He said it with lighthearted indifference, as though the answer were of no consequence to him at all. But I knew differently, and now I knew why. His name. It was his greatest secret. The one thing he told no one, not even me. Yet somehow I knew it, and I’d used it. The complex twist of strange syllables capable of bending him to my will. And even as I knew the sun rose in the east and set in the west, I knew this would not sit well with him.

“Cécile?” It was Chris who asked the question.

“I…” A gust of wind blew across us, carrying with it the heavy smell of wood smoke. “Something’s burning.” With the wooden homes packed together as they were in Pigalle, even a small fire had the potential for disaster. But there was something more, a worry that sent prickles down my spine.

“There.” Chris pointed and our eyes went to the orange glow in the distance.

“No,” I whispered. “No, no, no.” Then I started to run, pulling my skirts up in one hand as I sprinted toward the street Catherine’s shop was on. As I rounded the corner, I saw the crowd of people, buckets passing from hand to hand in a fruitless attempt to extinguish the inferno engulfing the shop. A shriek filled my ears, and it took me a moment to realize it came from my lips. Clapping a hand over my mouth, I stared for a second, then started running.

I sprinted up to the next road, then down it until I reached the building with the adjoining yard. Tearing open the front door, I ignored the shouts of those inside as I ran through the clutter of cots and out the back. In the yard, I jumped, catching hold of the top of the stone fence and hauling myself over.

“Cécile, what are you doing?” I heard Tristan yell, but I ignored him, dropping into the dirt on the far side. The fire was intense, the heat radiating from it making me flinch away, my eyes stinging and watering. It didn’t matter that Catherine had betrayed me. She was involved in this because I’d asked her to be, so if she was in there, I had to help her.

I started to walk toward the flames, the smoke making me cough and choke, then magic locked around my waist, pulling me back.

“Have you lost your mind?” Tristan shouted into my ear, dragging me toward the fence.

“Catherine might be in there.” I struggled against his grip, trying to go back to the fire. “I have to help her.”

Fingers of magic caught hold of my chin, forcing me to look at him through the haze. “If she’s in there, she’s dead. There’s nothing you can do.”

Logically, I knew what he was saying was true, but the idea of leaving Catherine in there to burn was more than I could bear. Tears trickled down my cheeks, cool against my overheated skin. “She has Anushka’s grimoire. I need it to find her. I need it to keep my mother safe.”