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“I could stitch us out,” he whispered indecisively, taking a step backwards.
He reached for my wrist.
“No!” I hissed. “We can’t leave Odessa.”
Yet I was all but weaponless. There was a blade tucked into my boot. A small dagger I had recently pilfered from Steelhaven in case I ever needed it. Now I cursed myself for depending on others for my protection. If I had been carrying a sword, I would have been engaging our assailants already.
I reached down slowly to pull the dagger out, just a masked attacker lunged towards Crescent.
In an instant he was thrown to his feet, tossed down like a feather as his attacker stood over him, a booted foot planted on his chest.
“Let him go!” I shouted. My dagger was in my hand. I swallowed as the two assailants behind the one holding Crescent down moved forward. Could I do this without Crescent being hurt?
The masked assailant leaning on Crescent’s chest turned slowly as if daring me to stop them.
From beneath their concealing mask, only dark eyes showed. I let out a string of curses under my breath.
“Let him go,” I demanded, making my voice as imperious as I could. But I knew it would be no use.
I wasn’t even sure they wanted me. Perhaps this was simply some game. Murdering courtiers from the palace for sport–and robbing them of their goods. In any case, Crescent was a far more valuable hostage than I was considering his unique talent.
I was considering mentioning that, just as Crescent’s attacker moved their foot to his neck and began pressing down slowly.
In an instant, my stomach was in my throat.
My heart drummed in my ears.
I saw Pearl, her neck compressed by Avriel in the training ring as the life was squeezed out of her.
Crescent's eyes were desperate. His mouth opened soundlessly in a wordless plea. He wasn't getting enough air to be able to speak. I watched his eyes darken and then begin to close.
“No!” I screamed. “You can’t do this. No!”
Around me, the ground began to shake.
The assailant glanced around nervously but did not remove their foot.
Rage was building in me like a torrent of water beating against the walls of a cracking dam.
“No!” I shouted again.
The attacker’s head turned towards me. But their foot remained on Crescent’s throat, heavy and oppressive.
It didn’t matter. It was already too late.
Tendrils of power were flowing through me, lapping at my ankles, whirling around my waist.
The ground beneath us was trembling, cobblestones shaking and splitting apart.
I reached out my arms, closed my eyes, and screamed as I erupted in a torrent of flames.
Around me energy crackled and hissed. The air was suddenly filled with the sound of splitting wood and falling rock and above it all the high-pitched screams of terrified people being scorched alive.
I couldn't control it. This was beyond anything I had felt before. The power was shooting out of my hands, my feet. Was it screams coming from my mouth or was it flames?
I was the inferno. I was the scorching wave, consuming everything in my path.
Cries echoed through the alley and then died away.
