Chapter 30 · He Called Her Here

The ash-fire didn't burn.

Not yet.

Wantang stood inside the circle, flame climbing around her ankles like living water, cold and waiting. The court had gone silent. She could feel every pair of eyes on her back—Sephra's horror, Milo's shock, the queen's calculating stare. But the only gaze that mattered was Rowan's, and she couldn't look at him. Not now.

The fire spoke, and it sounded like her own voice played backward through smoke.