Page 37 of Flame and Sparrow

Trust a god to be cryptic and confusing.

No sooner had I thought of this when the hottest flash of fire yet seared through my arm; it felt as if the very blood beneath my skin was starting to boil. I jumped to my feet, nearly spilling what remained of my tea. Taking a deep breath, I sat the cup carefully back on the table. It rattled against the wood despite my best efforts to steady it.

“I…I think I need some fresh air,” I said, backing away.

I needed much more than that, and we all knew it, but no one stopped me from leaving.

As I stepped outside,the heat pressing through my body began to fade. It grew cooler the farther I walked, and by the time I came to the edge of Zara’s vast yard, the burning had reduced to nothing more than a tingling I barely noticed.

It still seemed annoyingly cryptic, but I was more certain than ever that this wasa sign. One I had inadvertently answered by stepping outside.

The God of Fire was waiting for me, somewhere close by, somewhere beyond the edges of my familiar world. I felt him the way I felt storms approaching on a summer day—as a shifting pressure against my body, an electric pulsing that made the hairs on my arms stand on end.

But where was he?

Where was I meant to go from here?

I paced the yard for several minutes, searching, glancing occasionally at the faintly glowing mark on my skin while hoping for clearer signs.

The sun was low in the sky, sitting like an orange in the curved basket formed by the distant hills. A creek stretched along the edge of the yard, reflecting the growing daylight. Its brightly shining, vermilion streaked waves made me think of a building fire, which was the closest thing I’d seen to a sign since stepping outside.

I drew closer to the water’s edge, chest tight with anticipation…and quickly realized that the bold streaks of red and gold were not a reflection of the sun.

The water wasactuallyburning.

The waves did not bubble or gurgle, they hissed and crackled, moving with a viscosity more like mud than water. Above the churning flow of fire, orbs of silvery light danced in the air. TheGatterlen—also known as portal lights.

Legends said these lights were telltale signs to travelers that a pathway between realms was open and safe to use—a phenomenon that was once far more common, as there had supposedly been an age when elves could conjure up similar portals with similar guiding lights, when they had walked as freely between the divine and mortal realms as I walked between the rooms in Zara’s house.

I heard footsteps approaching from behind me. Slowly, reluctantly, Cillian caught up to where I stood, and we both stared without speaking for several minutes. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him right away, afraid I might lose my nerve if I saw his worried face.

“The Gatterlen,” I finally whispered. “I thought they were nothing more than a myth.”

“Me too,” Cillian muttered.

Yet here they were, clearly heralding a portal—not even Cillian could deny what they were, though he did turn his back to the sight of it all.

I turned with him, doing my best to ignore the heat that the motion sent flashing up my arm. I understood Cillian’s pain; I wanted one last moment without marks or missions or anything else between us as well.

A moment was, unfortunately, all we had to spare.

“I’ll come back, you know,” I said. “It isn’t like what happened to Savna. You know where I’m going, and why. And I have a plan.”

He cut me a sideways glance. “You’re the only one I know who could calmly plan a trip to visit the gods.”

I managed a smile, which coaxed a partial grin from him too. “Just another day in our royally charmed life,” I said.

He laughed, rolling his eyes.

“Also,calmlyis a stretch.”

The fiery portal flared brighter and hotter behind us, as if determined to draw our attention back to it.

Mesmerizing as it was, Cillian still refused to look at anything but me. “I’d go with you if I could,” he said.

“I know.” My heart clenched. “But I’d rather you stay here and learn more from Zara anyway. Between the two of you, I suspect there’s some brilliant, magical, world-changing weapon just waiting to be discovered.”

He seemed to turn the possibility over in his thoughts for a long time before acquiescing with a sigh. “Idohave a brilliant mind, don’t I?”

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