EMBER’S POV

The fire is still burning when Knox says it.

He’s staring into the flames with an expression I haven’t seen before, and the orange light is catching the planes of his handsome face, making the shadows under his eyes look like bruises and the bruises look like shadows.

Five seconds.

That’s how long I played the footage before I slammed the laptop shut, and those five seconds are still living inside my skull like an unwanted tenant.

The ballroom. The golden lighting. The laughter of people who had minutes left to live and didn’t know it.

And then the sound — the sound that came from the far...