Page 190 of The Iron Flower

To Valasca, Alder and Tierney.

I feel myself honing into a battle-ready, tempered sword as I watch the bird disappear into the mist.

* * *

I trek back to the North Tower, my cloak pulled tight against the now-driving rain. A punishing wind has kicked up, and my steps are hurried against the quickly worsening weather.

I start up the North Tower’s rain-drenched field, my heels sinking slightly into the muddied ground.

“Elloren.”

I turn at the sound of my name, the voice muffled by the driving rain. A young man is running toward me from the direction of the University city. I squint to try to make out his face in the storm-darkened morning as a sense of powerful fire rushes through my affinity lines.

Heated recognition washes over me, and I set out at a run toward Yvan. His eyes blaze to gold as I throw my arms around him, emotion rushing through me in a powerful wave.

“Elloren,” he breathes, his heat blazing through my lines. Rain sheets down on us both as we cling tightly to each other.

What he’s done cyclones up inside me, in one overpowering whorl, and I draw sharply back from him. “What are you doing here?” I cry. “You can’t be here.This isGardnerianow.”

“Ihadto come back.” His voice is low and urgent as he clings to me. “Wynter and Ariel are in terrible danger. Cael and Rhys, too. I spoke to a fleeing Alfsigr diplomat. Their monarchy has ruled to kill Icarals.Allof them, Elloren. They’ll send the Marfoir—”

“They’ve already come,” I tell him, trembling at the memory of those...things.

Yvan freezes, shock in his fiery gaze. His face twists with anguish as he steps back, his muscles tensing as he spits out what sounds like a frustrated curse in the Lasair language, and the rain sheets down on us both.

“Wynter escaped,” I tell him breathlessly. “She’s with Tierney, headed for Amaz lands. But Ariel...” I break off, my voice fracturing with emotion. “Yvan, the Gardnerians are sure to have her.”

“No.”

I tell him of Ariel’s sacrifice. How she impersonated Wynter to save her.

“I’m going after her,” I tell him.

Yvan’s eyes flare. “Do you know where they’ve taken her?”

I nod, my rain-soaked lips twitching with outrage. “The Mage Council has ordered that all Icarals be brought to the Valgard prison, so I’m pretty sure that’s where she is. But I have an idea of how I can get her out of there.”

Yvan’s eyes burn with solidarity. “I’ll help you.”

“It’ll be dangerous,” I tell him. “But I don’t care. I don’t care what it takes. Wecan’tlet them take her wings.”

CHAPTER TWO

GLAMOUR

“Are you ready?” Valasca asks Tierney.

Tierney stands before us, trembling, her eyes a storm of emotion.

“I haven’t seen my real self since I was three.” Tierney’s words come out in a constricted whisper. “I don’t... I don’t even remember what I looked like.”

Yvan, Tierney, Valasca, Alder and I are gathered in the isolated circular barn. Dim lantern light gutters in the space, illuminating Ariel’s raven who returned to us this morning, the canny bird perched high in the rafters. The faded pages ofThe Book of the Ancientslie scattered beneath our feet.

Alder grasps a black stone disc marked with a glowing scarlet rune. She holds a slender, streamlined branch in her other glimmering green hand.

Star Maple.

Tierney points to the rune-stone. “So, my glamour will flow into that?”

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