My father had no idea how much stronger this creature inside me was. No one did. Every dawn and every dusk, I ran through the woods alone. No prying eyes. No one to see what I did when I unleashed its powers. I didn't know what it was. I could control it, wield it to a point, but it was almost its own thing and I was merely a vessel.

Giving a furious hiss, the dark power thrashed so forcefully that it rocked my body.

"Fuck, Wychthorn," Graysen hissed. His grip tightened around my waist, steadying my stance and keeping me flush against his body.

I barely heard him. I was barely able to think.

I imagined my hands grappling with whatever it was, crumpling it into a ball, like a piece of paper I wanted to toss into a litter bin. Mentally, I held it down and pinned it.

My dark power writhed and fought and howled—Let me see. Let me taste. Let me go!

My fingers ground against the adamere beads—I bow to no one—and that included the thing inside me.

But a sickly coppery smell tainted the air. Blood. Too much blood.

Too many dark and hungry souls surrounded me.

Too much wretched suffering infused the ancient tomb.

Like sang to like—and my own blood fevered for the cruel power standing on the dais.

My lips moved, silently repeating my mantra over and over again. "My roots are deep, my strength is stone, my breath the wind. I bow to none."

It wanted out. It wanted to taste. It wanted to be set free.

LET ME OUT!

My skin itched. My blood fizzed. Fat beads of sweat burst along my hairline.

LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!

I sucked in great ragged gulps of air. My throat felt scorched raw as if it were on fire.

The creature roared—LET ME OUT NOW!

I wouldn't. I couldn't.

It vibrated inside, shuddering my bones as it bunched its raw magic into a concentrated ball of fury.

My entire being went into holding it back.

"MyrootsaredeepmystrengthisstonemybreaththewindIbowtonone.MyrootsaredeepmystrengthisstonemybreaththewindIbowtonone.MyrootsaredeepmystrengthisstonemybreaththewindIbowtonone—"

It roared—NOW!

NO!

Too late. Too late—

Fire exploded.

A stream of flames blew outward, upward, licking at aged stone.

Screams—

Panicked sounds of people lurching back—

The way everyone fled was like pouring water into an anthill. I heard it all, the terrified shouting, the chaotic noise of horror. I saw the scrambling, the jostling, and unmindful bodily crashing—the stampede to get away from the flames. But my mind...my mind was on fire, captivated with flames of gold and amber and rust engulfing the chamber like a wrathful bonfire. Sheets of golden fire bit at the ceiling, scorching the intricate stone carvings with black. The sweltering heat had sweat streaming down my face, my skirt buffeting in the hot swirling currents.

Urstlo appeared right in front of me.

Pure terror widened my eyes and crushed the air out of my lungs.

I can't breathe, I can't breathe...

The Horned God loomed above me, four crimson eyes fixed on the blazing inferno. The noise of chattering teeth and the clacking of claws rushed inside my ears, drowning out every other sound, even the creatures.

Black panic slammed into me. I was going to die. Urstlo was going to fling that cloak of darkness aside and reveal sawing teeth and flesh-tearing talons. My body, bone and sinew and flesh, churned into mince. I'd be consumed alive!

IT WILL DEVOUR US!

The creature inside yowled in delight—LET IT TRY!

Suddenly I was moving, pulled from Urstlo's shadow. The sea of Crowthers drew away like a frothing wave dragged back from the shore, taking me with them.

Urstlo turned aside. Turned to face those flames. Flames of vibrant autumnal colors, rich reds and sunburst oranges and honeyed golds—

Flames of gold, not silver.

Not silver...

It wasn't me—

It wasn't me on fire!

Someone else was lit up like a beacon. The blond girl Mela was in love with—Elyse Estlore. Fire danced all around Elyse, and like my own fire, it didn't consume her. It radiated from her.

She trembled with terror. It only made her flames spark and roar higher as if gasoline had been poured onto burning logs.

Had the same thing that happened to me, happened to her? Had this ancient tomb, its overwhelming pain and suffering caused her to panic, to let loose what she was—fire and destruction?

Everyone had drawn back in horror, clustered as far away from Elyse as possible, and some had spilled out through the arched doors lining the temple's walls.

Everyone but Elyse's family. Elyse's father circled, palms raised, trying to calm her, but he couldn't get close. Her flames were too hot.

Someone was screaming—Elyse!

Mela's sisters held her back as she struggled for her friend, the woman she loved. "Elyse! ELYSE!" Mela screamed Elyse's name over and over again, the sound cracking against the stone walls, reverberating inside my mind.

Elyse's mother, Head of Lower House Estlore, was on her knees, hands clasped before her, begging not for her daughter's life, but for her own. Her father stepped back panicked. I could see the fearful thoughts running through his mind. The moment he resigned his fate, his expression collapsed as if a hammer had taken to it.

Master Sirro and Mistress Lyressa joined Urstlo, a safe distance from Elyse and the otherworldly flames that blazed around her figure.

I knew, with sickening despair, that Elyse was going to die. Or she was going to be claimed by the Horned Gods. Either way, she was dead.

Elyse fell to her knees quaking in terror.

It could have been so easily me—bowed before the Horned Gods, begging for my life, for the lives of my family. "It's not right... it's not fair..." I whispered hoarsely.

Elyse and Mela had just found one another.

I couldn't just stand here, like everyone else. I had to do something.

I could swift her out. But how far could I go? The monolith towers at the gates bound me here. I couldn't swift past them.

Could I swift her to a car?

Could she outrun a Horned God?

Could any of us?

"You can't save her," Graysen's voice growled low.

Could I bring down a Horned God?

Could my own fire burn through them?

I was shaken violently. "Do you hear me?"

I could... I could try.

The creature roared—LET ME GO! LET ME BURN THEM!

I suddenly found myself spun around. Graysen's hands framed my face and I met fierce black eyes. "Do not even attempt whatever is going on in your head."

"I could—"

"You can't. It's too late. It's done."

An anguished sound tore from my mouth and I sagged in his arms. It's not right...it's not right...

Behind me, Mistress Lyressa sniffed dismissively, before her young voice, childlike, rang out, "She's a fire-torch, nothing of consequence."

I turned back to look. I couldn't help myself.

Elyse kneeled with her hands on the floor and forehead pressed to stone. She was mumbling something over and over again. None of the Houses would be able to make out what streamed from her mouth, but the Horned Gods could, the Crowthers, and myself. "I beg you, spare them, spare my family, no one knew, no one knew my secret. Please, please, please."

Graysen's arms tightened around my waist as if he were afraid to let me go. "You can't save her," I heard him whisper. His other hand cupped the side of my face and he pressed my cheek to his chest. I heard his frantic heartbeat echoing my own.

Master Sirro stared at Elyse with one eyebrow cocked. One arm was laid across his waist, while the other hand raked his knuckles back and forth beneath his chin as he listened to Elyse plead. The titan flames sparkled in his golden eyes, darkening them to bronze.

Gods, would he demand the Crowthers to end the Estlores' entire House right this moment, right in front of us all? Varen obviously was waiting for the order. His intensely focused gaze tracked Master Sirro's every movement and gesture, and one of his hands was tucked inside his jacket—gripping a blade, no doubt.

"Every single other is of use," Master Sirro replied to Mistress Lyressa, an edge to his tone. He nodded toward Urstlo and the Horned God set itself into motion.

Urstlo threw himself into a roiling mass of black-chattering wind. Churning over Elyse's burning figure, his darkness blanketed the flames, snuffing them out with the ease of a candle damper.

The fire winked out and it was just the girl left behind.

"Please I beg you!" Elyse shrieked—then disappeared.

Her terrified scream was cut short as Urstlo enveloped her in darkness. Spinning into a tornado of flickering black wind, the elemental beast whirled them both out of the temple.

Mela's legs had given out. Her head hung low as she was held up between her younger sisters. Her sobs were the only sound in the temple.

The creature pulsated with exhilaration—

This was too much. It was too powerful—

It writhed and snaked along my bones—LET! ME! OUT!

I gasped for breath, trembling, barely able to stand, barely able to hold back the power threatening to burst free.

Graysen's arm around my waist supported me, the other hand found its way under my sweat-damp hair to the nape of my neck. "Close your eyes, little bird."

I couldn't...I couldn't.

Master Sirro turned back toward the dais where my father remained. My mother stood beside him, pale and frozen to the spot. I wasn't sure she was breathing.

"What do you say, Byron? What example should be set?" Sirro asked.

My father strode down from the dais. He tugged at the cuff of a shirt sleeve as he considered the Estlore parents with a cruel, calculating expression. I'd never witnessed this side of him before, the figure that ruled over the Houses. "The consequences of harboring an other are absolute."

"No one knew. No one—" Elyse's father breathlessly uttered.

My father cut him off with a raised hand. "No one... No family, no House defies the canon of the Horned Gods."

What was left of my raging heart cleaved at my father's brutal judgment.

Master Sirro raised a brow. "The Estlores are excellent hunters, Byron..." his mouth twisted in thought. "And I'd hate for you to have to rebuild a new House to take their place. Especially now when we have need of them."

An example," my father replied dispassionately.

Master Sirro gave a small smile that soured my blood.

Golden eyes flashed with violence—

His power lashed out. Unnatural threads of vibrating silver bound the two parents, as tightly confined as ship rope around a bollard.

Master Sirro slowly turned a full circle to speak to the rest of us. His usual nonchalant expression had been wiped from his face. Instead, his features were harsh. His nostrils flared as his voice sliced through the temple. "This is your warning. All of you."

The threads binding the Estlore parents tightened—

And shredded right through their flesh.

Chunks of blood and gore sprayed outward, coating the surviving Estlores.

Master Sirro stalked up to Elyse's elder sister—Sia. She stood beside her husband Alesk, both of them almost covered from head to toe in her parents' blood. Flecks of gunk dripped down her dress, stuck to her face, and even matted her hair. With her mother's death, Sia was now Head of Lower House Estlore.

"Sia Estlore. You're fortunate we didn't decimate your entire House." Sirro slowly pivoted around, facing the clustered Houses, and snarled. "Never hide an other amongst your rank. They belong to us at birth!"

***

Holy fucking hellsgate, Elyse was an other? A fire-torch?

After being stolen by the Horned Gods, her parents' remains, if you could even fucking call it that, were globs of bloody bone and gunk that smeared the stone walls and floor and coated Sia and her husband Alesk too. Sia and Alesk were covered in so much blood, their eyes wide with shock were a stark contrast in a face slick with red. They remained stock-still, stunned as if they'd barely survived a bloodbath. And in some fucked-up way, they had.

"Gray..."

And, gods, my friend...

Mela had collapsed to the temple floor sobbing, inconsolable and desolate, her sisters gathered defensively around her in a tight knot. The youngest brother had palmed a dagger.

"GRAY?!" Someone whisper-hissed. My body swayed. I blinked, realizing Caidan had me by the shoulders rocking me. "Get her out of here."

I glanced down and my heart slammed into my godsdamned throat. My little bird shook violently. Her beautiful eyes were shot with silver and red-rimmed, pale cheeks gleaming with tears. She panted wet, rasping breaths, unable to speak. Her fisted fingers tugged on my jacket.

The power radiating from Nelle bombarded my own senses and had that instinct roaring in my ears to protect her, almost swamping every other thought. Whatever she was, hungered for release. I had to get her out of here, now, before she revealed herself.

Stepping backward, I pulled her with me. Caidan slid into my vacant position. Our extended family opened a slender gap within their tight ranks to allow us through and I moved Nelle toward the arched exit behind us. Turning around, I spun her with me and pushed us both out of the temple.

The blustery storm wind lashed my skin as we stumbled outside. Lightning shot through the churning sky. Thunder exploded a second later.

Other members of Houses had spilled outside, but they all were too focused on what was transpiring inside to notice us.

Nelle gasped for breath, a hand to her chest, hunched over as if she might hurl everything from her stomach.

I crouched before her so we were at eye level, cupping either side of her face, my thumbs brushing the salty tears from the sharp lines of her cheekbones. Her hands snapped around my wrists, holding tight. Her whole body trembled as she tried to speak—unable to.

I had a feeling I knew exactly where she needed to go. The woods.

Unfolding myself, I gathered her small body in my arms and shoved forward—a blur of black speed racing through the woodland.

I carried her deep into the forest, faster than the storm winds raking through the trees. Deep enough to hide her from the temple and the Horned Gods. Letting her slide to her feet, I held her elbows until she steadied herself, before slamming to my knees to bow at her feet. I took the godsdamn heels her mother had shoved her into off, one at a time, tossed them in the undergrowth, and rose. Pressing a kiss to her clammy forehead and another to her trembling lips, I said, "Go. I'll stay, keep watch. Do whatever you need to do."

***

I stumbled into the murkiness, lurching forward, one foot in front of the other while that bottled power inside surged with me, yowling and hissing and growling as it snaked around my bones.

And I broke into a run.

Hurtling through the woodland, I followed trails I'd carved through the years, not caring where I headed, only that it was deeper, as far away from the Horned Gods as I could manage.

It thrummed—snarling—Let me go. Let me go. Let. Me. Go. LET ME GO!

It was relentless and I couldn't hold it back. I couldn't keep it contained.

I unleashed it—

It blew outward like a shock wave that could bring down the stars.

A deafening, yawning noise—

Trees bowed and bent and broke, splintering like matchsticks. Living, growing things shriveled in my wake, turning to ash, scattered by the wicked currents as that raw untamed power swept alongside me like a cruel wind.

As far as I knew, there was nothing special about my family, only our placement as the Great House.

But me...well, I was different.

Inside, the raw power of magic bunched itself like taut muscles, quivering, waiting for my demand.

All I had to do was ask.

I rounded a bend in the trail and then I swifted.

In a blink, I disappeared—sucked into a swirl of gray-coated wind and beating feathers.