Page 114 of Iridian

“What happened at the chambers?” I asked, and my voice sounded steadier already. I could focus on her. I could focus on the past rather than the present. I could…put offhaving to deal with myself right now, just for a moment longer. Just until it became a little easier.

“You won,” Madeline said, and that smile on her face…

“Explain,” I said, and half my mind was on Taland, but now my curiosity was the size of a monster, too.

“What’s to explain? Your boyfriend killed most of the Council with the”—her cold amber eyes fell behind me, on the soldiers who refused to move a single inch, and her smile turned up a notch—“Delaetus Army itself. Helen, George, and Nicholas survived. They’re locked up, Helen and George completely drained, and Nicholas—well. He already was.” She leaned in, grabbed her cup. “You won, Rosabel. Withmyhelp, of course.”

There was a knock on the door behind us, and suddenly I felt like I should start running. The soldiers moved on their own, or perhaps pushed by my own thoughts, to the sides of it immediately, and when it opened and Fiona walked in, she stopped dead in her tracks, almost dropping the tray full of food in her hands.

Stand down!I thought and almost screamed out loud, and the soldiers stepped back again, right behind me.

Fiona, the elf who’d served my grandmother her entire life, and who’d always been nice to me, looked at me with a brand-new light. With pure, rawfear.

“We’ll take it, Fiona. Thank you.”

One of Madeline’s guards was already there, taking the tray from her hands.

Fiona couldn’t look away from me at all.

Hi, Fi,I wanted to say, and wave, and smile, do anything at all to get that look off her face.I know how it looks, but it’s me. It’s just me!

Except she didn’t wait around for me to gather myself. She moved back and the guard closed the door before he took the tray to the table without a glance my way.

I kept staring at that door for a good moment after, and the image of Fiona’s terrified face remained with me for years to come.

“Sit, Rosabel. Eat. A healing spell is only as good as the energy your body has to spare for it,” said Madeline, her voice so lightweight. So…carefree. The kind of voice she’d never before used when I was around.

I sat down because I needed my strength. I sat down because I needed to be doingsomething.

“Speak,” I told Madeline, and it seemed I couldn’t bring myself to say more than a word or two at a time right now.

Madeline drank her tea and continued to smile as she looked at me. The shock had passed, and she was most definitely not afraid of my white eyes. If anything, I’d say she wasadmiringthem. Admiringme.

“Well, the young Tivoux challenged the Council to a fight—I’m sure you remember that part. And they accepted because they were arrogant enough to think they would win and take over these…”

Once more her voice trailed off, her eyes moving to the soldiers behind me lightning fast.

“Men,”she concluded. “They were wrong, so they lost. The elder Tivoux and the Mergenbachs burned down the chambers afterward, imprisoned Helen, George, and Nicholas. The soldiers took them to Headquarters, secured them in the jail cells. It’s still pretty chaotic?—”

“Wait, wait, hold on a moment,” I said, and my head was already buzzing, and fuck, I felt so…light. The room was starting to spin, too, so I had no choice but to reach for a piece of bread on the tray that Fiona had brought me. I didn’t check under the silver dome still, afraid the smell of whatever was on that plate would make me want to throw up. I hated the taste of bile.

“When did they burn the chambers?” Because as far as I could remember, that building had still been there when I passed out.

“Right after you were brought home.”

This isn’t my home,I thought, but didn’t say.

“By your soldiers, you were brought home. They can drive—did you know that? They drove that bus across the city and to the mansion.” She seemed fascinated by the fact.

“And the civilians?” I asked, then bit into the piece of bread, and taste exploded on my tongue.

Fuck, I was hungry. So hungry my stomach was screaming at me now as I chewed.

“All well. Nobody died,” Madeline said as she sipped her tea.

“Soldiers?”

“Back in their homes, I suppose.” She shrugged. “Right after they locked up Helen and the others. I released them until further notice.”

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