A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom on Fire #1)(67)

“But I thought the shadows came only when the scars hurt.”

“So did I, but the most extraordinary thing happened. Just as I was going to ask Mr. Fenswick for the new potion, the pain stopped. For the first time since I can remember, the suffering left. Do you see? I hurt because I couldn’t use my power.”

Rook was no longer living in the prison of his own body. Tears blurred my vision as I wrapped my arms about him.

“Why are you crying?” he whispered.

“I’m so happy,” I sobbed, pressing my cheek to his chest. His heartbeat was loud and steady in my ear.

“Now I have everything,” he muttered into my hair. The air between us seemed to crackle with energy. It occurred to me that all I had to do was raise my head, and something would happen. I felt that he was waiting for me to grant permission. And though I’d promised myself no complications, I found I was slowly tilting my chin….

But the darkness was behind me. It was touching my skirt. It was reaching for me. It was wrong—

“I need to go back upstairs.” I broke from him so suddenly that he nearly tipped over. Part of me was screaming to stay; most of me had the uncontrollable urge to run. “The boys and Master Agrippa will wonder where I’ve gone.”



“Of course.” He didn’t sound put out in the slightest. “There’s time for talk later, after you’re commended.” Rook smiled at me.

His eyes were pure black.

You must get used to it. It’s his power, the same way fire is yours, I thought. For the first time, he’s free.

“I’ll come see you later,” I said, forcing a smile. Rook turned back to his work, whistling as he did so. Going inside the kitchen, I sat on a bench and passed my hand before my eyes. Honestly, I was acting like a child. Today I’d been given everything I could have ever asked for, and here I was, worrying. If Rook’s pain was finally gone for good, then that was worth everything.

Yet I couldn’t help but shudder as I returned to stand in the doorway and watch him at work, singing while the shadows ebbed and flowed about his feet.





The midnight bells chimed as Magnus and I skirted the edge of the ward, scanning the dark streets beyond the protective shield. “So you don’t believe,” Magnus said, “that the Ancients are demons from hell?”

“No. Medieval mystics described a fifth element, ether, that they claimed was kept from our eyes only by the thin skin of reality. Many held to those beliefs until they were declared heresy. Perhaps Howard Mickelmas and Mary Willoughby opened a portal into that fifth element.”

“Never thought so practical a lady would accept such mystical theories.”

I obviously couldn’t tell him I’d discussed said theories with Hargrove. “Then where do you suppose such huge carnivorous beasts came from? Portugal?”

“I suppose your theory is better than the archbishop’s belief that our Ancients are the seven deadly sins made flesh.” He shuddered. “Is that great blob Molochoron the embodiment of Lust? Truly, nothing makes me more excited than the sight of moldy jelly.”

I laughed. “I read an article by Blackwood’s father, actually, about that seven-deadly-sins idea. He called those beliefs hogwash. Did you know he was the first to name them Ancients in print?”



“Yes, Blackwood’s father was a great sort. Pity the son’s such a grim sort.” Magnus swiped at the ward, creating a line of sparks. I frowned, pressing my hand to the surface. It gave, almost like rubber. For a while it had been firm again, but now it was getting worse, and fast. Agrippa had brushed it off when I’d mentioned it, but I continued to worry.

“We shouldn’t be so harsh. I think he has a great deal on his mind.” Since our discussion in the library, my relationship with Blackwood had improved. The angry, hateful thoughts I’d had about him now made me uncomfortable.

“There’s his brooding lesson at dawn, followed by instructional despair at teatime.” Magnus walked backward to look me in the face. “I didn’t imagine you’d be so masochistic as to like someone who dismissed your lowly birth.”

“Don’t say it out loud!” Really, I told Magnus too much these days. He looked about dramatically.

“No one nearby. Though perhaps we should turn back. Our shift is near done.” We turned and started walking the way we’d come. All Incumbents took turns patrolling the ward as part of the training. It had been three weeks since my triumph before Agrippa, and I was now allowed to participate in all areas of Incumbent life. Before, it would have been unthinkable for me to go about with Magnus unchaperoned in the middle of the night. That no one objected proved that people had begun to take my abilities seriously. Perhaps I was finally stepping out of Gwendolyn Agrippa’s shadow. “I wouldn’t blame you for getting a bit soft, of course. Blackwood is the Earl of Sorrow-Fell. Most girls would give their eyeteeth to claim that prize.”



I groaned, the only appropriate response to such an idea. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m here to be commended, not to catch a husband.”

“But it would be so nice to check both off your list at once, wouldn’t it?”

“First of all, I wouldn’t marry Lord Blackwood if he were the prince of plenty. I don’t dislike him anymore, but that’s hardly a love written in the stars.”