The explosion surged, ripping right through the great hall.

“Suless,” Janel murmured.

Time slowed. Everything happened so fast, but to Qown’s perceptions, events crawled at a leisurely pace. He saw the delicate fire flower curl outward from the explosion. The shattered crystal walls flew out in a sparkling, deadly rain capable of shredding anyone standing too close to the palace—and they all stood too close to the palace. The exploding fireball looped up and out and then started to sink … heading straight for them. The blue-haired man and several of the soldiers started running.

“Duck—” What Ninavis would have had them duck behind, he didn’t know. Probably she didn’t know either.

Senera raised up her hands. Her spell kept the lethal shards and high winds from pouring death down on them.

But Qown didn’t think she could handle the wall of fire too.

As it turned out, she didn’t need to. The fire launched upward and away, melting the snow below them and scorching the rocks.

All over in seconds.

Senera turned around, looking as surprised as he felt. “Okay, who did that—”

Janel had been held tight in Xivan’s grip, but she’d fallen to one knee in a half crouch on the stony ground. It wasn’t clear if she’d wriggled her way free or if Xivan had let her go. But the duchess just stood there, mouth gaping, staring up at the devastated palace.

“If by ‘that,’ you mean saving you from burning to death, then you’re welcome,” Janel said. Steam hissed from the snow as molten metal fell from the band holding her hands behind her back. She stood and carefully pulled free of her restraints.

But after a few seconds, Janel’s gaze shifted back to the burning palace. Everyone’s did. Xivan’s mouth hung open, a look of absolute horror on her face as she stared at the devastated, burning remains of the Yoran palace.

Finally, the guards pulled out their weapons and began to walk forward toward Qown, Ninavis, and Janel. They might have still been in shock, but they still spoke the language of violence.

“Oh, come on,” Ninavis said as she noticed their behavior. “It is way too cold out here to fight. Those women look like they’re going to freeze to death.”

“They always look like that,” Qown said. “They’re Yorans.”

Ninavis waved Brother Qown off as she addressed the men. “Just hold a minute, will you? Let’s not forget we just left an angry—whatever that woman is—”

“Suless,” Janel provided. “She’s the god-queen Suless. And she just … she just blew up the palace. Who was up there?”

“Everyone,” Xivan said. “Everyone. They’re all dead. My family is dead.”

“No, they’re not.”

Everyone turned their heads at Senera’s voice. She’d pulled the Name of All Things from her bodice and crouched down, writing in the snow with a finger.