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"Close," I said. I couldn't tell where exactly, just a vague direction. "Winter Court magic can't—"
"No, it can't. Lead me to him."
He didn't make it an alpha order, but he could have. Doing what he requested was easier to swallow. Besides, I wanted to know where Ryze was and what the fuck he was doing too.
I felt around again, then headed towards the source of the smoke, which rose thick and steady toward the sky.
I half-heard the conversation between Cavan and Brace as we went.
"Did you say Ryzellius is in Garial?" Brace asked.
"Evidently," Cavan replied. "My omega will lead us to him. If he's behind this…"
I ignored them and wove through a group of Fae, who looked as though they were waiting for orders from someone.
"Follow behind us," Cavan snapped at them.
I stepped around the corner of the building and stopped so quickly Cavan almost walked into the back of me. He put a hand on my shoulder to steady himself, then dropped it back to his side.
"Fuck." I gaped.
The whole building—what was left of it—was still smoking. If it had burned, the fire was out. What remained looked like a pile of melted stone covered in ice.
Ryze stood beside it, weary and slightly dazed. He leaned forward, hands pressed to his thighs. Vayne was next to him, a hand on his shoulder. Wornar stood a little apart from both of them, appraising the buildings to either side of the ruin.
"I look forward to hearing an explanation for this," Cavan drawled.
Ryze glanced over. "Well if it isn't High Lord asshole himself." He gave me a glance and a faint smile, clearly trying to downplay the fact we knew each other.
"I was going to say exactly that." Cavan smirked. "What did you do to my building?"
Ryze straightened up. "I stopped it from getting so hot it set the rest of the place on fire. You're welcome."
That explained the ice.
"Why did it need your help?" Cavan asked. He stepped closer to the building, a deep frown etched on his forehead.
"I have no idea," Ryze said. "We saw a flash of light, then the whole thing was glowing. Bright red and scalding hot. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was struck by a bolt of lightning and turned into lava."
"No court has the power over lightning," Brace said. "Much less melting rock." His eyes widened and he took a step back. "If the gods—"
"I don't think it had anything to do with the gods," Cavan said quickly, darkly. "Just an accident of some kind."
He obviously didn't believe that. "We'll get to the bottom of it." He didn't bother to hide the fact he still suspected Ryze was behind this. But not just Ryze.
Brace nodded doubtfully, but moved to wave the Fae back to their duties.
"It looks like we need to talk," Cavan said to Ryze. "Not here."
Before Ryze could answer, Tavian came trotting up, his face pink with exertion. Sweat covered his brow. He must have run from somewhere.
"Looks like I'm just in time for the festivities." He pulled up to a stop and smiled. "Is everyone in one piece?"
"For now," Cavan said. "How long that lasts is up to the three of you."
Tavian was visibly resisting the urge to contradict him, but also decided to keep up the pretence we meant nothing to each other.
"Don't look at me," Vayne said. "I saw the light and followed Ryze here. Like he said, the building was glowing red. It was getting brighter and brighter. Looked like it was going to incinerate the shit out of everything. Ryze brought in a bunch of snow and ice. Building sizzled like a bitch, but it cooled down pretty fast."
