Chapter 30
Rayna
By the time we made it back to the Council chamber, everyone looked like they’d been dragged through a fireplace.
Soot streaked the walls. Wards that had been smooth, clean lines of light now flickered in jagged patches. Nyra’s hair had come loose in places. Krayvon’s sleeves were rolled up, ash along one forearm. Even the elders who hadn’t left their seats had smoke on their clothes from the vents.
I could feel more eyes on me than before.
They’d seen the rooftop feed. The stairwell. The way my hand had glowed over Raelith’s burn, over the Stormfire scout.
Nyra stood, hands resting on the arms of her chair. She didn’t raise her voice, but the room went quiet fast.
“The Shadowflame incursion is contained,” she said. “We have wounded. We have broken wards. We have qu
