“That’s a lot to unpack,” I said after a pause, “I’m going to unpack it later, though—after I get you out of here.”

  The ropes binding Petal’s hands came loose just someone shattered the glass skylight. “Get down!” Petal yelled, and she pulled me toward a nearby table. We managed to make it under just as the glass shards started to fall from the sky and shatter all around us.

  The grand hall seemed to suck in a great breath of air, and the smoke started to pull instantly upwards, but the flash also made the fire more intense. We were running out of time, and the roots we were meant to use to climb to safety weren’t going to last forever.

  “We need to go,” I yelled, grabbing Petal’s hand and making a mad dash for the center of the room.

  Petal made it to the scaffold first, and she didn’t waste any time in setting herself up to climb. I followed her, finding my own way up the side of the structure, and moving as fast as I could. But the fire was steadily licking at our heels, roots were falling apart in my hands, and even though I could see the light at the very top of the column we were climbing, I didn’t think we’d reach it before the fire caught us.

  When the fire Sprite whooshed past me another time, I screamed. The pain from the heat was searing, and the only reason why my armor hadn’t caught fire was because it was made of leather, and it was good at turning fire away.

  But this time, the creature didn’t go around the column of gnarled roots. It stopped in midair, sucking into itself all the smoke and the flames around it. The fire Sprite stared at me with its burning eyes that flickered and flared. In a flash of memory, I remembered the first time I saw this thing sitting in the Fae fireplace, chained to the floor.

  I’d felt bad for it the first time I saw it. I had wanted to help, but I’d barely been able to help myself back then. And then its kind killed Rell… Thea had asked me to help her help them, and I’d refused. The Fae in this room had paid the price for what they’d done to the Sprite before I’d gotten here, and now I was going to pay the price for not helping it escape.

  It opened its mouth, and bright, orange flames burned inside of its throat. My eyes darted left to right as I searched for a way to get away from the blast that was about to hit me dead on, but there was no getting away from it.

  The Sprite suddenly turned its burning eyes up, I saw a bright flash of light shine in its face, and then Rell dove right into it on the back of a golden beam. Rell and the Sprite went down, and I heard them both strike the floor.

  “Rell!” I yelled, “Rell, are you okay?!”

  “Get out of here,” Rell said into my head, “I’ll try to hold it off!”

  I was back in the forest again. Rell had said almost those exact same words moments before being killed by his own people. The Viscount and I had escaped, but Rell had suffered, and it was because of me. “I can’t leave you again,” I said.

  “You’re being an idiot again,” Rell said, “Go! I’ll be fine!”

  “These roots are dying,” Petal said, “If we don’t start climbing, we won’t make it.”

  I looked over at her. “You’re still here…” I said.

  “Of course. Where else would I be?”

  I smiled at her. “You’re one of the good ones, Petal. Let’s get out of here.”

  CHAPTER 19

  It was a miracle we made it to the roof at all. As I hoisted myself out of the burning grand hall, the structure I had used to climb began to crumble and fall beneath my feet, disappearing into the hungry flames rising from ground level.

  Though the smoke was thick, I could see the flames climbing up the walls, consuming everything they touched. I had no doubt they were spreading through the house, eating it from the inside out. Thea was behind this, she was responsible, but I couldn’t feel bad about what had happened here.

  These people were monsters. I had been saying that ever since I set foot in this realm. They used people, enslaved them, turned them into ornaments, statues, things. They deserved this fire, they deserved to lose everything, and they knew it.

  Many of the Fae who had made it out were already on the courtyard grounds, watching the pillar of smoke as it rose through the skylight opening. They weren’t using magic to try to douse the fires, though. They weren’t doing anything besides watching, staring in total horror as Emerald Hall burned.

  Petal started to move toward the side of the house, but she stopped and looked at me. “Aren’t you coming?” she asked.

  I glanced at her, then I looked into the throat of the fire. “Rell?!” I called out, “Rell, can you hear me?!”

  I couldn’t see him, I couldn’t hear him, there was only the roar of the fire as it steadily grew in size—the same way that fire Sprite had. It had been a lot smaller the last time I’d seen it in the fireplace, but it had grown as its fires spread. I wasn’t sure if Rell was capable of beating it, and I was starting to really worry.

  A wooden support beam fell from the ceiling and plummeted into the belly of the fire, sending a shower of sparks, smoke, and flames into the air. As the roof started to rumble under my feet, I knew, it was time to move unless I wanted to fall into the flames, too.

  “I hope you’re okay, Rell,” I said into skylight, then I got up and started moving toward the edge of the house.

  Petal was already on her way down, as were many of the other Fae still stuck on the roof. I remembered struggling getting down a single floor the other night using the drainpipe. I was a lot higher up than that now, and vertigo was already starting to kick in. But I realized I had climbed the root structure to get up here—twice—today, and I hadn’t felt any vertigo.

  Thinking about the climb helped. I felt the world righten itself, and that queasy feeling in my stomach receded before it could properly take hold. I wasn’t totally over my fear of heights, but it wasn’t crippling anymore. I took a step toward the edge of the house, looking for my own way down. Then I heard Elaith call out to me.

  “Over here!” they said.

  They weren’t with the other Fae. They had moved to the other side of the roof, and they were alone, huddling around a chimney stack.

  “What are you doing up here?” I called out.

  “You have to come with me. Quickly!”

  I looked over at the Fae climbing down one side of the house, at Petal disappearing beyond the lip of the roof. Nodding, I dashed over to where Elaith was, taking care not to lose my footing up here. I wasn’t feeling the vertigo, but I knew that falling over and toppling off the side of the house was probably going to hurt a lot, if it didn’t outright kill me.

  When I was close enough, they reached out with their hand, grabbed mine, and pulled me to them. “I’m glad you’re safe,” they said. Their face was dirty and dark, and there was soot in their otherwise perfect, golden hair.

  “Me too,” I said, “But I’m worried about Rell.”

  “Rell?”

  “He saved my life. I think he’s still down there.”

  Elaith shook his head. “Then there’s nothing you can do for him now. We need to leave.”

  “Leave?”

  “Yes, leave this place, leave Emerald Hall. The house is burning, Avery. We won’t get another chance.”

  Elaith tugged at my arm, but I held onto the chimney. “Wait, I can’t just leave. I told you, Rell is still down there, and I don’t know where the Viscount is.”

  “I’m sure all those are valid concerns, at least for you, but you’re not considering what Invidia will do when she finds you. Every second we wait brings her one step closer to that moment. That’s why we have to evacuate.”

  “And go where?”

  “Anywhere is better than here. I promise, I’ll tell you everything I know once we’re out of here, but we need to move. You wanted to escape this house for good—this is that moment.”

  “Elaith, I won’t survive out there. Arcadia isn’t meant for humans, you know that.

  “You won’t survive here, either, and you know that. You have to make a choice, and I’m advising you—one last time—this is the choice to make. Come with me.”

  I frowned. “Wait… tell me everything? What did you mean?”

  “Avery, now isn’t the time. The house is about to collapse into itself!”

  They were right. The rumbling was getting louder, and I could hear windows shattering under the pressure of the fire. It wouldn’t be long now before the house started to come down on itself, and there was nothing I could do to stop it, even if I had wanted to.

  This was the end of Emerald Hall.

  “If you want me to trust you,” I said, “You need to answer the question.”

  Elaith shook their head. “I understand why you don’t trust me, but you must agree that staying here and living under Invidia’s yoke is no life for you.”

  “That’s true, but if you’re hiding something from me, I won’t be able to trust you once we get through those gates.”

  “Avery, it wasn’t Invidia who was stunting your training. It was me.”

  “You? Why?”

  “I have done everything possible to keep you from winning the Favoring because I know what waits for the winner. I’ve seen it before.”

  “Elaith… what are you talking about?”

  “You signed your name into the book… had you won the Favoring, you would’ve been married off to some Fae lord.”

  “What the hell? Why didn’t anyone tell me?!”

  “It wasn’t my place to tell you. In any case, Invidia had sworn—”

  “—you to secrecy? Jesus, that woman.”

  “Right. She didn’t want me to tell you, she made me promise I wouldn’t, so I did the best I could instead.”

  I shook my head. “But… why? You told me you’d gain prestige if I won, that winning reflected well on you.”

  “I’m tired of this life, of being an au pair. I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself before now, but I can’t spend another minute training would-be competitors for these competitions. I want to travel the world, to see the beauty Arcadia has to offer someone like me, to find love…”

  “Love? I didn’t think the Fae were capable.”

  “I’ll try to ignore the insult. But yes, the Fae love as well. For a long time I had ignored that part of myself, but then you came into my life, with your human… ness… it rubbed off on me. I didn’t want to see you get shipped off to some faraway land for Invidia’s pleasure.”

  “You really stuck your neck out there for me?”

  “I did. I couldn’t tell you before now, but now is as good a time as any.”

  “I’m… I’m touched. Really, Elaith. I am. I honestly can’t believe you were trying to protect me.”

  “I told you from the very beginning, it was my job to make sure you were taken care of. Which is why we need to get off this roof, right now.”

  “I still don’t know where we’ll go.”

  “Anywhere. I’ll make sure to look after you to the best of my abilities, as long as you give me someone to talk to on our travels… and who knows. Maybe we’ll find a portal for you to use to get back home. I hear there are many sprinkled around Arcadia.”

  “Really?”

  “The portal Kadeera used to get to Earth was a naturally occurring portal, but only she knew about it. There are more out there, somewhere. I will help you find one.”

  “You really think we can find one?”

  Elaith nodded. “But we won’t if we’re still stuck here when this building collapses.”

  I peered over the side of the building. The way to the ground was long, and there was only one way to get there. “Don’t tell me I need to climb down another drainpipe.”

  They gestured toward the pipe. “You first.”

  I rolled my eyes, but I didn’t waste time in securing myself against the side of the building and starting my descent. Already I could see flames licking the air through broken windows, tongues of smoke rising into the sky. I could feel the heat from the fires as I moved down the pipe, but they weren’t close enough to hurt me, and that was something, at least.

  One after the other, we made the descent down building’s façade. I tried not to think about the flames already tearing through the building. I tried not to picture Rell being burned alive, his little, golden body lying somewhere on the floor of the grand hall.

  I also tried not to think about the Viscount. I had no idea where he was, or what he had been doing when the fires broke out. He had been in his room, the last time I had seen him, and we hadn’t parted on good terms. He was a strong, resourceful man, though. I was sure he had made it out.

  They both had.

  Now if I could just find them, we could all get out of this awful place.

  I let myself drop when I was close enough to the grass. As soon as I hit the ground, I took a few steps back to get away from the burning building. Elaith jumped down from the first floor, gracefully landing on the grass themselves.

  “I’m impressed,” they said, turning to look at me. “You didn’t panic this time.”

  “If there’s one thing you’ve done well,” I said, “It’s throw me into the deep end.”

  “I like to think I’ve done more than just one thing well.”

  “I’m not sure how I’m ever going to thank you. For any of the things you’ve done for me.”

  “Let’s simply leave, and not look back.”

  I nodded, turned around, and scanned for the main gate out of here. I could see it just beyond the fountains, the wrought iron bars rising high above the hedges. “We should get a carriage,” I said, “We aren’t going to get far on foot.”

  Elaith didn’t respond.

  I craned my neck around my shoulder, and saw Elaith staring at me, their eyes wide and bright. They opened their mouth, and a spurt of blood trickled past their lips and went down their chin. My heart shot into my throat when I saw the handle of the knife in the side of their neck.

  “Run,” Elaith gargled, and then they fell to their knees and collapsed.

  “Eh… eh… Elaith?” I stammered. “Elaith!”

  “You,” came a hiss from off to the side, in the direction the knife looked to have come from… and there was Invidia, looking scorched, dark, and sinister. “You, insolent girl, have ruined everything.”

  CHAPTER 20

  My head was spinning. I didn’t know what was happening, or why my knees felt weak, or why my heart was pounding as hard as it was. When I looked down, and I saw Elaith lying face first in the grass, my vision wobbled, and the thoughts clicked.

  She had thrown a knife and struck Elaith in the neck with it.

  They were dying, or already dead.

  Because of me.

  I fell to my knees and crawled over to Elaith. The grass under them was starting to turn deep red. I wasn’t sure how bad the injury was, but it had looked fatal, and I couldn’t think of anything I could do help them. I didn’t have any magic, and I had nothing to stop the bleeding with. In any case, I would’ve had to pull the knife out of their neck first, and doing that was going to guarantee their death.

  I was shaking, trembling, and my hands had blood all over them. “What did you do?!” I snarled at Invidia.

  “The same thing I’m going to do to you,” she growled. “Something I should have done a long time ago.”

  “You didn’t have to kill them!”

  “Shouldn’t I?” she asked, as she slowly advanced toward me. She was looking ragged, and scorched, and angry. The look in her eyes was pure red rage, my only saving grace was, it didn’t exactly look like she was armed. But this was Invidia. The Duchess. The leader of this house. I doubted if she needed a knife to inflict any damage on me. “You have both ruined my life, do you know that?”

  “Elaith only helped me escape! You didn’t have to hurt them!”

  Elaith coughed, gargled, made a sound I couldn’t understand. I thought, maybe, they were telling me to run again, but I couldn’t just leave them on the ground to die like that. I had to help them, somehow, but I had no idea how.

  “I didn’t want to believe one of my own au pairs was conspiring to bring this house to ruin,” Invidia said, her voice low and threatening, “I should have acted sooner, I should have believed my own intelligence, but I was distracted… distracted because of you.”

  “Me?”

  “You have caused nothing but problems since you arrived, you and that little lizard of yours. And you somehow successfully conscripted an au pair to work with you and your summer Fae friend to set this house alight and reduce it to ashes. Did you think there wouldn’t be consequences? You filthy human.”

  “Elaith had nothing to do with your house burning down,” I snapped and jabbed a bloody finger at her. “You and your whole kind have had this coming ever since you started enslaving others for your own amusement.” I stood up. “Help them, save their life, and we’ll both leave and never come back.”

  “Oh, I’m afraid we are well passed that now, girl.”

  Invidia snarled, drew their hand back, and I watched it fill with a glowing ball of green energy. My eyes widened, because I knew what was coming—I knew what was about to happen. Invidia was going to straight up murder me. I had to leave Elaith where they were.

  I wasn’t sure whether it was magic or something else, but with my abilities restored, I was able to heighten my reaction time and slow Invidia’s movements just enough to avoid getting blasted. The bolt of green energy soared past me, going on to strike the side of the house and take out an entire window. Flames immediately poured out of it and started licking the side of the building, charring and blackening the façade.

  Invidia snarled. “Keep still, and I’ll make this quick and painless!”

  She went to charge another attack, and I made a run for cover. The closest I could find was a line of tall hedges. I threw myself behind them just as Invidia fired off another blast of green lightning. The magic struck one of the hedges above me, disintegrating it on contact and sending a hail of ash into the air.