Page 115 of A Liar's Twisted Tongue

“No,” I say, “get Lucian.”

“Lucian?” Kai says. “The headmistress is much more powerful than him.” The way he speaks doesn’t leave much room for debate.

“I’ll run toward the lake, you go in,” I say, and I see him looking at me from the corner of my eye.

I don’t wait for a response before I turn from him and run for the water. I know the fire is following me, because they always follow their igniter. Once the fire starts, it has a mind of its own with one goal: preservation. It will go on until it can’t anymore, and I’m hoping that the power of the moon in the lake will be enough to keep me alive to see the end of this.

I do my best to ignore the fire catching in my lungs, and I don’t look behind me until I’m three quarters of the way to the lake. I see Kai and Headmistress Constance behind me. Maybe I’ll survive this, be one of the lucky ones.

When I turn around again, the fire is still raging on.

“Get Lucian!” I try to scream, but even that feels hopeless. I mean, Kai said it himself, the headmistress is more powerful than Lucian. The rest of the fires I started were never this big. Maybe it’s just impossible to put it out now.

To save my life.

I’m not one to plead, but I find myself doing just that while I dive into the lake, begging Zola to let me live.

Chapter 24

Hole Hearted

DESDEMONA

Can fire kill me if I’m underwater? That’s the question, and it’s followed by the thought that maybe a higher class of education would be more useful than I thought. They probably learned the answer to this ludicrous question at Acansa in their first year.

The fire starts to spread across the top of the water. In turn my ears pop and burn as I swim deeper, but I don’t stop. When I do finally look up, I see no light. I wait another blistering moment before I swim toward the surface. No fire.

Lucian is the one I see when I can breathe again. There’s an unfathomable pang in my chest when I take him in. Not only are the bags under his eyes black, but so are his irises where they are usually midnight blue. His hair is a mess and his jaw is filled with scruff, though that’s the only part of his new look that suits him, even though it hides the lower half of his incredible features.

It’s only a few seconds of eye contact before he looks away from me and toward Kai, who’s standing multiple feet away from him and also glaring. Headmistress Constance is in front of them both, staring at me with the opposite emotion the two boys wear. Where they scorn, she admires, offering me her hand and pulling me from the water.

“Very fair, dear,” she says.

“What?” I ask, my core is shaking, and I can’t hide it.

“You survived. Not many in your shoes would have.” She takes off her dressy coat, lined with a soft and shiny blue fabric, and wraps it around my shivering body. “In the end, it’s astuteness that keeps us breathing.”

Keep your wits about you.

The headmistress leans into me and whispers, “Especially for a girl with your upbringing.”

Right.

Lucian is walking back to the school before I can even consider catching him.

Kai walks next to me until we make it inside, and when we do, Lucian is gone. “I can take her to her suite,” Kai offers the headmistress, who smiles at me. I wonder if she is thinking what I’m thinking—a girl from the septic has managed to not just get one, but two prince’s help. I wonder if she is in awe or disgusted.

When she is out of sight, Kai clears his throat. “I don’t know how to adequately apologize.”

“Apologize?” I echo, but he doesn’t say anything. Not until we make it into the suite.

His eyes race through the common room before he whispers, “I could’ve gotten you killed.”

“It was my magic, not yours.” I try to smile for his sake, but it doesn’t work out in my favor.

“Magic you wouldn’t have used if I hadn’t…”

I break in quickly, saying, “It was a lesson in survival for me. I should thank you.” Really, I just want him to leave so I can lay down and stop thinking about the potential I have in killing myself.

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