Page 105 of The Alien's Cruel Starfrost Domain

“Kila?” I whisper, and my voice comes out hoarse and dry. “Will you make sure…can you check my back and make sure I’m okay?”

She whips around to stare at me in surprise. “You think…” Then she glances at my dress. “Of course.”

I stand tall, but my heart pounds as the raya flits around my back. When she reappears to hover in front of me, she’s shaking her head, a frown wrinkling her forehead. “You’re fine.”

“What the hell?” I mutter.

That cooked-meat scent drifts under the door and hits my nose again. That’s when I can no longer hold down my revulsion, bending over and vomiting in the crawlspace until there’s nothing left to heave up, the horror clawing through my mind at odds with the response of my body to what smells like barbeque.

“Come on,” Kila’s voice shrills from where she’s landed atop my head, her tiny body shuddering against me. “We can’t stay here.”

I know she’s right. The floor under me heats up suddenly, reminding me that the ballroom behind me, with its beautiful twirling ceiling and glowing stars, is burning, and the fire could break through the thin wood at any moment.

Dragging the back of my hand across my mouth, I nod and crawl down the corridor until I can stand. Then I clutch Kila and race back down toward the kitchen.If the corridor hasn’t burned to the ground by morning, I think disjointedly,I’ll clean the pile of vomit.

Though to be honest, I kind of hope someone else cleans it.

Assuming there’s anyone else left in the duke’s service who hasn’t been burned alive…at the duke’s order.

Stunned by this realization, I trip over nothing as we exit onto the back staircase and fall to my hands and knees on the landing, barely comprehending what I’ve seen tonight.

Tears drip down my face, and I rock back andforth as I try to sort it out, like trying to put together a puzzle, and the picture it creates is ugly at best. When it all comes together, I sit back on my heels and stare at nothing as Kila begins tugging on what’s left of my dress, urging me to keep going.

Ivrael planned this betrayal of his own people. For tonight’s festivities—tonight’s bonfire—he chose servants he believed had been spying on him for the Ice Court, allowing them to be immolated by the firelord.

At the realization, my stomach convulses again, my entire body trembles, and my teeth start chattering so hard I’m afraid they might crack.

The man who decided to hang a servant for being “disloyal” arranged to have his own people burned alive. The same man who has complete control of my life—and is about to have control over my sister, too.

Duke Ivrael can never, under any circumstances, be trusted.

He’s a villain.

No. It’s worse than that. He’s not just a villain.

He’s a monster.

CHAPTER 30

LARA

After fleeing the firelord’s destruction, Kila and I burst into the kitchen, our words tumbling over each other as we try to explain to Adefina what happened. My hands shake as I clutch the burned remnants of my dress, trying to cover myself.

“Child, how are you not burned?” Adefina’s fingers probe at my unmarked skin. She shakes her head and hurries to her quarters, returning with a dress of soft brown wool. “Here, put this on before you catch your death.”

The dress hangs loose around my shoulders and barely reaches my knees—Adefina is both broader and shorter than I am. I must look ridiculous. “Thank you, but...” I eye the basket holding my recently cleaned Earth clothes.

“Go on then,” she says with a smile. “Those strange clothes of yours might serve better.”

The familiar feel of my jeans and sweater settles something inside me, even if they’re worn nearly threadbare. At least in my own clothes, I feel more like myself.

We follow the sounds of shouting to the front courtyard, whereservants form a chain passing buckets of water and snow to combat the flames still licking out the windows.

My stomach turns as I watch them fight to save Ivrael’s home. How many times had I dreamed of this place burning? But now, knowing he orchestrated this destruction, watching his people risk their lives to save what he himself set ablaze...

The acrid stench of smoke hangs heavy in the pre-dawn air as I stand in the trampled snow of Starfrost Manor’s courtyard. The scent of smoke mingles with something worse—charred flesh and burning hair. Oriana’s final scream echoes in my memory. She was cruel, yes, but no one deserves to die like that.

I wrap my arms around myself, bile rising in my throat. Every bucket passed hand to hand feels like a betrayal of those who died tonight. Like helping preserve the home of a monster who sacrificed his own people without hesitation.

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