“I offered your sister peace, but I’d love nothing more than to send the army sitting on your border to crush what remains of your family and friends for Rhett and my people, for the lives of my family.” She pulled my arm closer to the fire until the flames snapped at my fingers.

My heart threatened to burst as I clawed frantically at her hand with my free one and threw my body weight into leaning away.

“Maybe I still will.” She let go.

I tumbled to the floor and crashed into the desk, clutching my arm to my chest. Razel stood over me, the fire leaping and roaring at her back, the shadows of her moonblades reaching up like two great claws above her shoulders.

“But as I said, I see no reason why we can’t be civil with each other.” She smiled another serrated smile, then stepped over me and disappeared into a connecting room.

Out of breath and desperate to escape the flames, I scrambled to my feet and bolted for the door, dashing down the hall before Kiva could even get a word out.

* * *

It took time for the fear to fade. When it finally did, it left a hollow pit in my stomach. Shame burned my cheeks, and I buried my head farther beneath my pillow as if it might spare me from my emotions. At first, Kiva had banged on my door, begging me to let her in. It’d made everything inside me twist and writhe. When she stopped, the stillness was worse.

That night with the carriage, now this. Razel hadn’t even burned me. She hadn’t needed to.

I hadn’t hesitated to clamber into bed and hide. The warmth and darkness of the sheets pulled me under, locking me in place. A new fear took root. What if I could never truly escape this?

The hollow pit in my stomach simmered. Razel must have noticed the way I’d reacted to the fire in the throne room, must have seen my burned hand and connected the two. She knew I was afraid of fire, and she’d used it against me at the first sign of defiance. And I’d let her.

The simmering turned hot and vicious. All I wanted was to hide beneath my covers and let the world fade away. Someone else would come. Someone capable. Someone unbroken. I could just lie here and wait until…until what? Until Razel conquered Korovi and Trendell and burned Rhodaire to the ground? Until she fulfilled her religion’s promise for ownership of the world?

I’d told Razel she couldn’t control me, and I’d meant it. I wouldn’t let her condemn me to a life weighed down to my bed. Not again.