Chapter 118

Logan

Flames lit up the night sky like an eerie, terrifying sunset. They blared through the night’s sky in their orange glow, devouring everything in their path.

As we paused before the devastation of the fire, the stench of smoke choked the streets, catching in my lungs and making it hard to breathe. The ash and smoke were thick enough to sting my eyes as well.

It was not hard to determine where it had begun. What made my blood boil initially wasn’t the devastation itself but the fact that I could quickly identify where it had started. The blaze had begun at the penthouse Evelyn once gave Scott, all those weeks ago, when she thought she might make an ally of him.

Now, that generosity had become a weapon against us.

Beside me, Evelyn had paused as well. Her mouth was agape as she took it all in, undoubtedly drawing the same conclusions I was. I watched as her face twisted from a look of mute horror to unbridled rage.

I shoved aside the thoughts and turned my attention back to the surrounding screams. A mother clutched her two children in an alley, the fire advancing toward them. Weeping could be heard all around, as well as the low, pained moans of people mourning their homes.

I bounded forward without further thought, muscles straining as I scooped up one of the little ones clutching their terrified mother. I hauled the little boy over me and then reached for his sibling, placing one under each arm as their mother stumbled after me. The fire was so close I could feel it warming my skin to the point of pain. Sweat was dripping so quickly I feared it would fall into my eyes as I ran.

The children’s sobs echoed in my ears, desperate and terrified, until I got them clear of the smoke and ash. Their mother stumbled before us, bent double and panting raggedly as I put her children back on the cobblestone.

“Here,” I rasped.

“Thank you so much,” the mother began. “We—“

But her son had started coughing, ragged and strained like he had breathed in too much smoke.

“My… friend over there can help him,” I said, pointing to Evelyn. She was a few strides away, already assessing an old man’s burn wound.

Fortunately, she had brought a pack of medical supplies with her, thinking ahead before we burst into town to investigate. Already, the pack of supplies was split open like a cracked egg. She worked quickly, applying salves and tending to burns from the small pouch of tonics she had grabbed. Her hands trembled just slightly, but her voice was steady as she told the man how best to treat the damage done.

The mother watched Evelyn work as well and nodded once before redirecting her son to seek out her help.

It nearly gutted me, seeing Evelyn like this. She looked heartbreakingly human as she worked, devastated by what was still happening. It was like seeing her in the midst of the war again, treating wounds and tirelessly saving people. I had never wanted her to experience that turmoil again, and yet here we were.

Thanks to Scott.

I turned back to the chaos. There were still people who needed rescuing. People who were too caught up in the devastation to do what needed to be done. I stood again, brushing the soot and ash from my clothes, before turning back to my duty.

I saved who I could. A pair of elders too weak to flee. A young boy who had gotten turned around and nearly ran into the flames. Each time, Evelyn was there waiting for new patients to be brought to her and tending to them with gentle precision after I redirected them to her. And each time, the weight of what Scott had done pressed heavier on our shoulders.

An hour might have passed. Perhaps it had been only minutes. But the night seemed to stretch on and on relentlessly.

When at last the fire began to sputter and dim, controlled by the guards and buckets from nearby wells, I stalked through the crowd, assessing the damage. Somehow, in the desperate rescue mission, I hadn’t realized that other people had begun to rise to the occasion. I had eyes only for my next rescue and Evelyn. But now, it seemed all who could be salvaged were in relative safety or being tended to by Evelyn and the other medical professionals who had arrived to lend a hand.

All that was left to do was to find out all that I could. I began questioning anyone who would meet my eyes and looked well enough to provide a coherent answer

“What did you see? Who started this?” I asked relentlessly.

Most were too shaken to answer, but one man, coughing into his sleeve and spitting up ash-tinged saliva, croaked out, “A man… I saw him near where the flames started. He only had one arm and... It looked like he lit it and ran. North.”

The words hit like a blade. It was confirmation of my first theory, but also the beginning of a new, blooming suspicion.

Behind me, I heard someone gasp. When I turned, I saw Evelyn. She had gone very still.

“North?” she whispered. Her eyes darted past the dying flames, past the rubble, as though she could already see beyond the horizon to what lay north.

“There’s a pack there,” she said at last, her voice low and heavy. “We’ve had a peace treaty with them for decades, but they’ve never trusted us fully. It would be a convenient place for him to run to. And if Scott has gone there…” She trailed off, but she didn’t need to finish.

The possibility was obvious: they might ally with him. Scott was a man who had nothing to lose and everything to gain with dismantling the pack’s greatest adversary. And if they did ally together, we would be vulnerable.

I swallowed dryly, realizing that it could lead to another war.

I stepped closer to Evelyn, lowering my voice. “You’re not seriously thinking—”

“I have to.” She turned to me slowly, and there was fire in her eyes again now, sharper than the flames behind us. “If he’s trying to drag them into this, I need to know. And we need to assume it’s possible. Assume and prepare for the worst. For our people’s sake.” She swallowed dryly. “For my father’s.”

I clenched my jaw. Every instinct screamed to keep her here, safe, and away from more danger. But I knew Evelyn. She wouldn’t back down. She hadn’t yet, and now that her father had been harmed, there would be no convincing her not to get involved.

“If you’re going north to find out, then I’m coming with you,” I said firmly.

Her lips parted, like she wanted to argue, to tell me no on instinct, but instead, she hesitated. And then she gave the faintest nod. “Fine. Come with me then.”

I blinked, caught off guard. I’d expected a battle, her stubbornness locking horns with mine once again. Instead, she had simply accepted. Perhaps she was defeated, too exhausted by recent circumstances to argue. Regardless of the reason, I was pleased by this surprising willingness.

And I couldn’t deny that I loved that she trusted me enough to accompany her.

I glanced back at the smoke curling into the night sky, the fading amber glow that signaled the end of the destruction. For now. Scott had lit more than a building on fire. He had sparked the fury of Evelyn. He had declared war against her personally. And our success rate did not fare well for Scott.

Whatever was waiting for us in the north, Evelyn wouldn’t face it alone. We would go together, and we would end it together. Once and for all.