Chapter 29 · The Ash Knows Her Name

The fire didn't burn him.

Wantang's breath caught. Rowan stood in the center of the ash circle, silver flames crawling up his legs, his chest, his throat. They moved like living things. Like they were reading him.

The court was dead silent.

"Rowan Vale." The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. The same voice. The one she'd heard in the subway tunnel before the lights went out and the world tilted and she woke up in a body that wasn't hers. "You stand accused of conspiracy to murder the queen's chosen. Speak."

Rowan's jaw was tight. His hands were loose at his sides, but Wantang could see the tension in his shoulders. He wasn't afraid. He was angry.

"I had no part in it," he said. His voice carried across the hall. "I didn't order the poison. I didn't know it was sent. I didn't benefit from the death."

The flames pulsed.

Wantang's fingers dug into the stone rail. She was up in the gallery, three rows back, because the crown had stripped Rowan of his seat and she was no longer a defendant with standing. Just a witness.