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I just didn’t know if I could live with it.

Damien’s words echoed through my mind.I play for my opponents to lose.

I looked to the west where Damien said Riven would be and ran the other way. I tried to shift my form, mustering the strength to soar above the crowd and into the smoke, but no flash of light came. I was already too exhausted and my body too stressed. I ran as fast as I could, tears streaming down my neck as I sprinted through the growing crowds to the townhouse. Not because I was leaving Riven behind, but because I believe Damien had switched their locations. I could only pray I was right.

I had left Maerhal to burn without more than a moment’s pause. Without care that she had only been given three months of life after centuries sleeping in a dungeon. Without care that she had offeredto mother me like her own, with nothing but love in her heart. All I could think about was Riven and that I could never choose another. I knew what it made me, but Riven had come to love me anyway.

Keera the killer.

I had reached the townhome within minutes. The roof was already engulfed in thick violet flames. I let that hot sensation bubble through my blood, but I couldn’t control the blaze. I pushed myself to the front of the crowd that had formed around the burning building and let the whirlwind build in my chest.

A powerful gust blew along the flames, but it only let the fire claim the next house. Damien’s flames were too powerful to tame and too hot to pull water from the air. I had to go inside.

I ignored the shouts behind me as I kicked the front door into the house. Black smoke billowed from the new opening, denser than any normal fire, a new tweak to Damien’s invention. I covered my mouth with my cloak. I bent low and felt along the ground with my sword.

A loud crash sounded from outside and was emphasized by terrified screams. A flash of purple flame had me dropping to the floor. The second story was already gone. I swallowed, knowing that meant Riven could already be gone.

I crawled along the floor until I saw the dark shape of a boot. My chest heaved with relief when I saw the size of the black leather and grabbed the foot. Riven was tied to a chair, that fell backward and scraped along the floor as I started to drag us out of the house. I cleared the smoke away from both our faces with my gusts, unable to look back before the rafters above us began to creak.

I grabbed his legs and the legs of the chair all at once and ran. I leaped from the building just as it exploded behind us, devouring the house in flame and ash.

Black soot fell from my mouth as I coughed. The crowd had run for the riverbank when the explosion sounded, but now they all stared at me and the unconscious body tied to the chair beside me.

The warm power of my healing gift stirred. Then I sat up and the world fell away.

My heart stopped beating and my lungs no longer held air. It was as if the entire world had been burnt to ash and was carried away on a breeze. I had no needs, I had no wants, I had nothing. Because the body in the chair was dead and it wasn’t Riven.

Collin’s wide eyes stared up at me, but saw nothing. His shirt had been slashed in two and the wordsHalfling Scumwere carved into his flesh in large amber-filled letters. His left hand was stained with his own blood and on his right arm he had left a message of his own, just one word long:

Sorry.

I beat my fist to the ground and the sky above me cracked with lightning as I screamed. The thick smoke across the river was visible even through my tear-filled eyes. Fear pricked my chest as I realized Damien could still have Riven in that house. The cloak had been his, I was as certain of that as I was that those had been Maerhal’s spectacles.

My powers were almost expended but somehow this time I found the strength to transform. The crowd screamed beneath me.

“The Fae are here!”

“We’re under attack!”

Their voices boomed through the city but I didn’t care. I didn’t care that the king’s guard were filling the streets with loaded quivers and bows in their hands. If I didn’t make it to that burning building in time, I’d let their arrows pierce me.

My winged form took me to the source of the smoke. I rose high above it and tucked my wings as tight against my body as I could.A high-pitched shriek escaped my beak and I dove straight through the smoke.

My own legs hit the ground and I rolled to smother the flames on my cloak. The house was filled with smoke but I pushed it into the roof with a gust of wind. It only gave me a moment to take in the room but that was enough to see Maerhal tied in the middle of the room.

I sliced through her bindings and by some miracle she was still breathing.

“Is Riven here?” My words were loud and desperate.

Maerhal’s shoulders slumped onto mine and I repeated my question again in Elvish. She coughed red blood onto my cheeks and shook her head before going limp in my arms.

My lip trembled. I wanted to keep searching but I could feel the burns along Maerhal’s body. Without my healing gift, she only had minutes left. The beam of the roof cracked and I pushed Maerhal to the ground. I sat up and my cloak was stuck underneath the beam.

One quick slash of my Elvish blade cut through the pinned fabric and I wrapped Maerhal in my arms. The house overlooked a bank along the river. If I could run fast enough, we could jump into rushing water from the back window and escape the city.

I clenched my jaw and sprinted toward the back wall. A single gust splintered the glass and burnt wood and we plunged into the Silstra River. I gasped for air as my head breached the surface and looked for Maerhal.

A singed yellow flower was in her hair, bobbing along the surface down the river. Seconds from the thundering crash of the waterfall that had overtaken the dam we had blown. I wasn’t fast enough to reach her and pull us from the coursing waters.