Page 94 of The Rose in the Shadows

That intoxicating, beautiful power had killed them all. And I had felt when it happened. I had felt it when my magic wrapped around their hearts and squeezed. I had felt it when they fell. I had felt it when they left this world.

Clay sighed, looking away as his shoulders tensed. When he finally responded, his voice was low, barely more than a whisper. “A few escaped when they realized what you were doing and are in custody now. You killed the rest.”

“I-” Words failed me.

How could I possibly have stopped the hearts of over two dozen people with my magic alone?

“Have you ever heard of a Descendant being able to do something like that?”

He was still for a moment, but then his fingers wrapped around mine and his eyes scanned over my face. There was no anger in his gaze. I couldn’t quite place the emotion I saw there, though.

“No, Thea. I’ve never read or heard anything suggesting something like that is possible. No Descendant has ever had the power to kill an entire room in one fell swoop like that.”

No Descendant until me.

The room was warm, too warm, but I shivered.

“I tried to save her, Clay,” I whispered. “I wasn’t fast enough.”

His grip on my hand tightened. He took a ragged breath. “You did everything you could, Thea. We all did.”

I unleashed my tears silently. “Iris is going to hate me.”

He said nothing. He only stood, gently adjusted me so that he could sit in the bed with me and pulled me to him. As my tears turned to sobs, I buried my face in his chest and he pressed his lips to my forehead. And though I knew I shouldn’t, I found comfort in his embrace.

It wasn’t long after the nurses cleared me to leave before I demanded Clay take me to the Council. His surprise was clear, but I knew it was where I was needed. I knew there would already be investigations about the attack underway. The Dragon wouldn’t let this go unanswered for long. Clay assuredme that no one expected me to be there, but their expectations didn’t matter. I wasn’t doing this because I thought I had to. I was doing this because I wanted to be there when they punished those responsible for the attack.

I needed to know who was responsible for Lorelai’s death.

This unnamed villain had killed dozens in a misguided attempt to targetme. They’d killed my friend in the process. So, I would go to that Council meeting and I would show them all that I was alive and well. Whoever was behind this would see the promise of revenge in my eyes.

The castle was silent as Clay and I moved through it, our guards close on our heels. It was all a bit eerie. I had grown accustomed to the court people moving through the halls with jittering voices as they delivered the latest gossip to one another. But today was silent. And remarkably empty. I hoped that was because many had stayed in their rooms, but somewhere deep down, I knew it was because so many had lost their lives.

As we entered the Council’s chamber, we greeted faces shrouded in rage and grief. The Council sat in their usual balcony seats, as usual, but the Dragon had abandoned his seat.

“Tell me who orchestrated this!” he shouted from the center of the Council floor.

Not all the servants who had attacked us had been compelled. I felt that when my power had connected us all. I had eliminated those who had killed of their own volition, but the young boys who had been compelled to guard the doors had been the ones who survived me. The compulsion must have broken by now, and the seven of them sat before the Dragon cowering.

“I cannot,” one sobbed. “Don’t remember, Your Majesty. Don’t remember nothing.”

The Dragon moved in a blink, lashing out with his right hand and backhanding the boy so hard his head snapped back. Absently, I ran my fingers across my cheek. I’d been hit so manytimes in the same way over the past months. At the Alchemists, in the Dragons chambers, at the attack. Rage bubbled in my gut and I swallowed it down.

I didn’t want to accept that anymore.

I wassodone with people trying to hurt me.

“They were compelled to forget your Majesty,” Councilor Clara reminded him.

Clara was an older lady, but the night’s events had aged her even more. I wondered if she had lost anyone she loved in the attack. Had the other Council members? Were they in mourning like I was?

Did I have a right to mourn Lorelai when I could have prevented her death?

Clay sighed next to me, and I knew why. The boys were unlikely to tell us anything. They couldn’t. The compulsion had taken the memory and moved it so far behind mental walls that not even a Truthseeker could pull it out.

I froze.

The compulsion had moved the memory.

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