The Element of Fire, page 357 by Martha Wells
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ire to kill Thomas immediately and the need to rip the keystone out of its niche. Thomas struggled to stand and got no further than his knees.
Something distracted Evadne. He cocked his ruined head, then turned in a crouch. Urbain Grandier stood at the bottom of the steps. Thomas had not seen him come down either; the old man might have materialized out of the air.
Evadne straightened his tall frame slowly. "You betrayed me, sorcerer."
Grandier started toward them, his steps unhurried. "Did I?"
"But I betrayed you."
Grandier stopped. His expression had not changed, but something in the very stillness in which he stood there was daunting.
Evadne's grin was terrible. "I bargained with your creature Dontane to destroy you. The human prince you sought to put on the throne would have given me everything I wanted."
Grandier sighed. "That hardly surprises me."
Evadne's look of disappointment would have been comical on any creature less maimed and ruined. Thomas crawled back to the pillar and leaned against the niche concealing the keystone. Grandier would have no difficulty in killing him and taking it away, but he meant to keep it in place as long as he could. If Kade hadn't managed to kill herself for him, it would give her more time to escape. The fay wheeling around in the air overhead were moving with purpose now. At the far end of the great cellar they were whipping themselves into some kind of frenzy, flying in a great circle around one of the pillars. A wind was rising out of nowhere in the chamber.
Grandier shook his head, his features twisting for a moment in disgust. He said, "And what has your scheming gotten you?" His voice rose. "There is an army at the gates! A human army with iron and sorcerers to destroy you, and an army of the Seelie Court waits for you in the air."
Thomas realized it was the first time he had ever seen Grandier show anger. Evadne snarled, "They cannot destroy--" The pillar the fay were circling on the far side of th