Seduction (Curse of the Gods #3)(19)

“It’s starting,” Evie whispered to Emmy—speaking right across me.

“Is it?” I said in a normal tone, forcing her to acknowledge me. “That’s nice. And why are we here, again? I mean you guys, not me. I know why I’m here—or not, actually—but why is Blesswood sending dweller reps to a sol meeting?”

“Because the Abcurses demanded two dweller seats on the dweller-relations committee,” Evie replied. “And the entire committee is expected to be present, as well as all other Blesswood committees, and all relevant people from the other academies across Minatsol.”

I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out, and I stumbled, fighting off a sudden, disorientating wave of nausea. Evie and Emmy only tightened their grip on me, half-carrying me all the way across the polished wooden floor, toward the back row of seats. The entire hall was set up with folding wooden chairs, all facing a raised dais at the front.

“You weren’t exaggerating at all,” Evie muttered with a huff. “She really can’t walk on her own.”

You said that about me? I attempted to chastise Emmy, but again, the words wouldn’t surface, and another wave of dizziness hit me. I quickly wrestled out of their grip and took a step back, holding a finger up to Emmy when she tried to reach for me again.

I need a click.

I tried to plead with my eyes, hoping that she got the message. She nodded, and I huffed out a short breath of relief, before quickly running to the back of the hall again and passing through the door we had entered through. I made it around to the side before the next wave of dizziness hit me, and then I was on my knees in the grass, my hands on the outside wall, my head pounding with sudden pressure. There was a blackness edging into the corners of my vision, and panic clawing up to the back of my throat. I suddenly wanted to run back inside and grab Emmy, but as soon as I tried to stand, the blackness reared its head and flooded through me, claiming me completely.





“We have to get her to a healer; she’s never going to make it otherwise.”

Emmy’s voice floated to me through the ringing sound in my ears, and I cracked one of my eyes open. I was back inside the same cart in which I had woken up only what felt like ten or so clicks ago.

“What happened?” I croaked out, searching for Emmy.

I had been crammed into the corner of a seat, and there was a massive arm crossed over my front, clasping the windowsill, as though it had been needed to keep me from slumping to the ground. I didn’t bother identifying who the arm belonged to—I only knew one sol with limbs that huge—but looked past it to the sight of Emmy on the seat opposite me. Evie was stretched across most of the seat with her head in Emmy’s lap, and her arm dangling limply off the side, fingers touching the floor of the cart. Most of her dress was singed black, and there was a cloth covering half of her face, but I could still smell the stench of burnt flesh in the air.

I clenched my teeth against the sickening scent and forced the words out again. “What. Happened.”

Emmy looked up then, her expression shocked, her eyes wide. “We have no idea. The meeting was about to start … and then, suddenly … there was fire everywhere. We couldn’t stop it. The flames were completely surrounding the building. Only a sol could have made fire that quickly, but no sol would have been powerful enough to produce so much of it.”

“It must have been the work of several,” Dru muttered, his voice rumbling out beside me.

“But …” I frowned, fighting against the lingering pain inside my head. “I don’t understand. Why would anyone attack the hall? It was just a meeting.”

“Someone who wanted to stir up the community,” Emmy whispered, her eyes returning to Evie’s covered face. “Someone who wanted to take advantage of the current state of Blesswood to spread the chaos further.”

I stared at the two of them, feeling my body freeze and go hot with panic, all at once.

“How did I get in here?” I finally asked, my tone quiet enough that I almost thought I needed to repeat myself, before Emmy answered.

“You ran right up to us when we were carrying Evie out.” She didn’t seem to be paying any attention to me, which I was grateful for—but I could feel Dru’s stare pricking against the side of my face.

“Right,” I forced myself to say. “I … yeah. I think I inhaled too much smoke, it’s messing with my head.” I had no idea whether smoke had the ability to do that, but I didn’t have any better excuses.

I had no idea what was going on, but I had a very bad feeling that whatever it was, it had something to do with me. I needed to get off that cart, and get myself far away from the people I might hurt, before it was too late. I also needed to find Cyrus, because if this did have something to do with me, then it definitely also had something to do with him.





Six





I already knew that the plan was to get Evie to a healer, and I assumed that it would be easy enough for me to separate myself from them in the chaos of the moment, but I had no idea what I was going to do after that. Cyrus had said that he would check on me, which meant that he was somehow already keeping an eye on me. I just needed to get somewhere private before I could test that theory, and I couldn’t do that with Dru breathing down my neck.

“Shouldn’t you be carrying her?” I asked pointedly, as Emmy struggled to get Evie out of the cart.