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Ignoring the sweat coating her skin, Kallie snatched up the king’s hands.
Rian stared at her, brows furrowing. “Is that smoke?” he whispered.
With a deadly grip on his hands, Kallie released another command, “You will stay here. You will command the crowd to sit, that it is only something burning in the kitchens, and we will finish the vows.”
The words tasted like burned charcoal on her tongue, dry and numbing. But this had to be done. She would not disappoint her father. Not again.
With a strand of smoke running across his irises, Rian addressed the crowd, his hand still in hers, “Please, everyone, remain calm. It is only a little smoke from the dinner. The staff must have gotten too carried away with the pig roast. Please sit and let us continue. It is an old temple with an old ventilation system. We shall be quick, as we are as eager as you to be married.” Rian turned to the priest. “Please, proceed, Priest Havering.”
The guests quieted, the words of their king soothing their anxiety, and the tension in Kallie’s shoulders fell away. However, some guests, Kallie noticed, remained tense in their seats, their bodies not quite touching the back of the benches as if they were ready to run at a moment’s notice.
The priest pulled at his collar but continued. “Please repeat after me: I, King Rian Lochan Lothian Dronias.”
“I, King Rian Lochan Lothian Dronias,” Rian said, and where his palms touched hers, sweat coated their skin.
“Promise to continue to serve Frenzia as its king, to protect it, to act in the name of Frenzia,” Priest Havering started, and Rian repeated the words as the air grew coarser, hotter.
The temperature in the room increased. Beneath the many layers of fabric, Kallie’s thighs became slick with sweat. Fits of coughs echoed across the temple.
The priest looked at the king with concern, but Rian merely stood there, Kallie’s command forcing him to remain. Clearing his throat, the priest continued, “I welcome Princess Kalisandre Helene Domitius into my home, into my heart, and into my kingdom.”
“I—” Rian cleared his throat and restarted, “I—”
The smoke had reached them and filled Rian’s lungs, preventing him from finishing the vow as he keeled over. It had crept up the aisle, and now the air was thick with its ashy stench.
Kallie’s heart rate increased as her knuckles grew white around Rian’s hands. Kallie tried to slow her breathing, inhaling only a small amount of air to lessen the scratch that now coated the inside of her throat.
Eyes bloodshot, Rian looked from the priest to Kallie.
“Rian,” Kallie whispered, “finish the vows.”
The king did not look at her as his hands slipped from hers. He clenched his fist in front of his mouth and coughed louder. He held up a finger with the other hand. More coughing fits filled the temple as the smoke wrapped its tendrils around the guests. As the vows grew increasingly delayed, the whispers increased.
In between wheezes, the king managed to say, “I apologize, but I cannot. This—smoke. We need”—more wheezing—“Bash!”
Sebastian moved to the center of the podium and shouted, “Guards, open the doors!”
One of the guards sprinted toward the iron doors. When he reached for the handles, the hiss that left his lips echoed in the grand hall as he shook his hand at his side.
The door was metal. If there were a fire on the outside of it, it would be too hot to touch. The ghost of an old memory flitted to the surface at the image of the guard shaking his hand, and she fought back the tremors that begged to come out.
Wrong, wrong, wrong,a voice inside her head repeated.
More guards hurried forward, their metal armor screeching as the joints rubbed together.
All around, shouting erupted. The crowd rose, panic forcing them onto their feet.
Kallie’s heart pounded. Fear stabbed her in the gut. She grappled for her gift, pulling at its heavy weight. “Stop!” she shouted. “Stop!”
But the command rose and fell within her.
Tears streamed down her face, burning as the smoke wrapped around her. She searched the crowd, looking for her father and Myra.
Where are they?
Bodies rushed around, blurring in Kallie’s vision. Nearby, a flick of burgundy fabric fluttered, a tapestry on a wall waved in the air. A crash sounded from above. The glass ceiling shattered.
The torches fell to the ground as the acolytes shielded themselves. Kallie threw her arms over her head to shield herself as her knees hit the ground and glass fell. Sharp shards pierced her skin as they poured from the sky. She hissed in pain but did not dare move as tiny pieces continued to fall atop her. Glass rained throughout the temple, screams and cries ricocheted off the walls as the piecestinkedacross metal and wood. It poured and poured. An endless spout of glass, tears, and screams filled the temple hall with no end in sight.
