When Ezo woke, the bed was empty, and the sheets beside him were cold. Ezo stumbled into his pants and shoved his feet into his boots to look for his lover. He wasn’t in the library, and he wasn’t in the kitchen.

When he checked the secret study, he wasn’t there either.

Ezo left Riverkeep and trudged down the long hallway and up the stairs to the castle. Maybe Kammon had gone to check on the horses? Ezo hadn’t had any trouble when he’d stabled Rile while he was at Riverkeep alone.

He opened the passage door and stepped into the burned-out study of the Fire Born castle. He stopped when he realized Kammon was right there.

“Kammon?” he called his lover’s name.

“Ezo? What are you doing up here?”

“Looking for you. Come back to bed.”

Kammon dropped his eyes to look around the study. “I can’t stop thinking about what happened here.”

Ezo could see his mind turning, so he kept quiet, waiting to see what Kammon would do next. Ezo had studied the room himself and come to his own conclusions, but Kammon was the expert on fire. If anyone could understand the wreckage in the ruins, it was the Calamity.

“This corner was saved from the devastation. Why?”

“Someone put up a shield against it. But that would mean they survived,” Ezo said. “Maron died and nothing in his journal hints that his wife was an elementalist.”

“Everyone assumes Maron’s dead,” he reminded Ezo. “But this wasn’t a shield.” He kneeled on the ground and placed his hands on the floor. “This is the point of the ignition.”

“What?”

“An elementalist started this fire. It burned so hot the stone melted, but it was directed out. After the initial blast, flame took the rest of the room. Everything else was caught in the backlash.”

“Did Maron die from the fire he started?” Ezo asked.

“Or did he start it at all?” Kammon countered.

“He must have died. He wouldn’t have left Riverkeep alone all these years if he was alive.”

“I agree. But was he the one that started this fire? The initial flame was so hot it melted the stone. It wasn’t a build-up of heat over time. That takes a lot of power. I don’t think Eques Maron, no matter his prowess on the battlefield, was that strong. So what caused this fire? Did he kill himself, pulling too much of the element to set this fire? Or was it someone else? And why was he fighting in the castle? The world makes note of people with that level of strength. Especially elementalists from other countries. Who would have come here and set this tragedy in motion?”

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“Do you know how many people are strong enough to pull this off?”

“No, but there is someone that does.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Within the Imperium’s intelligence network, there is a man tasked with keeping track of elementalists. He knows where they are and where their strengths lie. He knows the assets of Distria’s enemies, as well as its own elementalists to call in need. You met him at the University.”

“I did?”

“Andres. We served together when I was War-Sworn.”

“He wanted them to kill you,” Ezo said.

“Did he?”

“I heard him say that it was better to kill you than to try to force you into service again.”

Kammon smiled. “He knew how well I’d take it. He knows the strength of everyone in the University. He understood where that would lead.”

Ezo rolled his eyes. “You still consider him a friend, don’t you?”

Kammon nodded. “I’d preferred they tried to kill me too,” he said. “The idea that they would try to force someone back into the Vow is ludicrous.”

Ezo couldn’t deal with the horrors of the Imperium turning elementalists into War-Sworn against their volition, so he changed the subject back to the castle. “So the fire started here and took out the rest of the room and the castle. Then time and weather turned it into nothing more than a ghost story for those brave enough to hear it.”

“It’s a sad tale for someone who had dedicated themselves to a life of service,” Kammon said softly. “And what about the words?”

“Which words?”

“The words written in ash. Ezo, what if the reason the fire reaches out from here was that they were protecting someone behind them?”

Ezo looked at the damage that had been done. “That would explain why that corner of the room is less damaged,” he admitted. “Was Maron protecting his wife and son? But the writing says the son is dead.”

“If he was young enough, the heat or smoke could kill him even if the flame didn’t. He must have been desperate to do this, to risk this destruction. Was he protecting Riverkeep or his family? Or both?”

“We’ll never know for sure. If we found Kaiya, that might help, but I’m not sure she thinks straight enough to get answers. Whatever happened to her, she was damaged by it as well.”

Kammon nodded. “We’ll send Ember in the morning, just in case. If nothing else, we can send her to Tam’s Flat so they can care for her.”

“Would Danya and Cassen take her in?”

“If she is in need, as you say she is, then yes, they would.”

Ezo felt a small sense of relief at the idea of taking Kaiya to Tam’s Flat. He didn’t know if he’d find her, but it felt like he had a plan now when he did.

“Thank you,” he said to Kammon.

“Danya and Cassen took me in when I was barely standing on my own two feet. They’ll do what they can for her.”

“Speaking of barely standing, can we go back to sleep now?”

Kammon left the unharmed circle of stones and pulled Ezo into his arms. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“The bed is too cold without you, and I didn’t want to build up the fire,” Ezo complained. He wasn’t about to admit how much he enjoyed sleeping wrapped around Kammon.

“Let’s get to bed then.”

Kammon followed him down the hallway and back to the bedroom. Kammon’s fingers drew patterns over Ezo’s skin as they settled together. He was drifting off, but Kammon’s hand never stopped moving. His last thought, as he gave in to sleep, was that the motion of his hands felt a lot like an explosion.