CHAPTER 31 #4
They threw themselves down the rampart steps and sprinted for the temple doors. Sebastian slammed his shoulder into them, breaking them open at once.
And there it was.
The Fire Shard.
It sat atop an obsidian plinth at the chamber’s heart, pulsing with light – bright crimson, almost alive.
The Fatàn shield shimmered a deep ruby around it.
Sebastian stepped forward. The shield rippled as he passed through, parting like water, recognising him as it had with all the others.
He closed his hand around the crystal. For a moment there was silence.
Then it shattered.
The chamber floor shook with a deafening crack, like the world itself had split. Heat seared the air. From outside came a thunderous roar – the volcano – spitting its fury into the night sky.
“Well, that’ll bring the rest of them,” Kara said.
Sebastian looked at her grimly as he shoved the Shard into his satchel. “Then we better not hang around.”
They spun towards the doors, ready to run – but movement exploded from the shadows.
A soldier had been waiting, hidden behind one of the carved pillars that surrounded the plinth.
Before Sebastian could react, the man was on him.
Rope bit around Sebastian’s wrist with a sharp snap, the knot yanked tight.
Nightshade.
Sebastian swore, wrenching back with a violent twist, crimson flashing and stuttering from his sword hand, unable to cast properly.
The cord held him fast and the guard stepped just out of reach of his blade and dragged hard on the tether, trying to pull him down.
He resisted, but his knee buckled, hitting stone, the nightshade stealing his strength.
“Kara – RUN!” Sebastian shouted, even as he fought against the rope.
No. No. No!
“More are coming! Get out – GO!”
“No–!” Kara’s scream ripped free, fear surging so fast her whole body trembled.
Emerald magic burst out of her palms, colder than she’d ever cast before.
It struck the soldier directly in the chest. His mouth opened slightly, but no sound came out.
His body shuddered once. And she felt it.
His heart stopped. It was as clean as if she’d cut it out of him.
There was a sudden, jarring absence where a pulse had been.
He crumpled lifelessly to the floor. Kara stared in horror, her hand still raised.
But it felt numb, like it belonged to someone else.
Her emerald light flickered uncertainly, then faded. She’d felt his life end.
Her healer’s oath sounded in her mind.
I swear to do no harm.
She had done worse than that.
I killed him.
Sebastian tore the nightshade from his wrist with a snarl, his crimson flaring back to life at once, brighter than necessary. When he turned to Kara, she was still staring at the body. At what she’d done.
“Kara.” His voice was firm, sharp enough to cut through the ringing in her ears. He gripped her shoulders hard, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Look at me.”
For the briefest second, his expression darkened with guilt. Guilt that she had done this. That he had let her come with him. But it was gone as quickly as it came, masked behind the calm steel he showed her now.
“I–I didn’t mean–” She dragged in a breath. “I just wanted him to stop – I didn’t want–”
“I know. But you saved me,” he said fiercely. “Do you hear me? You saved me.”
“But I–” She began, trying to look back at the man.
“Not now,” Sebastian commanded, taking her hand with an iron grip. “Now we need to run.”
He yanked her forward. She stumbled but forced herself to keep pace.
They tore through the courtyard, back past the sleeping guards towards the wrought iron gate.
From the east, faint shouts rang out. From the west, the distant clang of steel.
Patrols, stirred by the eruption, converging on them.
Sebastian pulled her harder, more urgently now.
Down into the valley they ran, keeping low against the rocks, moving in the shadows where torchlight couldn’t reach.
The air was heavier now, a thick cloud of ash covering the sky.
His hand never left hers as they pushed on.
Kara didn’t allow herself to look back. But the feel of the man’s pulse going silent under her magic wouldn’t leave her.
Every shout in the distance made her sure the sleepers in the valley would rise too, her magic failing them, everything collapsing... but they didn’t. By the time they reached the lowest valley trench, the shouts had faded behind them and only sleeping bodies lay between them and safety.
“Come on,” Sebastian said, his breath coming hard, “Almost there – we get to the valmares and we ride until sunrise.”
“Where?” she asked.
“As far away from here as possible,” he answered grimly.
Kara nodded but her stomach knotted painfully. No matter how far they went, she would never be able to un-see it – the look on the man’s face as the life drained out of him – startled, disbelieving. He hadn’t even thought she’d been a threat.
I killed him.
Nothing would erase that fact.
She’d crossed a line tonight.
And there was no going back.