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“You tell me nothing but warnings,” I whispered. “If I’m such a threat, why did you demand Solin to share a trance with me?”
“Because we had to see for ourselves—see if you are who we suspected.”
“And am I?”
“You are more.” The flames spluttered with sadness. “Now, ask the one question we will answer and be gone.”
I blinked in the darkness, unable to see Solin or the fiery world.
I was alone, like always.
I found comfort in that, hovering in the unknown, asking my only permitted question. “My name. Tell me...please.”
The blackness broiled. Bubbles of magma and billows of smoke broke through the gloom. “As you wish...”
In the churning, burning aloneness, the fire blinded me.
It devoured me, tighter, brighter until I was surrounded by a cloud of fire-glowing bees.
A swarm of them.
An army of them.
A vortex of translucent wings and burning yellow, black bodies. They dusted my shoulders and head. They tangled in my hair and descended onto every inch of my ash-symbolled skin.
Their stingers sank painfully into my flesh.
Their venom became one with my blood.
And then, in a flurry of shadows and wings, they took flight, buzzing louder, louder, louder around my head.
“Runa...”
The word appeared on a bee’s whisper.
“Runa.”
The word sounded louder in their wingbeats.
“Runa.”
The name was a homecoming, a vow, a spell.
My chest arched toward the burning, churning sky.
Tears flowed from grateful eyes, and my heart burst open with the truth.
That was my name.
I felt it in my bones, my breath, my blood.
It soared from the depth of my spirit, finally freed from the cage where it’d been hidden. And with my name came the tiniest recollection of power.
Of fire and strength and chaos.
Of light as bright as the sun.
Shuddering, I gathered that golden power close.
I cupped it in eager hands.
But I wasn’t strong enough, worthy enough, and it ricocheted out from my feeble grasp, pulsing outward, shockwave after shockwave.
The world broke, shattering with shards of flame and brimstone.
Shadows licked around my ankles and up my legs.
Coming for me.
Claiming me.
Pouring out of me.
Another shock wave of golden power pulsed from my bones.
And then, there was nothing.
Chapter Twenty
. The Stranger .
THUNDER BOOMED OVERHEAD AS MY bare feet galloped over the grasslands.
The storm had crept over the horizon, racing toward me as I raced toward it. Lightning forked in dense, heavy clouds, granting me light to run by.
A huge raindrop fell on my shoulder as I balled my hands and ran faster. The moon didn’t shine tonight—choked by storm clouds.
Birds chirped with warnings to find trees to shelter in. Foxes ran into dens and a herd of bison in the distance huddled closer together just as the first heavy splattering of rain fell.
I kept running.
I had to get to her before it was too late.
My chin tipped down as I ran faster, pushing myself to the height of my endurance. If this had been another race between Salak and me, I would’ve won multiple times over. I didn’t just run; I flew—skimming the land with shadowy feet that defied the laws of this world.
Another thunderous boom as the storm reached its pinnacle, preparing to unleash.
The constant plume of smoke from the Nhil’s fire danced and spluttered on the horizon as blackened clouds broiled.
A sudden chill darted down my back.
I narrowed my eyes and looked around the bowing grasses.
Instincts spoke that someone was here.
I’m not alone.
Slowing, I lifted my nose to the sky and inhaled.
I tried to smell past the rich loamy flavour and hear past the crackle of lightning in the sky.
Would the Nhil hunter who tried to hurt the girl ambush me?
Am I running into a trap?
Dropping to one knee, the tall grass hid me. I balanced on a fingertip as I kept my breathing shallow, schooling my chugging heart to beat as quietly as possible.
I should’ve brought a weapon.
Should’ve taken the time to snap a branch and whittle the end into a spear—just like the Nhil clan favoured.
Another fork of white power sliced through the towering, swirling clouds.
An ear-shattering boom cracked right above me, making me cringe and glower at the tempest. Its displeasure echoed in my ears and teeth, shaking my bones with its roar.
And then, the rain came.
Sheets and sheets of it.
Cascading from the sky in giant rivers, smashing against grass heads, breaking some, ignoring others, splashing onto the dirt below.
My skin switched from sweat-covered to cool-wet with rain. I welcomed it, opening my mouth to catch thick juicy raindrops, drinking them down.
Another prickle of instinct clamped my teeth together.
I slowly rose to my feet.
Someone was here.
I just couldn’t see past the downpour.
Moving toward the Nhil camp in the distance, I didn’t break into another run. I trod lightly, scanning the grasslands, wiping my eyes as rain fell so fast it obscured my vision.
A movement slightly to my right. Barely there and mostly hidden by the grass and thunderstorm.
