But she was nowhere in sight. “Raven!” I shouted into the night, over the clamor and screams of the guards, over the loud crackle of the fire because it made a cabin collapse into burning rubble. The smoke was starting to get too thick, making it harder to breathe. “Raven!” We had to get out of there before we were caught or suffocated.

Then I found her.

The executioner had her by the throat, ready to choke her to death right there in the snow. “Raven!” I sprinted to her and noticed another girl coming from a different direction. She jumped onto his back and slammed her fist into the back of his head.

I ran faster, pulled out the knife Raven gave me, and did the bravest thing I’d ever done.

I jumped on him too—and killed him.

I killed someone.

There was no hesitation as I slammed the knife into his back, into his legs, any piece of flesh I could find. All I cared about was my sister, and I would kill anyone who got in between us.

He collapsed, his blood spilling out into the snow.

I dropped the knife, looked at my red hands, and felt disoriented from all the blood. “Raven, are you okay?”

She was already on her feet, sprinting to a collapsed cabin. “Help me!” She stuck her bare hands into the fire and tried to lift the burning wood. Her palms immediately pulled away at the heat, but she tried again anyway.

If she was willing to burn her own hands, someone important was underneath. I rushed to her aid and did the same, grinding my teeth as we lifted the heavy piece of wood a little higher, revealing Magnus underneath.

But the two of us weren’t strong enough.

“Bethany, please.” Raven turned to the blonde who had helped me take down the executioner.

She took one look at Magnus, not showing an ounce of pity.

Raven’s hands were nearly on fire, but she didn’t drop the wood.

I had to pull my hands away because it was too much. I could smell my own burning flesh.

But Raven held her position without me. “Please, Bethany. Please…not him.”

Bethany still looked uncooperative, but she did it anyway.

The three of us lifted the wood off Magnus and pushed it aside.

Bethany and I immediately shoved our hands into the snow to cool the burns to our flesh.

Raven ignored the agony and hooked her arms underneath Magnus and dragged him away from the building, across the snow, and to safety.

Bethany pulled her hands out of the snow, rubbed them together, and then turned to me. “We’ve got to run now. They’re coming.”

I nodded.

She ran for it.

I lingered behind, watching Magnus rise to his feet and scream at Raven. “I fucking saved you!”