A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom on Fire #1)(41)

Then I saw him. He appeared before Korozoth out of thin air and darkness.

Rook stretched a hand out toward me. His shirt was torn down the front, putting his pulsing scars on display. I could tell that his eyes were black, even from this distance.

“Rook!” I broke the pattern and ran for him. Blackwood seized me by the waist. “Let me go!”

Rook raised his arms and issued that high, unearthly scream. The fog swallowed him whole.



“No!” I beat at Blackwood. Porridge tumbled to the ground.

“It’s not real. He wasn’t there,” Blackwood shouted in my ear as Magnus grabbed my stave. “He tries to lure you in. It’s an illusion.”

An illusion. Not real. Rook wasn’t there. And then I heard her voice, her little voice as she raced toward the blackness, screaming, “Ellie! Billy! There you are!”

Charley ran to Korozoth, ran for the little brother and sister who she thought had appeared. Magnus and Cellini shouted for her to get back, but she was too far away. The child tried to put her arms around the two phantoms, mystified when they vanished. She looked up as the roaring blackness overwhelmed her, and disappeared beneath the folds of smoke and fog. Her high, thin scream sounded for an instant, then faded away. When the shadow moved back, Charley was gone.

Magnus attempted to assemble us into the diamond pattern, but I couldn’t join him. Fire heated me, and anger fed the flames. Head pounding, I wrenched away from Blackwood and rushed toward the towering black cloud.

The creature’s roar reverberated through my bones as I lifted my arms to welcome him. I was shaking. Come for me, you bastard, I thought. If you enjoyed the taste of that little girl, just see what I’ll do for you.

“Come on,” I said through my teeth. The tentacle appeared above me, poised to strike.

“Howel!” Magnus shouted.

Every inch of my body, from the roots of my hair to the bottoms of my feet, hummed with energy. I let the power have its way.



The world exploded in flame, the heat glowing blue and then scarlet. I looked up and up as my column of fire rose twenty, thirty, forty feet. A shattering, beastly cry erupted in the air above. I smelled sulfur. Something struck me hard and sent my body rolling along the ground. A million stars exploded in my vision. I felt horribly cold and fell into blackness.

—

I WOKE IN BED, A DAMP cloth on my cheek. Fenswick stood beside my pillow, his mouth pursed in a sour expression as he twitched his ears.

“So you’re awake at last.” He didn’t sound pleased.

When I sat up, the room swirled before me. I sank back down onto the pillow. A candle burned on a table beside my bed, and I focused on the orange flame. I was alive, somehow. Was I whole? My arms and legs worked, and I studied my hands, forearms, chest, but found no scars.

“You’re not marked,” Fenswick said as he pulled on a silk bell cord. “He struck you with the wrong side of his tentacle. Or the right side, from your perspective.”

“How did I get here?”

“Magnus carried you back through the ward.” My face warmed a bit.

“What happened to Korozoth?” The door opened, and Agrippa entered, followed by all the Incumbents. Magnus and Cellini perched at the foot of my bed; Dee, Wolff, and Lambe remained nearer the door. Blackwood stood with his back to the wall, apart from all of us. As usual.



Fenswick took my face in his paw and snapped his fingers before my eyes.

“She’s fine. I’ve no earthly idea how,” the little creature grumbled.

Agrippa clasped the bedpost and came to my side. “You have violated every directive the Order could ever give!” He grabbed my hand and kissed it. “And you are everything I hoped you’d be.” His eyes shone with tears. “Everything.”

“What happened to Korozoth?”

“He retreated.” Magnus knelt beside Agrippa. “You sent him packing. Should’ve heard the old boy roar and scream. He disappeared in the air, vanished like the shadow and bloody fog he is. He’s never run like that before.”

The boys came closer, all except Blackwood. He didn’t even smile. He was probably just angry because I’d disobeyed him and gone through the ward for…

“Rook.” My throat was dry. Wolff poured water from my china pitcher and handed me a glass. “Is Rook all right?”

“He never left,” Magnus said. “They found him outside, in one of the horses’ stalls. He’d tied himself to a post.”

“What?”

“He said he’d felt the urge to run to the damn beast, so he went down to the stables. Said he knew we’d keep you safe, but he didn’t want to go and get himself killed and have you worry. We found him a few hours ago. Looked as if he’d had a rough night, poor devil. He was soaked in sweat.”



Rook had been secure the entire time. I collapsed onto the pillow again and closed my eyes. The relief was sweet. But then, with a pang, I remembered Charley.

“If Korozoth comes back…”

“You will not fight him again until you’re commended,” Agrippa said sternly. “You were brilliant, but you were also lucky. The Order was only just able to forgive what happened. That goes for the rest of you,” he said, specifically to Magnus. “From now on, you do as you’re told or face being excommunicated.” The boys grumbled their agreement.