Darkly Devoted (Book 1, 2, 3)

DB Chapter 27 - The Day the Palace Burned

ALLISON WASHED THE blood off her hands in a restroom on the ground floor. She stared at herself in the mirror and studied her neck. He had done the job thoroughly. The red thread was gone entirely. Her neck was raw, as though she had been wearing a too-small halter top for a day at the beach. That would fade with time.

Would the blood staining her hands ever fade?

Allison needed to find that ring. It was her only hope of staying in Manna City. Without it, she was no one. She was a girl without a high school degree, who had disappeared for the past two years. She might has well have been abducted by aliens.

Allison's eyes twitched. She saw something out of the corner of her eye. She spun around and stared at the wall. Did she see a strand of silver flowing from the Segais in the walls?

No!

He was dead.

Dead. Dead. Dead.

Stop it!

Get ahold of yourself, girl!

Allison ran out of the bathroom. Even as her mind told her there was no way she saw what she saw, she still needed reassurance. She needed to find Vivienne. Allison ran breathlessly outside, where Julian was taking Vivienne for a tour of the gardens. The sky was cloudy, and the snow still covered most of the foliage. Even so, Vivienne was laughing on Julian's arm as though the garden were abloom with the world's most beautiful flowers.

Perhaps, in the presence of a man as beautiful as Julian, flowers were not necessary. Allison wanted to roll her eyes at Vivienne's gullibility.

You only amuse him because you belong to Blake, you idiot!

Out here, there were no more walls or hidden Segais. But the gates of the garden were forged from Janvier steel. Allison's eyes darted around.  He couldn't command the metallic gates from such a distance, could he? He could barely pull the Manjure Thread out of her neck without bending over in exhaustion.

He wasn't going to reshape the gates into bullets from across the garden while he was lying in a puddle of his own blood. Was the guilt making her paranoid? She shouldn't have searched his body for that stupid ring.

What if he was only pretending to be dead? Now he knew what she wanted.

"Vivienne!" Allison chirped. "I need your help. We're going to free the Princes."

"What?" Julian demanded. "Are you crazy?"

"Vivienne, tell your vampire to leave us alone. You don't need him anymore."

"Are you suicidal?" Julian hissed. Allison shoved him back with both hands.

"Who do you trust, Vivienne? Him or me?" Allison snarled.

"Y-you, of course," Vivienne responded without a moment's hesitation. "Just tell me what I need to do."

"Vampires are fast. They'll kill you if you hesitate for a second." Allison grabbed Vivienne's hand and led her toward the front entrance. No more cowering in the back stairwell. She was going to fight her way into the palace through the front door. "Can you create a ring of fire around us? I've seen it done before by other fire starters."

Vivienne nodded, although her eyes told Allison she wasn't at all confident about using her power in such a way. Vivienne bent down and concentrated. Slowly, flame by flame, a ring formed around them. It looked more like a ring of birthday candles than the wall of fire that they needed.

Vivienne, could you stop with the timid act just this one time?

Allison knew they didn't have time to waste. She needed to get to that necklace. As long as he still had that bond, he would find a way to heal, a way to come back to life like some indestructible zombie.

Allison and Julian had butted heads in the past. Yet, as the palace guards approached them in the foyer, Julian knocked them out before they could reach Vivienne's ring of fire. The guards were humans. They might not have been affected by Vivienne's flames. Allison knew they would have taken Vivienne prisoner without a second thought. Julian wasn't cooperating with her plans; he was protecting his Orlin.

Sadin was the only one who had the misfortune of being in their way that morning. He saw Allison and Julian with a fire starter and hesitated. Allison could literally see his internal conflict over whether this was a fight worth starting. It occurred to Allison as she saw the other Handmaidens scatter and hide in their rooms that Maglania wasn't awake.

She should have known, with all the visions she saw, that Maglania was still sleeping. She had likely been sleeping this whole time.

Was this battle worth it?

It was too late to turn back. Allison pushed ahead.

Sadin finally advanced to block them from the stairwell. He stood tall and foreboding with his muscular arms protruding from his suede vest. His furrowed brows told Allison he was only half-committed to this battle.

"You've gone far enough, Devon. Get out."

"Vivienne!" Allison yelled. "Stop him!"

Sadin sighed and rolled his eyes. He reached over the flames that weren't even high enough to stop a chihuahua. Yet, as soon as he reached into the protected circle, the blue flames shot sky high. Allison felt the warmth against her face even though she couldn't possibly.

Sadin howled and withdrew his burned limb. There was nothing left of his arm, not even skeletal remains. He was lucky he hadn't tried to step over the flames, or he would have been little more than ashes on the red carpet.

"What the hell?" Sadin screamed in Julian's general direction. Julian offered a shrug, conveying that he was as confused as Sadin was.

Sadin backed away and collapsed against the marble banister. At the top of the stairs, the flames receded. There were only Handmaidens up here. Some were scattering. Others were foolishly trying to block the door to Maglania's bedroom. Allison smiled. She approached them and casually pulled the collar of her sweater down. They nearly fainted with shock.

Allison was free. As far as the rest of these pitiful girls knew, the Thread of Menjure couldn't be removed. The Handmaidens knew that their lives began and ended with Maglania's. So, they protected her with their lives.

But Allison had always known another Sarastri. Allison recalled the relieved excitement she had seen on Blake's face after he successfully drew out the thread from her body and felt a pang of guilt. He was her friend, too. He would have given her that cushy job at Tercel and handed her that dream apartment. She would have enjoyed working for him more than she enjoyed anything else these past two years.

But all she had to do was watch him kill her best friend, Vivienne. He wouldn't mean to do it, but he couldn't control Vivienne, not with the immense power she possessed at her fingertips. If Vivienne wanted to die for him, she would find a way to do it.

Allison pushed past the girls and opened Maglania's door. They didn't fight her. Instead, they were desperate for her to share her secret, to give them a chance at freedom, too.

Too bad, she had already murdered the man who was the key to that freedom.

Not that he would have helped them anyway.

"When we get inside, you're going to start a fire," Allison instructed Vivienne. Vivienne's eyes were wide with fear, and she nodded vigorously. Good girl. Back in Lewisville, Allison would never have expected Vivienne Weisse to be good at keeping her wits about her under stress. She was full of surprises. "If Maglania calls for her Princes, they'll be on us in a second. Block the door with flames."