Anya reached upward through the flames without flinching, unaffected by their devouring heat, and grabbed one of Rose’s bare knees. “This is all your fault, child. If you hadn’t meddled with the book, I wouldn’t have known the book had picked you to be the Chosen One, and you wouldn’t be burning alive. I want you to take to your grave that you are the cause of all this. But first I want to thank you. After you burn, and I’m choking on nothing but smoke and ash, I will emerge a deity.”
The flames touched Rose’s toes, and her gag-muffled scream carried such power that the capillaries in her cheeks exploded and filled her face with a reddish blush.
Anya kept her hand on the little girl’s knee as the fire crackled and popped, eating the wood to the left and the right of her body. “Look at yo
