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I blinked open my eyes. I was lying on my back, somewhere strange but familiar.
“Where am I?” I croaked, my throat raw.
Konstantin leaned over me. “The Hall of the Archmages.”
“I remember. I walked here, then…”
“You fainted.” He clenched his jaw, his eyes dark with concern. “Carbon monoxide poisoning, to hazard a guess, judging by your singed clothes.”
The fire.
Wendel.
“God, no.” I struggled to sit.
Konstantin caught me by the shoulder. “Lie down. Please, you only just woke up.”
I obeyed. Shivers wracked my body. I was resting on a couch in an office. Bookshelves reached to the ceilings, crammed with haphazardly stacked books. Sunlight crept through a lone curtained window.
Where was I?
Konstantin tilted his head. “Can you breathe better now? We were worried when we found you. I have oxygen in my laboratory, and a pressurized chamber. It was built to test deep-sea diving suits, but?—”
“I’m fine,” I whispered.
He furrowed his brow. “Are you sure?”
I nodded.
“What do you remember, Ardis?”
“Wendel.” I swallowed hard. “Wendel is gone.”
Konstantin’s shoulders sagged in defeat. “Gone.”
A tear snuck from my eye and slid down my cheek. I rubbed it away. He knelt beside me and draped a blanket over me. Blinking, I clutched it closer.
“We failed the mission,” I said. “Spectacularly.”
“What happened?”
A sick ache lodged in the pit of my stomach. “The Order of the Asphodel came for Wendel. There were too many of them, too many assassins, and he couldn’t fight them all. I tried to escape with him, but he wouldn’t retreat. He surrendered onlywhen they threatened to kill me. God, Konstantin, he let the Order take him.”
He stared at me solemnly. “I know.”
My heartbeat stumbled. “How?—?”
“Ardis, that was last night.”
I stared at him. “I was out that long?”
Konstantin strode to the window and yanked open the curtains. The amber light of afternoon poured into the office. “We sent for a doctor. He told us to wait.”
“You stayed up with me all night?”
His mouth bent in a crooked smile. “I had quite a lot of rather boring paperwork to catch up on, so the all-nighter was prearranged.”
I met his eyes. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
