Page 61 of Flame and Sparrow

I chanced a step closer to him. The heat from earlier had lessened, so now only a pleasant, tempting warmth surrounded him. Without really meaning to, I found myself sinking toward it, drawing close enough that I could have reached out and touched him. His eyes met mine for a breath, then dropped to the sparrow hanging around my neck. I fought the urge to press my hand to my cheek, to make sure my scars weren’t showing.

He lifted his hand, the motion slow and hesitant with thought, and gently grasped the necklace’s charm. Turned it over. Studied it. His fingers brushed the hollow of my throat, leaving a tingling trail of heat in their wake.

“You wouldn’t have died,” he finally said, letting go of the necklace and turning away again.

He said it with such conviction that I couldn’t help but ask, “How can you be sure?”

“Because.”

“Because why?”

He scratched Moth’s chin, causing the griffin to purr and rustle his wings. “Because I know a wildfire when I see one. And I don’t think those villagers would have been able to put you out so easily.”

“Was that a compliment?”

“No.” The reply came insultingly quickly. “Merely an observation.”

I tucked my hair behind my ears, my cheeks flooding with heat for some reason. “You don’t think I would have died, yet you intervened anyway. Why?”

He sighed. “Hasn’t your curiosity gotten you into enough trouble for one day?”

I didn’t have a convincing argument against that—and he wasn’t expecting one, judging by the victorious smirk that briefly crossed his face.

I averted my eyes and muttered, “Thank you for saving me, by the way.”

He didn’t acknowledge the gratitude. “Just stay away from the God of Death,” he said.

I wasn’t in a hurry to see that god again anytime soon, so I nodded without arguing.

“You’ll remain here in my palace for the moment,” Dravyn went on. “I’m sure we can find a spare room for you. At least until I can make certain that god is placated, that he’s forgotten about you and returned to the duties he should be focused on.” He held out his arm again, letting Moth launch from it and shoot up toward the glass ceiling.

There must have been an opening in that glass that I couldn’t see—one big enough for the griffin to slip through—because he kept going, twisting and turning higher and higher until he was completely lost among the bright sky.

I stared at the spot I’d last seen him for a long moment, an uneasy feeling gripping my chest.

When I’d first arrived, I would have given anything for a chance to worm my way into the Fire God’s personal palace. But after the day’s adventures, part of me longed to be back in my smaller, secluded little cottage. To have the privacy to map out all I’d seen and heard, and try to connect the dots between things. To revise plans and make new ones.

“I don’t need surveillance,” I insisted. “I could just go back to—”

He stopped me with a sharp look.

And, again, I couldn’t think of an argument that wouldn’t make my situation worse, so I swallowed down my words and nodded instead.

“Of course,” I said. “I would be honoredto stay here.” I tried very hard to make my tone thankful. I don’t think I fully pulled it off. Or even came close.

Nevertheless, he didn’t retract his decision to have me stay.

He summoned servants—strange creatures with tall, dark bodies that made me think of scorched and skinny tree trunks—and instructed them to take me to a room and make me comfortable. He started to leave after his orders were finished, only to pause one final time at the top of the steps and turn back to me.

“I never intended to cage you indefinitely,” he said. “Believe what you like about that, but I’m warning you now—tread more carefully. Because there are some things in this realm that I cannot save you from.”

Chapter18

I followedthe strange creatures Dravyn had summoned out of the atrium and into the palace proper, keeping a safe distance as they led me down several long hallways full of more marble and gold—hallways that would have been dark and difficult to navigate if not for the bright flames swirling around the creatures’ slender hands.

There didn’t seem to be any other sources of light inside, and it only grew darker as we meandered farther away from the atrium and its glass ceiling; it appeared this place was not meant to be navigated by anyone or anything that couldn’t summon their own torchlight. I was grateful for my elven eyes and their enhanced vision; a human would likely have been completely blind in here.

Maybe that’s what Dravyn was hoping for.

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