We Are Bound by Stars by Kesia Lupo

Author:Kesia Lupo [Lupo, Kesia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408898086
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2020-05-29T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN:

The Fire

Livio

Scarossa is burning. My city is burning.

Outside the marquee, Grandmother clutches my arm and panic fills my heart as the crowd heaves around us, pushing us forward, carrying us like a great, slow wave. Smoke writhes through the air, my eyes stinging, and the night is punctured with screams – behind us, the roar and heat of the fire is growing. I hold Grandmother close, try to ease us forward in the direction of the palazzo – but the way is blocked by hundreds of panicking people.

‘Livio, where are our guards?’ Grandmother says, her voice ragged.

I blink. She’s right. We were slow escaping the marquee – Grandmother had struggled down the steps from our box – but I swear a second ago, we were flanked by yellow liveries. For a few long moments, unbelievably, it’s as if we are alone: the Contessa and her heir, forgotten in a shuffling, shoving crowd of their people – our guards, wealth, power and status vanished in the smoke.

‘A shield, Livio,’ she says with a gasp. ‘Now!’

My heart lurches as I realise what she means: she thinks the fire is Shadow’s work. She thinks any second an attack will part the cloud, hidden until it strikes and kills us both. My heart pounds with adrenalin as I shakily attempt to summon a shield around us, breathing deeply as I try to draw on my magic. A weak film of pale light shimmers in the air … Useless. If a spell bursts through the smoke, my shield will shatter in an instant.

I have to get us out of here.

I cough, my throat burning as I attempt to stagger forward, holding Grandmother close. We must reach the palazzo before the assassins reach us.

Then, the crowd is roughly parted. Yellow-liveried guards push people aside as they head towards us, alternately revealed and concealed by black smoke, unheedful of treading on a woman’s foot, knocking a child prone.

‘Careful!’ I say as the foremost guard shoves an elderly man aside. The guard is Hal, mask snarling over his face. Why is Hal wearing his mask in a crowd of non-mages? To intimidate?

I angrily let go of Grandmother’s arm and step past Hal to help the man to his feet. ‘Are you all right?’

The man doesn’t have a chance to reply. ‘Lord, we have to go,’ Hal says, tugging me towards Grandmother, towards the other guards – and I find myself tightly escorted in the direction of the palazzo.

Once we’re in the gardens, the sense of space is overwhelming – in spite of the smoke wreathing the trees. The guards start to shut the gates as Grandmother begins to climb the six marble steps up to the door, her hand tight on the banister.

‘Wait!’ I say, my voice hoarse. ‘We should let people in here – until the fire is put out. To relieve the crowd. People can barely move out there.’

‘Absolutely not.’ Grandmother turns on the middle step, draws herself up and meets my eyes. ‘Are you mad,

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