Chapter 21
LORIANE UNCURLED herself, sucking lungs full of air with a familiar tang. She was lying on a pavement of a street with tall houses on both sides.
She would have sworn she heard someone call her name. A voice that sounded like Tandor.
A haze of dust hung in the air. The ground was covered in glass and debris, and, underneath that, dusty bodies, unmoving. Close to her, a couple of burly men in uniform, eyes open and glassy. Further away, a whole heap of people in front of a door. There was no blood, but no one moved, and the coating of dust made it look like they had turned to stone.
Loriane scrabbled up, awkward and top-heavy, but no longer in pain. Then a fleeting thought: does this child inside me feel impending icefire? She patted her stomach, but couldn’t find the sharp b
