Liora didn't sleep that night.
Not because she didn't try. Ren had found them a place to hide: a small, abandoned storage room above what used to be a tavern. Mira had checked it twice before letting anyone sit down. Ren had dragged crates over the windows. Liora had curled up on a thin blanket near the wall.
But as soon as she closed her eyes...
Glass.
Fire.
Pain that wasn't hers.
And the creature's broken, reaching hand.
She sat up long before morning came.
The shard still rested in her palm.
Quiet.
But not silent.
You saw what it wanted you to see, the voice murmured.
Liora glared at it. "Stop talking in riddles."
If I spoke clearly, it replied, you would not listen.
"Try me."
Silence.
The shard dimmed.
She hated how it behaved like it thought it knew her better than she did.
Maybe it did.
That was what terrified her.
Ren woke first, stretching with a groan. "Morning," he mumbled. "Or whatever time it is."
Mira was already awake, sharpening a small blade she kept hidden in her boot.
"You didn't sleep," she said without looking up.
Liora frowned. "How do you know that?"
"You're pale. Your eyes are unfocused. And you're holding the shard like it tried to run away overnight."
Liora loosened her grip, embarrassed.
"It's fine," she muttered. "Just… not used to all of this."
"None of us are used to this," Ren said. "Even Mira."
Mira shot him a very sharp, very pointed look.
Ren raised his hands. "I said even. That means you're included in the group of people I respect. You're welcome."
She rolled her eyes.
But Liora saw it a tiny, reluctant twitch of amusement at the corner of Mira's mouth.
Just a flicker.
Human.
Normal.
Not shattered like everything else around them.
"We need to talk about yesterday," Mira said suddenly.
Ren groaned. "Do we have to?"
"Yes," Mira replied. "And we're doing it now."
Liora swallowed. "The creature..."
"Not just that," Mira said. "All of it. The shard. What it showed you. What it reacted to."
Ren crossed his arms. "Let's start easy: can you control this… glass thing?"
Liora hesitated. "I don't know."
"That's not comforting."
"It's not meant to be," Mira muttered.
Ren pointed at the shard. "It's connected to you. And to the creature. And to whatever happened during the fires. So what's the connection?"
Liora looked down at the shard, tracing a thumb along its smooth, cool surface.
"I told you what I saw," she said. "People. Fire. Someone trapped. Then… nothing."
"That wasn't nothing," Mira said firmly. "That was someone dying."
Liora's breath caught.
She hadn't wanted to think about that part.
Ren sat beside her. "Liora," he said quietly. "That creature—do you think it was the person you saw?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know," she said. "It felt like them. But it also felt… wrong. Twisted."
Mira leaned forward. "Tell me exactly what you felt."
Liora met her eyes. Mira wasn't asking out of curiosity. She was asking because she cared about the answer because she was trying to piece things together.
So Liora spoke.
"…It felt human," she said. "But trapped. Like everything inside them was frozen in the moment they died."
Ren shivered. "That's unsettling."
"More than that," Mira said softly. "It means the fires didn't just kill people."
Liora nodded.
"They changed them."
Silence settled over the room.
Heavy.
Uneasy.
"What caused it?" Liora asked. "Does anyone know?"
Mira and Ren exchanged a look.
Liora didn't like that look.
"What?" she pressed. "What aren't you telling me?"
Ren sighed. "It's not that we're hiding things. It's that no one really knows. There are rumors. Theories."
"Tell me."
Mira sat back. "Some people think the fires were accidents. Chemical. Magical. Or both."
Ren shrugged. "Some say it was sabotage. Rebels. Or nobles trying to blame rebels."
"And some," Mira added quietly, "believe the fires were controlled."
Liora frowned. "Controlled? By who?"
Mira didn't answer.
Ren didn't either.
Liora's frustration flared. "Say it."
Mira looked her directly in the eyes.
"By the Wardens."
Liora froze.
"No," she said immediately. "They're supposed to protect the city."
"Yes," Mira said. "Now."
Ren picked at a cracked tile. "But before? Right around when they were created? Right around when your brother was promoted?"
Liora's stomach twisted painfully.
"No," she said again, but softer this time. "Kael wouldn't… He couldn't."
Ren didn't push.
Mira didn't either.
But the silence that followed felt like an answer.
Not the one she wanted.
But the one she feared.
Liora stood abruptly. "I need air."
Ren moved to follow, but Mira held up a hand.
"Let her," she said.
Ren hesitated, then nodded.
Liora stepped out into the early morning light.
The city looked different at dawn less broken, but only because the shadows hid most of the damage.
She walked until she could breathe again.
Until she was far enough from Mira and Ren that her thoughts could speak louder.
She held up the shard.
Its glow flickered faintly.
"Tell me what you know," she whispered.
The voice answered almost instantly.
Everything you fear.
Liora's throat tightened.
"Tell me anyway."
The shard pulsed.
Your brother trusted them.
Liora froze.
"The Wardens?"
Yes.
"And the fires?"
The shard dimmed.
He trusted them even then.
Liora's heart pounded.
"What are you saying?"
But she already knew.
Kael was there, the shard whispered. When the city burned.
Her knees gave out.
She sank to the ground.
The city around her felt suddenly unfamiliar.
Cold.
Hostile.
She pressed the shard to her chest, forcing out the words.
"…Then what happened to him?"
For a long moment, the shard said nothing.
Then....
He survived.
Of course he did.
He had found her.
He had warned her.
He had given her the shard.
Liora took a shaky breath.
"I need to find him."
You will, the shard said. But not alone.
Liora stood slowly.
She looked back toward the building where Mira and Ren waited.
Two people she barely knew.
Two people who were risking everything to help her.
She closed her hand around the shard.
"Then we find him together."
Inside, Mira stopped sharpening her blade.
Ren straightened.
They both looked at Liora as she stepped back into the room.
Her eyes were different now.
Focused.
Determined.
"Okay," she said, voice steady. "We're not running anymore."
Ren blinked. "Does that mean you have a plan?"
Mira watched her carefully. "Or that you're about to make a very bad decision."
Liora shook her head.
"No," she said. "Not a bad one."
She met their eyes.
"A necessary one."
Ren frowned. "And that is…?"
Liora took a breath.
"We find the Wardens."
Mira's expression sharpened. "Why?"
Liora lifted the shard.
"Because they know where my brother is."
END OF CHAPTER 8...
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