.
Aoife let out a shuddering breath. “Thank you. Both of you.”
She fled before her composure cracked again.
The walls pressed in, the halls too tight. She couldn’t go to her room. Her room was filled with nothing of hers but a secret drawer and memories she’d packed away. She needed open skies.
She rushed to the front door, yanked it open. A stiff wind slapped her face, sharp enough to sting. She stepped outside anyway.
The storm air tasted of iron.
She stepped onto the landing, hands gripping the balustrade.
Why hadn’t she bitten her tongue sooner? She was finally making progress. Would he even consider her suggestion now?
Across the manicured lawns, the hawthorn tree peeked from behind sculpted hedges, its branches shivering in the rising wind.
Maybe Cormac had been right.
Maybe she should have run with him.
Maybe she still should.
The Sheedar weren’t lifting a finger.
Maybe faith was the trap all along.
Aoife swallowed hard, fury twisting up her throat.
She made her decision.
She was leaving.
A bolt of lightning cracked across the sky as if in answer.
Aoife screamed into the night sky. It was snatched away by the wind, anger vented all the same.
She ran down the steps, storm air whipping her skirts around her legs. Thunder cracked overhead, not distant now but directly above the manor, as if the sky itself had turned its attention on her.
She hit the grass at a sprint. Rain hammered down in blinding sheets, drenching her within seconds. Still she pushed forward, breath tearing in her throat, eyes fixed on the gate, the edge of Halverton’s world, and the beginning of her freedom.
A low rumble shuddered through the ground.
She didn’t slow.
Another flash split the sky. A white-hot spear of light slammed into the path ahead.
Chapter 16
Earth exploded.
