Page 118 of Flame and Sparrow

His gaze darted to my arm, and the air around us grew hotter as he muttered, “Yes, clearly you had everything under control.”

“I didn’t need you to interfere!” Pain spasmed through my injury, edging my tone toward wild, unhinged. “I don’t know what you were thinking, but I never needed you to swoop in and save me. I don’t need you to burn the world down for me—if I wanted that done, I could do it myself.”

“I was only trying to help.”

“I didn’t want your help!” I practically roared. “I don’t wantanythingfrom you and your stupid court! I wish you’d left me alone—I wish you’d left me alone on the very first day we met, when I was burning on that platform!”

The Serpent Goddess shuffled uncomfortably.

The Ice God cleared his throat.

Dravyn shot them both a pointed look. “Leave us,” he said.

Valas looked all too eager to go. Mairu hesitated, her hands clutched over her heart as she regarded me with pained uncertainty in her golden eyes, but she didn’t resist when Valas grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room.

Dravyn stared at the door they’d left through for a long moment before turning to me.

Neither of us spoke right away.

Why don’t you leave with them?I wanted to scream at him.

But I didn’t scream. I wanted him to go. I wanted him to stay. I wanted to be by myself, but I didn’t want to be left alone with all the thoughts in my head, so I just stood there, feeling foolish about my outburst and everything else.

I didn’t speak.

Couldn’t speak.

The pain in my arm throbbed again. I wanted to rip it off and be done with it. I wanted to be done withallof this.

Another throb. The violent pounding of my pulse seemed to be making it worse. I turned away from Dravyn, trying to calm down, but it was useless. And just as my gasp of pain had caught his attention in the world below, one slipping from my lips drew his gaze now; I could feel his eyes following me even as I tried to ignore him.

“You should have let me kill the bastard,” he snarled.

“It would only have caused more trouble.”

“Do you think I’m concerned about such things?”

I didn’t answer his question, my eyes lifting to the high ceiling as I steadied myself through another wave of pain. “He’s never done anything like this before.”

“If he did it once, he’ll do it again.”

“You have no idea what he’s done for me, all the—”

“What he’s done for you?”

“Yes.”

“Does he remind you of those things often?”

I couldn’t deny this.

His eyes narrowed. “So it sounds more like he did those things forhim, in hopes of locking you into some sort of contract with unspecified terms.”

I slowly lowered my gaze. I was too furious to speak right away—whether at myself or him, I wasn’t sure.

“Get away from me,” I hissed.

“Gladly,” he replied. Yet he didn’t move.

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