Queen of Ruin by Tracy Banghart

Author:Tracy Banghart [Banghart, Tracy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781444943023
Google: eB9kDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B07K6HYYR7
Goodreads: 40517898
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2019-07-01T23:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

SERINA

THE FIRE DEVOURED Mount Ruin’s distinctive golden grass. It ate the informal groves of citrus trees, the scrubby brush and jungle foliage. It ate and it roared and it raced toward Hotel Misery.

Around Serina, women were running, their arms full of extra clothes, extra food, whatever they could carry.

Where could they go? Serina needed to compose herself. She needed to give them a direction. Where would be safe from the fire?

Serina’s body shook, fine tremors running up her arms and legs. She was shivering apart. She was breaking down.

No.

She closed her eyes. Straightened her shoulders. Took a deep, ashy breath.

You are poise. You are grace. You will never let your mask crack or your calm shatter. Do you hear me, Serina? You will be a Grace.

Her mother’s voice filled her mind. Serina was the furthest thing from a Grace, but her training served her well in this moment, when she needed to be calm. She needed to think.

The hotel had survived the volcanic eruption so many years ago because the lava had only come so far… and because the building was made of marble and concrete. When the lava poured through the ballroom and partway up the stairs, melting the stone beneath, the walls hadn’t caught fire. They had withstood.

Could they again? Should Serina take the chance?

Some of the girls were carrying their belongings to the upper floors. Could they ride out the fire there? But what if they were trapped?

“Hey! Hey!” Serina screamed, opening her eyes. She grabbed an arm, dragging Mirror to a halt. “Tell everyone to gather their things and head to the prison compound. It’s gated in iron and steel. It’ll withstand fire. It’ll be safer.”

Mirror nodded, her face soot-stained and haunted.

“Head to the compound!” Serina shouted. She ran to the door of the infirmary. Some of the women with more serious injuries were still lying on their pallets, their eyes wide with fear. “We need to move all the injured to the compound. Come on! Help me!”

She ran to the nearest girl’s side. “Can you walk?”

The girl had a ridge of stitches across her forehead, and her arm was tightly bandaged. “I get dizzy.”

Serina helped her to her feet. “It’s okay. I’ll hold on to you. I won’t let you fall.”

They moved slowly through the doorway. Serina shouted orders, and somehow they cut through the panic. Doing something helped Serina tamp down her own.

She studied every figure appearing through the smoke, looking for Val. Who else had gone with him to get water? Had they made it back?

“Is it the volcano?” Ember asked, coming up beside Serina. She took the injured girl’s other arm and slung it across her shoulder. The girl groaned.

“I don’t know,” Serina said. “I don’t think so. No lava. Just fire.”

Ember looked up, toward the billows of black smoke and lick of flames. “Maybe the lava’s coming.”

“I’m so dizzy,” the girl they were helping muttered, her head lolling forward.

“Hang on,” Serina said. “We’ve got you.”

All around them, other women were heading for the prison compound.

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