The Fire Queen (The Hundredth Queen #2)(54)

“Swim, Kali,” she says.

I paw through the water weighing me down. Jaya drifts away, fading into the deep. I strain to see her vanishing light.

She is leaving me. She is breaking my heart all over again.

I open my mouth to call to her, and a powerful current charges at me, dragging me away from Jaya’s glow. I break the surface, and arms grasp me. A hand cups my forehead.

“Blood is water, and water is mine.”

The water in my mouth and nose clears out, like raindrops wicked away by a beam of sunlight. I collapse forward, coughing. Indah holds me upright, both of us hovering over the river.

“Gather your strength,” she says. “They need help onshore.”

Indah floats us toward land on her mist. Smoke obscures the shoreline, and flames flash like glowing spikes. The fire runs the entire length of the city’s waterfront.

We reach the muddy riverbank down from the dock, and Indah lets me go. I fall hard on my bottom, my legs and arms waterlogged. Indistinct shouts surround me. All of my senses are muddled.

Slowly, I comprehend Citra and a group of Tremblers are heaving dirt upon the flames and sinking the burning boats. Indah joins the Aquifiers dousing the blaze. Everyone rushes to stop the fire from spreading inland. I used most of my powers to extinguish the barge. But I grab what is left, don it like armor, and walk to the blazing boats.

A flame leaps at me. I throw my hand up, and it curls away like a disobedient dog’s tail. I focus on the next flame, and the next, but I might as well be trying to catch fleas. This fire has more fuel than the contained barge fire; it is nearly impossible to get in front of.

My hands shake. I sink to my knees, preserving the strength to stand, and shrivel more flames. Several more return in its place. I cannot win this. My soul-fire is shrinking and weakening my shield. Heat breaks through, drying my lips. Smoke chokes me. I am drowning again, this time on flame’s breath.

A breeze encases me, and I inhale sharply. Rohan stands at my side, summoning a clean wind that flows around us.

Indah comes into sight beside us, with Pons. She throws water, hissing flames to embers, while Rohan and Pons maintain breathable air. I collect the last of my soul-fire and command the fiery destruction to bow to me. The flames dip, kneeling at my feet. Citra crosses to us and stamps out the last of the blaze with a mudslide.

Rohan pushes away the smoky air with a slingshot of wind, and my eyes clear of the burning sensation.

Indah looks up at Pons and grins. “You have soot on your face.” She taps his nose, and he grins at her.

Rohan stamps out cinders beneath his feet. I taste ash in my mouth and feel gritty soot inside my ears. Citra rests on a pile of rubble. Her usually flawless hair lies limp around her dirty face.

Opal’s wing flyer swoops down from overhead. Before the craft comes to a full stop, Ashwin jumps off and runs to me. I meet him halfway, and he grabs me against him.

“I saw you on the barge.” His voice is muffled, his mouth pressed to the side of my head. “You walked into fire.”

“I guess I did,” I reply, just as amazed at myself. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” He leans away, and his shock evolves to marvel. “When you vanished into the fire, I panicked. Then I saw you inside it, shining like a star.”

“I’m glad you aren’t hurt either.”

Sultan Kuval marches up the shoreline, a fleet of soldiers at his heels. Citra clambers to her feet. “Kindred Kalinda!” the sultan shouts. “You are an abomination. Look what you did!”

More smoke clears, exposing the wreckage around me: the ruined boats and dock, half sunken and charred beyond repair. The reality of the sultan’s blame silences any defense of my actions. Everywhere I go, I leave a trail of ashes.

“Disqualify her, Father,” Citra demands. He would not guess that moments ago we were battling alongside each other to put out the fire. “She didn’t pass her test.”

“She did.” Ashwin wraps his arm around me, and I lean into him. Let them see us united. “Kalinda’s trial was to extinguish the barge fire. No one mentioned the buoy ropes.”

Sultan Kuval roars. “This would not have happened if Kalinda weren’t a—”

“I do hope you’re going to say the aftermath of the fire would have been worse without the kindred’s aid,” Ashwin warns. “Anything else would be disrespectful, and after showing great valor by risking her life twice today—once to pass the perilous trial you forced upon her and again to save your city—she deserves your appreciation. Or if you cannot muster gratitude, at the very least you can manage silence.”

Sultan Kuval sucks his bared teeth, and Citra’s mouth falls open. Before they can utter another vile word, Ashwin pulls me closer, and we walk away.





21


DEVEN

Cries sound outside the tent. Yatin does not stir from his nap. He is like a hibernating bear; he can sleep through anything. I bat away more annoying mosquitoes and step outside.

Smoke billows over the city skyline. Not long ago, a thunderstorm came out of nowhere and drenched us. Yatin and I took cover in our tent, but my clothes are still damp from the rain. My suspicions double. These odd natural occurrences must have to do with the trial tournament.

On the hillside rank board, Kali’s name remains, along with her three competitors. Is Kali up against her own kind? Do they know she’s a Burner?