Lexan's Pledge (Starbright Novellas) (8 page)

I close my eyes, really trying this time, focusing on the idea of fire. I sense Lexan shift closer. A breeze stirs through the trees surrounding us and lifts a few orange-red curls from my neck.

And…nothing. I sigh and open my eyes. “The whole sunfire thing is just a
metaphor,
Lexan. I can’t make fire out of nothing.”

“Then explain how you singed off Keirna’s eyebrows in a cave with no candles.”

He has me. I can’t. Which is why we’ve been at this craziness all morning.

“A hallucination,” I grumble anyways, knowing that’s just as impossible as what Lexan believes. A thousand times a day, I think of the moment when I somehow sent a ball of flame rushing towards Keirna. As if I summoned fire into that secret room.

Even if it were true, I still have no idea how to recreate it.

“Think about your mother’s story – you’re supposed to be the first star, who burned with the sunfire. Aries is a fire sign. Your hot temper is always getting you in trouble. It
fits
, Trea. Besides, there are stranger things than that in our world now.” Lexan offers his hands again, and I close my eyes, biting at my bottom lip to keep from arguing.

The newly formed leaves above us rustle as the wind blows my hair back with a sudden force.

An unexpected image fills my head – kissing Lexan by the hot pool in Asphodel. I remember feeling like the very air was pouring power into my body.

And Isa’s comment:
the room raised ten degrees
.

A strange painless burning tingles my palms. Lexan jerks his hands back and my eyes fly open.

“That was it!” He breaks into his familiar lopsided grin and pulls me into a hug, laughing as he lifts my feet from the ground. “You did
something
there – I felt heat! It was just like when-”

“Put me down,” I interrupt, a little shaky from the sudden memory of that kiss. Lexan lowers my feet to the ground and I turn away to take a drink of water and clear my mind.

That memory had to have been all me – Lexan hadn’t been looking into my eyes to influence me. My lips are actually tingling almost as much as my palms, and I bite into them harshly to stop the sensation. Even so, relief spills through me as I begin to believe a tiny bit in the possibility of the sunfire.

Learning to call fire might be a whole new level of insanity, but what good is a savior with no power to vanquish enemies?

“Again,” Lexan commands, pausing to brush a curl from my face. The sunlight filters through the leaves and glints from his sun-lightened hair.

I nod, trying to call thoughts of Stian back into my mind, where they should be. “Again,” I agree.

We practice an hour more, but sweat is again all I can muster. “Let’s take a break,” I finally say, exhausted from volleying between hope and disappointment. Not to mention how irritably uncomfortable I am from being so close to Lexan.

“Tell me again why we have to touch?”

“Here. Just read the journal for yourself,” Lexan says, retrieving the small leather book from his satchel. I snatch at it before he changes his mind – this is the first time he’s actually let me read it. His fingers brush mine and I jerk my hand back quickly, clutching the book.

Lexan shoots arrows at a tree across the clearing as I turn to the passage he has marked and begin to read Firene’s words, carefully translated between the lines in Lexan’s small block print.

Today I recovered another bit of text from Lakessa’s burned book: the Lady and her Scales must be one. Fire needs air to survive, and air is no threat without fire.

“And so you think that since it says ‘one’ we need to touch?” I ask. The other pages aren’t decoded yet, and I wonder what secrets they hold.

Lexan pauses his shooting and kneels beside me. “There are other possibilities for that word. But I thought holding hands would be the least problematic.”

I can’t quite look him in the eyes as my brain begins to list the other ways we could become one.

“And you’re sure the fire and air thing is literal?” I’m still getting comfortable with the idea that Lexan can charm someone’s thoughts, and I can lend them bravery. Now I have to figure out how to summon fire and control air?

“Aries is a fire sign, and Libra is air. Just going on instinct here. But it makes sense. In Asphodel, I never really felt like I could
control
air, but here – outside – it’s different. Like it speaks to me or something.” He flushes a little, flicking his eyes away, then back again.

I remember how the air had seemed to feed my bravery when I kissed him that night – whispering to me, helping me locate people’s reactions and sudden belief in our partnership.

“What?” He asks, one eyebrow raised as he studies my face.

I shake my head quickly, feeling my cheeks grow warm. There is
no
way I’m admitting to thinking about that kiss. Again.

“Let’s go back for lunch. I’m starving,” I say instead.

Lexan shoulders the quiver and bows and we walk along the path in silence.

“Trea,” he starts, then stops. He pauses behind me on the path and I turn back. Sunlight again paints golden streaks in his hair, casting his eyes into shadow. “Look, I know you’re having a hard time believing you could be the lady of Justice. That all this could even be real. But it’s our history. Our religion. Why can’t you try a little faith?”

I start walking again. We’re such a mismatch: he a minister and me a non-believer. “I used to have faith, you know.”

“What happened?”

“Remember when I told you about the Initiation Ceremony, and how it made me start to see you as the enemy? Something forced on me?” I ask.

He frowns and nods, and I continue. “Well, the night before that was when I stopped believing in the stars. I heard Mother and Father talking about the two babies they had lost, before I was born.” I stop for a few seconds, swallowing around the guilt of carrying this memory, and spilling it now. “They forced the prophecy, Lex. By having me early too. After that, I just knew none of it could be real. How can something really be fate if people can change it so easily?”

“Do you know when Aitan’s birthday is?” Lexan asks.

“One day too late to be me.” I smile ruefully, thinking of how many times I’ve wished Aitan had been born on the Spring Equinox, four years before me.

Lexan laughs. “Well, he couldn’t exactly be taken for the maiden. But they didn’t know he would be a boy.” He grips my shoulder, asking me to look at him. “Do you know when Pasia’s birthday is?”

I shake my head, trepidation growing in my heart.

“One day before the Autumn Equinox. Your parents weren’t the only ones trying to time a birth, Trea. Illegal or not, my mother said lots of families were trying to do it: desperate to replace Keirna and push Asphodel back into the sunlight. And with all those people trying and failing, it doesn’t sound to me like fate was changed. It certainly wasn’t easy. And even it seemed like your parents succeeded with your birth, it could have been the stars all along.”

We’re standing in the shadows at the edge of the woods, and I turn away to survey the light pouring down on Madna’s strange house. The walls seem to have pushed themselves from the hillside like rock formations, and it’s not clear which came first, the house or the hills.

Perhaps human will really isn’t so different from divine prophecy: either way the gods’ plans are made and carried out.

Stian stands on the front porch, waiting for me. I shove the journal back into Lexan’s hands and jog away from him – away from thoughts of fate and sunfire and everything that lies before us.

“I was beginning to think you’d never come back,” Stian grins, handing me a plate of bread and cheese. He takes a large bite of his own sandwich – more meat than bread.

“We’ll probably go again after lunch,” I admit, keeping my eyes on the food.

“Then I’ll come with you. Rea and I are through marking the maps. We can leave for Tartarus as soon as our supplies are gathered.”

I glance up at him, rubbing tension from my neck. “So soon.” Although I know what we have to do, I’m enjoying the safe, easy life at Madna’s house. I’m not anxious to be hiking through the woods again, sleeping on cold ground and eating roasted meat.

“Where’s Lex?” Zarea’s voice calls out onto the porch. “I fixed him a plate.”

Stian glares, then tucks the distaste away when he sees me watching.

I say, “You don’t need to worry about helping me train. I’m used to sparring with Lexan anyways. Surely you have other things to get ready.” He shrugs, noncommittal. Earlier today, Lexan and I agreed that Stian and Zarea shouldn’t know about our powers just yet. He still doesn’t trust them.

And even though it makes me nervous to admit, I have to agree for now.

Lexan strolls onto the porch just as Zarea bangs the door open with her foot, both hands full of food.

“Thanks, Rea. This looks amazing. Food looks good, too.” Lexan smiles at her, standing a little closer than necessary. She grins and tosses her hair back.

“You’re welcome to it,” she says.

Stian makes a small choking noise and turns away, looking out at the forest. I gulp down several bites while listening to Lexan and Zarea laugh and talk in low voices. Stian remains shut away from all of us, staring into the distance.

“Ready?” I ask Lexan and he purses his lips, obviously not ready yet.

“I guess so. Maybe we can go for that swim when I get back, Rea,” he says and I can feel Stian tense beside me.

“Yeah, Tre,” he speaks up. “I’d love to get you in the water too.”

Lexan’s smile slips, then hooks back crookedly. “Let’s go, Trea.”

We hurry along the path. I struggle to keep up with Lexan’s pace.

“What’s going on between you and Zarea?” I ask as we reach the small clearing.

Lexan runs his fingers through his hair, standing it up in spiky waves. “I don’t know. Just flirting, I guess. I really think she’s just trying to make Stian jealous.” He looks at me for a long minute. “Be careful with him, Tre. I don’t think either one of them has exactly moved on.”

I’ve noticed this too, but I’ve been trying so hard to ignore it. I just hope Stian has been honest with me. Well. Recently, anyways.

We start again, clasping hands and trading glances, but nothing seems to work.

“What are you feeling right now?” Lexan asks suddenly, his hands falling from mine.

“I don’t know. Worried, I guess. Tired. Why?”

“I wonder if these powers work like our abilities – with emotion as the base. Your bravery is always stronger when you’re angry or upset.”

I think about this. He’s right, of course. Anger makes me brave.

“Guess I need to get mad, then. Any ideas?” I ask, still feeling drained of emotion and energy. I close my eyes against the afternoon sun, shining through the treetops.

“Think about all the things Keirna has done to us,” Lexan begins. He grasps my fingers and steps close again. “My father. Your mother. The shopkeeper.”

Sadness filters through me, but then a small flare of anger begins to grow as I think about what I’ve lost – what we’ve all lost. “She killed them for nothing, Lex,” I whisper. “She’ll get
nothing
.”

My palms begin to feel warm and then hot, and Lexan sucks in a breath as the heat touches him, but he squeezes my hands tighter, trapping the power in our fingers. A bit of wind swirls around us, lifting the heat from our palms, and I grin, turning my cheeks up towards the sun’s orange light, trapping it behind my closed eyelids.

A sudden crackle behind me breaks my focus and I spin to see a figure step from behind a tree.

“What are you doing with him?” Stian asks in a dangerous voice.

“It…nothing! How…what did you see?” I stammer. I rip my hands from Lexan’s and step towards Stian, guilt and apprehension coursing through me.

He glares at Lexan, then stalks back into the trees without another word. My stomach is churning with nerves. I thought we’d been so careful: finding an isolated spot to practice our silly games, telling Stian we were going to train, taking our bows and knives.

“Do you think he suspects anything?” I whisper to Lexan, remembering how Stian had already gone through the passage when the power of Justice finally slipped into my hands. He really shouldn’t know any of this.

Lexan looks down at me, his eyes thoughtful. “I believe he thinks we were kissing.”

“
What?
” My stomach drops into nothingness as I recreate the scene in my mind, from Stian’s viewpoint: joined hands, smiles, my upturned face and closed eyes. A hot flush creeps into my cheeks.

“Because I’m pretty sure I was thinking about it,” he adds with a slow smile, catching my elbow as I try to turn after Stian. His fingers slide down to my wrist.

“Just because you think something
at
me doesn’t mean I have to let it in,” I answer, jerking my hand from his. I’ve glimpsed a few of Lexan’s ideas throughout our training this morning, and a sudden fury washes over me.

“I trust you to be a
friend
, Lexan – not try to sabotage my shot at happiness!” I yell, yanking away again as he tries to grip my fingers.

“Trea, wait a minute! I’m sorry – I’ll talk to him.”

“No, Lexan, just stay out of it! Out of everything!” I stumble backwards as a fierce wind pulls my curls across my face. I throw my hands up to block the swirl of dust and leaves when suddenly a burst of flame shoots into the air, buoyed upwards by the cool gust.

It burns out as quickly as it appeared, leaving me gaping up at the trees. Sunlight streams in a thick shaft through a neat, new hole in the canopy, and wisps of smoke swirl lazily around us.

“About time,” Lexan smiles halfway, his hands propped on his narrow hips. Suddenly he looks just like his brother Aitan, standing triumphantly in the classroom after tricking me to get what he wanted.

I turn and run from the small clearing, shouting Stian’s name while I ignore Lexan calling mine.

He hasn’t quite reached the clearing outside of Madna’s house when I catch him, and I launch myself in front of him, grasping his shirt.