Page 99 of Of Flame and Fury

“Rahn… Rahnknew?”

She’d suspected it, but the confirmation still knocked the air from her lungs. For all the times Kel had doubted the girl, all the nights she’d spent worrying over whether Dira could trust her, she’d let herself believe that Rahn was a friend. A Howler.

She’d been wrong about Cristo and Rahn. She’d been so wrong abouteverything.

Cristo drummed his fingers against his folded arms. “Of course she did. Now, if you’ll excuse me, this has taken up more of my morning than I planned for. Estra has only days left. I have to resort to my last measure. Savitawillrebirth by tomorrow evening.”

Something echoed in the back of Kel’s mind.Estra.Was that who was sick?

“You can’t know that,” she spat, her anger simmering, threatening to melt her from within. “There’s no way to control her rebirth.”

Cristo’s silence made it clear he disagreed. She wanted to keep screaming, demanding more answers—but the fire was eating her alive. As the guards tried to tug her away, she fought with every ounce of strength she had left. “Wait! Stop! You can’t do this! Don’t youdare touch Savita! If I ever meet thisEstra, I’m going to do to her what you’re going to do to—”

“Stop,” Cristo said, short and clipped. The guards paused. Kel dangled from their grips.

Silently, Cristo marched toward Kel. He paused just an inch away, lifting her chin with a single finger. “What did you say?”

Kel sneered. “I said, if I ever meet Estra, I’m going to—”

“What do you mean,if?”

His tone wasn’t threatening. His features sharpened with a cold, calculating curiosity.

Kel merely frowned. “What are you getting at?”

The name conjured a fleeting sense of familiarity in Kel but nothing else.

Cristo’s mouth parted. He stepped back and looked over her, slowly.

“I see,” he breathed, throat bobbing. “I am so sorry to hear that, Kelyn. I truly am.”

Before Kel could demand an explanation, Cristo instructed the guards, “Take her to the cell. As soon as her phoenix is dead, move her to the hospital wing. Make sure she’s as comfortable as possible.”

Kel’s heart pounded. Was he going to experiment on her, too? Chain her to a bed? “What—”

Cristo turned toward the other end of the hall. The guards dragged her from the room and down the hall. No matter how loud she screamed or how hard she kicked, no matter how much her body ached to lay down andrest, the guards didn’t stop.

As they dragged Kel back to the cell, they passed a small window. Through it, Kel saw the soft rays of the early sun.

Savita didn’t have long.

FORTY-THREE

Kel barely caught herself before tripping to the ground.

She landed on her injured hip and hissed in pain. Knotted clumps of hair fell over her face as another set of hands clutched her arms.

“Get off me!” she screamed. “I’ll kill you, you—”

“Kel?”

She froze. Her gaze lifted from the still-spinning floor. This had to be a dream. That couldn’t be the voice she thought it was.Hecouldn’t be trapped, too.

She almost didn’t want to lift her gaze. But the hands grasping her arms softened.

She met a pair of blazing amber eyes.

Dread skittered through her stomach.

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