Page 133 of Only Flames Remain

And yet…they suffered all the same.

Bodies were strewn about the debris where the castle had once stood. Innocent palace staff—humans and fae alike. The land around the castle was burned in a circle, scorch marks marring the cobblestone as the tall grasses of the planes burned beneath bright orange flame. The front gates were melted, metal pooling across the earth as the wind brought a fresh wave of smoke to stir my hair.

Smog vapors drifted from the ruins, casting the sky in an ominous gray pallor. King Faris and Queen Dyata were somewhere among the rubble. Prince Kallias was.

All I felt swirling inside was anger and sorrow. An embittered tear dripped from my eye, tracking soot down my cheek as I laid eyes on Myros for the last time.

Majur was gone. The shops where the market had once thrived, where I had once bought my poisons from Osric. The apothecary where I had grown up—had learned everything there was to know about herbology and alchemy.

It was gone.

Tears fell in earnest now, dripping ash into my mouth as I turned skyward and cried. My voice was drowned out beneath the roaring of flame, beneath the rush of the fire as it spread in every direction.

There was only complete and utter destruction.

It had only taken one single dragon to fly to war and destroy an ancient kingdom. To demolish everything in sight—everything I had ever known or loved.

My childhood home in the apartment above the bakery. The cobbled street where Enora and I had played dice and cards. The stables where I had learned to first ride a horse. The tavern where I had shared my first kiss.

Gone. All of it was gone.

And for what? Because someone had stolen something that was his? This was how he chose to retaliate? I would have come back to him if I had been granted the choice.

But he had taken that from me. He had made the decision for me.

I had disparaged Kallias for doing the exact same thing. I thought Sorin held me in higher esteem.

“Sorin!” I cried, rising to my feet. I attempted to escape the ash that filled my lungs, staggering toward the shoreline where the smoke wasn’t so thick. “Where are you?”

“Aveline!”

I could hear his voice now, back the way I had come.

I could stand the smoke no longer. My eyes were watering and not only from grief, but from the sting of the air. I wanted to go back for my mother, but I couldn’t peel my eyes open. Couldn’t bring air into my lungs. I coughed again, spittle painting my cheeks as I continued toward the shoreline.

Toward safety.

The time it took to reach the banks of the Saltale Sea was interminable. I dropped to my knees, dunking my soot covered hands into the fresh salt water and wiping my face. There was no trace of the poison in my system now, and my magic hummed in my chest. I hadn’t the slightest idea how to control or summon it.

As I scanned Majur now, it was far beyond what magic of the tide might save. Even if I had the strength to summon the Saltale Sea, it would be no use.

Majur would burn.

I attempted a deep, heaving breath—only to be reduced to short, stifled coughs once more.

“Aveline!” Sorin was closer now.

His boots entered my blurred field of vision. I turned away, toward the sea. The breeze combed my sweat-soaked hair back from my face, stinging the fresh tears that relentlessly spilled forth as I gazed out across the water.

“I’ve been searching for you—” he started.

He reached toward me, my arm gentle in his grip, but I yanked it away. Hurt and betrayal were drawn across my face as I got to my feet and turned toward him.

“I’ve been searching—”

“I heard you,” I cut him off.

I took a step back from him, then another. I didn’t recognize the man that stood before me. How could this be the same man I was falling for? His brows drew together in confusion.