"Hold still, son-in-law. I don't want to tie the rope the wrong way and make you suffer longer than you have to."Garrick burst into laughter. His voice filled the room, making the guards holding Cole's arms jump.Cole's feet dragged against the last few steps. The floor was wet and cold beneath his shoes. The cold also passed through his thin shirt. Above them, rain beat hard against the cliff. He could hear it hitting the roof all around the house."How kind of you," Cole said. His voice was calm, even though his knees were shaking. "Do I get to choose how you tie the knot?""No." Garrick smiled and raised his hands. The six silver rings on his fingers shone in the light of the lanterns. Cole knew there were six because he had counted them many times over the past three years while cleaning Garrick's boots. "But you can choose your last words. Go on. Make us laugh. You're good at making jokes when you're scared.""Then I'll keep them to myself. I don't want to waste a good joke on y

The light didn't feel like light. It felt like hot, melted glass had been poured into Cole's chest and was spreading through every part of his body.His back lifted off the salt floor. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. His lungs wouldn't work. His fingers curled so tightly that the ropes cut deeper into his wrists, but he barely felt them.Above him, the guard on the rope was screaming.Cole heard the man's boots kicking against the walls of the shaft. Then came the sound of him struggling to climb."Pull me up! Pull me up! The whole thing is falling apart!"The rope pulled tight and shot upward. Dust fell from the roof. The small square of orange light disappeared as the guard was pulled out of sight. Then everything went still.Cole lay on the ground, shaking in the white light. He began counting his heartbeats because he needed something to focus on.Eleven. Twelve.By fifteen, the burning had started to fade. By twenty, it had turned into a deep ache that seemed to reach hi

The elders didn't let Cole sleep. They cut the ropes, pulled him off the altar, and carried him upstairs to the old healing room behind the kitchens.The room smelled of boiled herbs and lamp smoke. They dropped him onto a narrow bed, then stood around him in a circle. Nine grown cultivators in grey robes stared at him as if they were waiting for something strange to happen.Cole kept his left sleeve pulled down over the ring and his eyes half shut. His wrist throbbed with every beat of his heart."Look at the ceiling," Hollow said quietly inside his head. "A man who has just survived a fire shouldn't be looking at people's faces. He should be looking for something to hold on to."I'm doing that."Not very well. Blink more slowly."Cole slowed his blinking."Everyone out!" a woman's voice snapped. "Out. I can't work with nine pairs of boots standing on my floor."Healer Orla pushed her way through the elders. She was small and had grey hair. Her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, a

Cole stood in the grey light with the broken cheese rind in his fist until the rain outside thinned to a drip. His eyes were still on the door. It had been shut for ten minutes, but he could still hear Elise's last words, flat and steady, the way she said everything that cost her the most.*The fire will find me by itself.*"You're thinking of running," Hollow said."I'm thinking about a lot of things." Cole dropped the rind in the bucket and sat down on the mat. "Running is one of them.""It's the obvious one. The cave is open, the guards are tired, and the tunnels under this house lead all the way to the docks. If you left tonight, you'd be three miles away by dawn.""And she'd be on the altar by dawn.""Probably.""Probably?""The oath is a Vance oath. I can't read it from here." Hollow paused. "But I've watched families like this for a very long time. They don't make threats they won't carry out. It's the only thing they're honest about."Cole rubbed his face with both hands. His

The cellar door stayed open after Garrick left. Cole sat on the mat with his sore hand resting in his lap. He listened as Garrick's heavy footsteps faded down the hall, one step after another, until he could no longer hear them.The only sounds left were the water dripping from the wall and his own heartbeat.He was afraid his heart would start beating too fast, so he kept counting.Breathe in for four. Hold for four. Breathe out for six."He's gone," Hollow said at last."I know.""You can breathe normally now.""I'm not sure I remember how."The red mark on the back of Cole's hand was already fading. It was no longer bright red, just a patch of pink skin. He turned his hand over and moved his fingers. It still stung like a bad sunburn, but that was all."He knows," Cole said."He suspects. That's different. Suspicion can't open a door unless someone gives it a key.""That's comforting.""It's meant to be."At dawn, the ring on his wrist changed to 26.Two hours later, a guard Cole h