Embracing the Flames (8 page)

“I appreciate your honesty, Mother,” I said, my own tears falling quietly into the midnight breeze. “The truth is hard to come by these days.” I turned slightly to ensure the last sentence made its way over my shoulder and into my father’s ears.

“When you complete your training, I have arranged for you to be moved to our home. You must learn the ways of your kind. You are royalty; there are certain things that will be expected of you. Things that will aid you in your fight that you cannot accomplish as a Mage.”

My heart quickened at the prospect. To be with my kind. To learn how to control my dragon side. “Can’t I just finish my training there and go with you now? I’m having trouble with my shifting, and the sooner I learn the ways of a dragon, the better off I’ll be.”

Her smile grew as she leaned down and nudged me softly. “Such an undeniable fire in you. You’ve given me the hope I have been missing for so long.” Her voice was filled with the motherly warmth I had missed all my life. “Finish your training, and then we will be together again. It’s important that you learn what Astral has to teach you.”

I sighed heavily.

She stood back up on all fours. “I must be going now. We have preparation to do before the sun rises.” I hugged her snout and then stepped back and waited as my dad opened another portal back to our house.

“You go on through,” he motioned with his hand. “I have some things I need to discuss with your mother.”

“I love you, Aurora,” called my mother’s lovely voice.

“I love you too,” I replied eagerly, and then stepped away from my only link to the other side of me.

I face planted straight into my bed. The suffocating silence of smooshing my face into my blankets felt comforting and safe. “Fenn,” I said into the blanket, my voice stifled and altered.

Within seconds, he was by my side. As I rolled over, he asked, “What’s wrong?” He must have noticed my tears.

“Just hold me tonight, please? I don’t want to talk about it. I might ask you to leave then.” He instantly wrapped me in his comforting, loving embrace. His face burrowed deep into my hair. I pulled my blanket up to my chin and snuggled into him, trying my hardest to hold the hurt in.

It didn’t take long to fall asleep in his arms. His heartbeat synced with mine as the lullaby I hadn’t heard in so long softly played in my mind. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed the music. It was the most beautiful song. As a smile overtook my fear for what the next day would bring, I drifted off into my sleeping paradise.

Chapter 5

Interrogation is a Joke

THE NEXT DAY I FOUND Fenn and Lexi mid-conversation over breakfast. The air was thick with animosity. So thick that when I reached the end of the hall and realized what they were discussing, I tried to turn and tiptoe back to my room. But Fenn spotted me. He must have felt my presence because his eyes instantly locked with mine, and a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. He waved me over.

I sighed, internally kicking myself for not realizing sooner. I didn’t want to be brought into the middle of a sibling feud. “Good morning,” I said with a forced smile.

I got a happy good morning from Fenn and an aggravated, pissed-off good morning from Lexi.

“Brohm will be here soon,” she stated flatly.

Hence the tension.

“Lexi, be realistic. Logan is a douche,” Fenn huffed.

“It’s better than being in a loveless marriage,” she countered with her normal feisty attitude.

“Here we go,” I mumbled under my breath as I grabbed a plate and sat down on the next to Fenn. I shoved a sausage in my mouth.

“I agree with that, one hundred percent, Lex, but I think you are moving way too fast with this guy who won’t be staying here. Hell, I don’t even know why he’s still here.” Fenn took an angry bite out of his toast, crumbs falling onto his plate.

Lexi dropped her toast as if it were diseased. “I’ve lost my appetite. I’ll see you guys later.”

“That bad, huh?” I asked, trying to make idle conversation as Lexi stormed off.

“I’m not sure.” He shrugged. “I haven’t met the infamous Brohm yet.” He set a sausage down and turned to me, his expression turning serious. “I’ve tried to talk some sense into my mother, but she won’t listen. She never does,” he added bitterly. “She thinks it’s for the best. She uses her Seer ability as the excuse for knowing what’s best.”

I placed my hand on his arm.

“To be honest, it’s weird, you know? Especially knowing where we came from. You don’t marry someone you don’t love.” He shook his head, clearly flustered.

“That’s the same thing I thought when Lexi first told me about him,” I commented, taking another bite of sausage.

He sighed. “I know it doesn’t help that I don’t like Logan.”

I looked over at him and laughed, nearly choking on a piece of sausage. I swallowed a sip of water and said, “He’s annoying but harmless, Fenn. I want Lexi to be happy, and she seems to think she is happy with him.” I pointed my half-eaten sausage at him as I continued. “I honestly think it’s the fact that she chose to like him that makes him so appealing to her. But then again, who knows with her.” I shrugged. “I’m no love expert, that’s for sure.”

“That is for sure,” he said smugly under his breath.

I snatched up a piece of toast and launched it at him. “Hey now, no smack talk this early,” I teased with a smile. After a moment, I said absently, “What should we do to help her?”

“Don’t know,” he said, sounding as wayward as I felt. “But I think she needs to learn on her own.” He tilted his eyebrows at me.

“What?” I asked innocently.

“You can’t baby her. And this could be for the best. We both know Logan can’t stay here. He doesn’t belong. Maybe this will help her let go of that little fantasy.”

I sighed and rested my head against my propped up hand. He was right. “If you say so.”

“I do say so.”

I rolled my eyes. “Look, I’ve got to talk to Astral. I’ll catch up with you later, okay?”

He nodded as he took another bite of sausage.

But Astral wasn’t there. Everything floated silently around the room, as if searching for their master.

I smiled at all the neat objects, poking them as they danced through the air, lost in curiosity, and then I heard a shuffling noise. All the objects suddenly whizzed back to their spots on the shelves.

I spun around, thinking Astral had walked in, but the door was still closed.

The shuffling noise came again. It sounded like someone in a chair, scooting back and forth. I turned my head towards the middle of the room, where the sound was coming from.

There wasn’t anything there. I felt the hair rise along my skin. “Astral?” I called out.

I was met by silence.

I took a few steps forward and paused again, waiting for any indication of where the sound had come from. Another shuffling. I glanced down at my feet.

Zane. The noise was coming from beneath me. They were keeping him in a cellar. I shoved the rug on the floor aside, revealing a trap door with a small lock. I knelt down beside it, energy pulsing in my hands.

“Aperium,” I commanded, waiting for the lock to open. It didn’t. Astral must have enchanted the lock against arcane spells. “Where do you hide your keys?” I said to myself. My gaze moved around the room.

I rushed over to the desk, ruffling through the drawers that were unlocked, hoping that Astral wouldn’t come bursting through the door. I found nothing.

I plopped into his chair and looked around again. Why did he have to use enchantments? I let my head fall, banging it against the desk in aggravation. A small compartment beneath his desk opened up. It must have been triggered by pressure. I reached under and felt inside it. A key.

Moving quickly, I grabbed the key and put it in the lock, not thinking rationally about what coming face to face with Zane would mean. I wanted to do this without permission, to rebel. So be it.

I found myself walking down a creaky flight of stairs into a dimly lit cellar. A musky, wet smell assaulted me, the dust unsettled by my footsteps tickling my nose. Huge wooden barrels lined the far wall, filled with god knows what. At the other end of the room sat a figure in a chair, head hung, barely visible beneath the poor lighting. “Hello,” I said a little shaky.

Zane’s head came up slowly. I took a slow step back as Zordon’s face flashed before me...only it wasn’t Zordon. I had forgotten how closely he resembled his father. Messy, short chocolate brown hair mirrored the deep brown of his eyes. His squared jaw was shadowed with stubble.

“Mmmhmm…” he muttered. He looked completely uncomfortable and beaten. Not badly beaten, but there was a bruise on his left eye and a split in his lip. Dried blood and dirt coated his face like war paint.

“So it seems they have begun without me,” I seethed. Zane was leaning slightly to his left, wincing with any form of movement. “Are you okay?” I knew he was the enemy and he wanted me dead. I also knew he tried to kill Lexi, but I wasn’t inhumane.

“Do I look okay to you?” he asked through a quiet, raspy voice. His face contorted in pain as he leaned further towards his left.

“No, you don’t. Maybe if you would just cooperate.”
Cooperate?
I asked myself.
What was I, with the CIA now?
I didn’t know what I was doing down here or even what to say for that matter. My charade of confidence was thinning quickly.

“Look, could I please have some water?” he pleaded.

For some reason, I felt sorry for him. “Umm, I’m not sure if I’m supposed to give you anything.” I bit my lip again, shifting my weight in discomfort.

He looked up at me with the softest eyes, eyes in such pain, and begged. “Please.” There was something in his eyes that separated him from his father; a hidden kindness just waiting for someone to breathe life into.

I couldn’t say no. It felt cruel to say no. “Okay, just give me a second. I’ll be right back.” I quickly ran up the stairs and shut the trap door, careful to place the rug back neatly. I tucked the key into the pocket on my pants and bolted down the hallway and into the kitchen. I wasn’t going to give myself any time to doubt what I was doing.

Back in the cellar, I hesitantly stood before him. “Now don’t try anything stupid, okay? I am a very powerful Mage. I harness power over fire.” The words felt silly as they slipped off my tongue so I let flames erupt from my fingertips on my freehand for added measure.

I thought I saw him smirk, but it vanished before I could confirm. He nodded and groaned so I stepped forward, tipping the cup towards his chapped mouth. His gulps were erratic and fierce. Some of the water drained down the sides of his face, clearing a path of clean skin.

“Thank you,” he whispered and then finished off the cup. I felt better for helping him. I knew he was an enemy, but I didn’t see the point of keeping him thirsty and uncomfortable. I didn’t have it in me.

“I’m sorry about all this, I mean, even though you did and probably still do want to kill me.”

A strange smile brushed his lips. “I thought it was what I wanted. It was nothing personal. I was just trying to please my father. But being down here, like this,” he said, glancing around the room, “helped me put things into perspective. Astral cured me of my father.” His eyes met mine. “Look, don’t be scared of me. I don’t want to kill you. It was my father’s wish. Not mine.”

“I’m not scared of you,” I tried to say confidently. I knew that I shouldn’t trust him.

“I’m sure you aren’t,” he said with another odd grin. There was something in his smile that made me feel comfortable. There was no hidden agenda behind it. Just honesty and a sense of sorrow. He looked me over and then down to the ground. “I do deserve to be down here though. Astral is only trying to protect you, and I can understand why. You are special. I never thought I’d say this, but I was on the wrong side. I want to change that. This is my chance at a new life.” He broke off, wincing again.

I reached out to his side in concern. Something about him made me believe him. That crazed-evil look he had when he tried to kill me in the other realm was gone. Now he just looked tired and sad.

“I’ll be fine, just a broken rib.”

“They did wha—”

“Don’t worry,” he cut me off. “They didn’t do anything to me that I didn’t deserve, and it will mend. I usually heal almost instantly, but Astral enchanted the area to keep my energy in a constant state of depletion.”

He healed like Fenn?

He looked off to the side, his eyebrows pinched together in puzzlement. “Maybe that has something to do with it.” He shrugged. “It’s really for the best though. I did have intentions of killing you. And before I had been wiped clean of my father’s stench, I had said some awful things about you to them.”

I couldn’t believe all that I was hearing. It was like meeting an entirely new person. This was the same man that had hurt Lexi and hunted me like a sport.

“I will talk to them, make them see you are different now,” I said. “Let me try to mend it for you.”

His eyes grew wide. “No, don’t interfere. Don’t let them know we talked. It will only make things worse.”

“Don’t be silly. Mendaro,” I chanted, focusing my energy on his wound. I relaxed my mind, trying to use as little energy as possible while the spell repaired his ribs. When the spell had finished, I couldn’t help the little triumphant smile that peeked at the corners of my mouth.

“Thank you,” he said graciously. He looked up at me, and his face scrunched up. “Why are you smiling?”

My smile vanished. “I, um, was practicing a technique to use as little energy as possible, and it worked. It didn’t take as much out of me when I just healed you.”

“You’re cute, you know,” he said. The smile he threw my way was dangerously charming.

I stepped back. “I need to get back now. I will make sure they don’t hurt you anymore. No more violence,” I promised. He smiled, and I tried to brush away the fact that he had a nice smile.

“Thank you, Aurora,” he said with a courtly bow of his head.

I turned and went back up the stairs, ensuring I left no trace of my presence, carefully putting the key back in its secret compartment. After replacing the cup in the kitchen, I headed over to the fire, feeling a burning itch within my bones. The dragon wanted out, and fire made that yearning worse. I dipped my hand into the blaze. A tiny flame raced up my skin. It felt so good, so normal.

“Hello.” I spoke to the flame that rested on my shoulder. It faltered slightly as if saying hi back to me. I ran my finger over it, basking in the feeling of it on my skin. My bones began to ache. Whatever Astral had come up with better work. I needed to feel whole.

The door slammed with a thud behind me. With the flame still resting on my shoulder, I turned to find an unfamiliar face. “Who are you?”

He looked at me, then at the flame on my shoulder, and then back at me. “You’re on fire,” he pointed out, his voice monotonous and slightly dull.

I turned my head to my shoulder and blew out the flame, feeling its absence instantly. “Can I help you?” I asked, looking him over. He was tall and thick in build. His face was masculine and sharp, and his skin was bronzed from the sun. Light brown shoulder-length hair offset his beard which was darker with flecks of gold throughout. He had a scruffy look to him that matched his large nose.

He cleared his throat. “I’m here for Alexis.” He stood with his hands neatly at his sides, his golden eyes staring plainly at me.

“Oh, you must be Brohm. Hang on, let me go get her.” I left him standing there.
And so it begins
, I thought with a coy smile.

“Lex, Brohm’s here,” I whispered through the crack of her door. Logan shot straight up from her bed, the Morbit climbing to the very top of his head. He looked like a totem pole.