Page 114 of Spark of the Everflame

He had prepared me for this.

Despite my mounting panic, I worked my face into a mask of false calm. With a long exhale, I nodded and relaxed my shoulders. “Yes, of course,” I said lightly. “I was confused for a moment, but I understand now.”

A look of relief cascaded over Henri’s face. His grip relaxed on my arms, but Vance remained still, eyes trained on me. “You’ll return with us?” he asked.

I forced a laugh and held my hands up in mock surrender. “I didn’t mean to cause a fuss. I would never want to do anything to risk the mission.”

Vance eyed me, then nodded slowly. “Good. I’m glad to hear it, Sister.”

Henri’s hand found its way to the small of my back, nudging me firmly back toward the path to Mortal City. I kept my eyes forward but noted how the others fell to our flank—blocking my way to Lumnos City.

“That bag of yours looks heavy, Sister. Why don’t you hand that over and let one of us carry it for you?”

I looked over to see Brant staring at me with his hand extended. His voice, like his face, was cold and hard, laced with an unspoken threat.

I didn’t have time to think.

So I ran.

Henri reached out to grab me a second too late, though I felt the snag of my tunic as the hem slipped through his closing fingers.

Vance shouted commands, and two of the men slid together to form a barrier. With my bulky bag, I was too heavy to dodge them, my balance too lopsided for any attempt at agility. All I could do was tuck my chin and throw the force of my weight against their stony bodies.

I yelped as my shoulder collided with muscle and bone. My eyes squeezed shut, and I braced to be thrown back from the force of the impact.

But I wasn’t moving backward.

I was running—stillrunning.

Behind me, I caught a chorus of grunting and swears, Henri calling my name, Vance barking orders, and the percussion of footsteps.

I pushed my legs and my lungs until both burned hot enough to catch fire, but the weight of my bag was slowing me down, and though Henri’s voice had faded, the drumbeat of boots on gravel was gaining ground. I felt fingers scrape against my bag and a light tug. Then another tug—harder, the strap across my shoulder yanking my chest backward.

“Stop running, you dumb bitch,” a voice snarled.

If I handed the bag over, I’d have no supplies, and there would be little I could do to help anyone. But if I didn’t—if the Guardians caught me...

Another tug on the bag jerked me back, nearly dragging me to the ground. In one fluid movement, I slid my dagger from its sheath and hooked the blade behind the leather band securing the satchel to my chest. The strap snapped, and the weight at my back dropped away, right into the path of my pursuer. He groaned as he stumbled over the fallen supplies, his body crashing and skidding across the pebbled road.

And then—silence. No yelling, no scuffling, no footsteps other than my own.

So I ran, and I ran, and I ran.

ChapterTwenty-Five

To my guilt-stricken, knee-wobbling relief, it quickly became clear the fire was not coming from the palace’s magnificent facade, but from somewhere to the west. The exhale that rocked my body shook me to my core.

However, my next fears were confirmed when I turned onto the streets of Lumnos City and overheard murmurs of stunned Descended discussing an explosion at the Benette armory. Outside of a fleeting glance while raiding Evrim Benette’s office, I had never looked too closely at the blueprints I’d stolen before handing them over to the Guardians. Other than the plume of smoke and flame that called to me like a beacon, I had no way of knowing where the building was or what I might find once I got there.

I also had no supplies—not a single jar of medicine or strip of gauze to speak of. I had two useless mortal daggers at my hips, Brecke’s blade in my boot, and my own two hands. I was better equipped to take a life than to save one.

To make matters worse, it quickly became evident I would have no backup from the other healers. The Royal Guard had formed an expansive perimeter around the site of the attack, and no matter how many guards I pleaded with to let me through to help, not one of them relented. If Maura or any of the trainees showed up, they would be turned back as quickly as they’d come.

I might have accepted defeat and returned home myself had I not just acquired six enraged Guardians on my tail. Whether they would risk following me here, or whether they would simply wait for my return, I had no idea. Either way, I was eager to give them time to cool off before facing those particular consequences.

And, of course, there was the small matter of all of this being entirelymy fault.

My only path was forward, with empty pockets and open hands. I’d come this far, risked this much—I couldn’t walk away without trying everything.

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