Page 105 of The Flame and the Forsaken

“What do you mean he was never going to execute me? Why has it been two months, then? And why...” She stopped. She needed answers to those questions before asking others.

“He had to be sure you weren’t carrying our heir,” Hestia said coolly.

Mariel snorted into a laugh. “So what’s stopping him now?”

Hestia walked slowly over. She reached behind Mariel to gather the shawl and wrapped it around her. “Poor dear, you’ve been without a mother so long, of course you couldn’t know.” She pressed her lips to Mariel’s forehead. “Youarewith child, Mariel. And we do not execute mothers. A child needs their mother, but how involved you get to be in their life depends wholly on what you say and do next.”

Mariel watched the hearth wither and shrink and then passed out.

Chapter23

A Lit Torch into a Gaseous Mine

Erran had slept only in small stints since the day of Mariel’s imprisonment, but he’d been fast asleep when the screams rang out.

He bolted upright in his bed, still fully dressed on top of the blankets, and launched into a coughing fit. His eyes stung and burned. Breath was trapped in his lungs.

Smoke.

Fire.

Erran staggered from the bed, shielding his eyes on his way to the door. The metal handle seared his hand, and he withdrew it with a sharp hiss. Flouting the pain, he reached for the nearest cloth he could find, his coat, wrapped it around the burned flesh, and tried again.

The hall was a disarray of panic. There, the smoke was thicker, choking the air. Attendants hurried each direction, slamming into each other, ignoring orders to help get everyone out.

Mariel was still in the upper hall, tucked into a corner. If the workers were running for their own lives, no one would be running for hers.

Erran brought his wrapped hand to his mouth and stumbled sideways down the hall, squinting to protect his eyes. He couldn’t hear anything over the exodus. The smoke was so disorienting, he didn’t realize, at first, that he’d passed Sessaly’s door already, but when he saw no one else there, he reached for the handle. One girl running by screamed, “She’s nay there, sir. I already checked!”

He wasn’t taking anyone’s word for it, so he opened her apartment and charged inside. Fire engulfed Sessaly’s entire bed. Some windows behind it had shattered, flames licking through the glass. A beam had crashed down through the tester, allowing the fire to work upward through the wood.

He checked her privy and closet, but she wasn’t there either.

Erran coughed and backed into the hall. He was knocked sideways by someone barreling toward him, but he kept on, sightlessly stumbling toward the nearest staircase.

He started up a stair and was shoved into the wall again. A faint apology followed the offender, but Erran didn’t care or blame them.

Upward he ran, passing a dozen more fleeing staff on their way down. Some paid him no mind. Others gave him a wide-eyed stare that read,You’re going the wrong way, but no one said anything, for they were all doing as he was, with clothing pressed to their mouths to preserve their health for as long as they could.

He was equally hindered by the smoke as he was the stinging tears pouring down his face. The fire seemed contained to the lower floor, but the fumes had risen, and the hall was clogged with them. One last person flew by on his way down the hall, and he hoped it meant the others had already gotten out. He wished he’d asked someone for help, for he had no idea how he was going to get Mariel out of a locked room without a key.

But when he reached Mariel’s apartments, the door was open. He entered just in time to see his father scoop Mariel into his arms and hoist her high against his chest.

“Erran,run!” Rylahn screamed, coughing through the second word.

“You go first!” Erran cried, pumping his arms to encourage his father to go, go.

His father briefly seemed like he might argue. He shook his head, tucked it against Mariel’s, and sprinted past, Erran directly behind.

The fire was in the hall when they reached the residential level. The shortest path to the outside was through the flames, but Rylahn charged in the opposite direction, practically leaping onto the staircase as he hustled downward with Mariel, skipping steps.

Both doors to the entrance were open wide, and Erran could see beyond that there were already hundreds on the front terrace, huddled in horror. His mother and Sessaly had to be out there. Destin too. He couldn’t believe otherwise.

When they passed through the doors, Erran turned toward his father and held out his arms. Rylahn passed her over, careful to leave the pillowcase over her mouth.

Erran ran with Mariel to the edge of the outside steps and set her down underneath a tree.

“Mar. Mariel.” He shook her, but still she didn’t wake. “Mariel!” He murmured an apology and gave her cheek a slap.

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