Soul Blaze (17 page)

~Chapter Fifteen~
“Sky!”

I groaned; I’d been in the process of opening my door
when I heard Jett calling my name. I leant my head
against the door for a second before reluctantly turning
and facing my irate father.

“Where’ve you been? Dena and the others came back
without you, you’ve been out all night?” He snapped.
“Really?” I asked sarcastically. “Must’ve been partying
til dawn, father, sorry.”
“Don’t,” he shut his eyes and clenched his jaw. “Don’t
get smart with me.
Where were you
?”

Uh, in a tavern brawl? Where I met an old classmate of
mine who doesn’t want anyone to know she’s in the city,
and I proposed that she join me at the palace when I take
the throne as captain of the entire city guard?

“Exploring,” I settled on finally. “There’s a whole city
out there if you haven’t noticed.”

His nostrils flared dramatically. He opened his mouth
to keep admonishing me when a serving girl popped over
the top of the stairs.

“Mistress Sky?” she said warily. I immediately turned
away from Jett. “The governor wants to see you, miss.”

It was almost a relief to skitter away from my father
and down the stairs towards Ryman’s office before I
remembered where I was headed. I thought of Seff
working down in the kitchens and my throat tightened.
Had he found her?

I knocked cautiously on his office door.
“Enter.”

I did so, closing it carefully behind me. I could feel my
magic beginning to tingle beneath my skin. I would blast
him if I had to. He would be absolutely no match for me.

The man himself was sitting behind his desk, the
polished oak hiding the majority of his bulk. He made me
wait until he’d signed the last paper in front of him with a
flourish. He set down his quill, admired the signature and
then looked up at me, his dull eyes stern.

“My guards have reported to me a rather disturbing
incident,” he began, and my heart started to beat a little
faster. “Apparently you interfered with an arrest
yesterday.”

I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t going to confess before I
knew how much he’d been told.
He steepled his fingers and rested his three chins upon
them.
“What is the reason for your interference?”
“They were bullying a small girl.”
“They were doing their job.”
I let the corner of my mouth twitch in derision.

“Good to know that the guards of this city have power
over the small girl children. I saw some babies in their
cribs on the way over here, would the guards like to harass
them as well?”

He stood, though I still towered over him.
“You are insolent,” he barked, his cheeks flushing red.
“Both guards are in the infirmary. You are to apologize to
both of them.”

I felt heat rush to my cheeks and my hands began to
shake.
“No,” I said. “I won’t.”

“The girl you inadvertently set free was a known cutpurse to the guards in question, and she was finally being
taken to face trial. Your meddling has set her loose about
the city again,” his pudgy hands were splayed across the
papers he’d so carefully signed, apparently not noticing
that he was smearing his signature. He leant across the
desk at me, and it took all of my willpower not to step
back. “I promise you that I will find this girl and bring her
to justice myself. And when I do, I can assure you that I’ll
make you watch as they sentence her to exile.”

For three glorious seconds I entertained myself with
the thought of pinning the fat man to the wall and holding
him by the throat. My hands twitched as if to carry out
the motion, and I quickly tucked them both behind my
back. I didn’t know enough about the city yet to take the
crown, and I wanted to hear Eleanora’s answer before I
attempted to control a faction of lawmen who were on the
path to hating me.

“If that is all?” I asked coldly, my face expressionless. “I
have training to attend.”

“Perhaps suggest some extra lessons on etiquette,” he
replied, sliding back into his reinforced chair. “And
remember that you are my guest in this palace and I am to
be afforded every courtesy.”

I turned and spun on my heel, deliberately slamming
his office doors on my way out.

I marched down the hall, anger brimming in my blood.
I wanted nothing more than to return to Ryman’s office
and make him regret ever summoning me. My footsteps
slowed as I neared the kitchens, thinking of Seff, but then
I remembered that Ryman was actively searching for her
now and I couldn’t risk him finding her under his very
nose.

Instead I headed for the bath house. My legs were
aching from my early morning walk and my body still
complained of a night spent sleeping in a chair.

The bath house of the palace was a spectacular thing. A
large marble bath took up most of the room, sunk deep
into the floor. It was full of lukewarm water, kept topped
up by the bath house attendants. One handed me a towel
and a bar of soap when I entered, then left me in peace.
The bath was empty of patrons; a relief considering I
hadn’t yet gotten accustomed to bathing with other girls. I
stripped down and then sank into the bath up to my nose.
The water was warm enough to make me sleepy, the heat
seeping into my aching bones.

I must’ve dozed off for a second, because when I awoke,
Dena was sitting across from me.
“How long have you been there?” I asked sleepily.

“A while,” she wouldn’t meet my eyes, gazing at
something across the room. “You were asleep. I was
making sure you weren’t going to drown.”

“Thanks,” I said, shifting awkwardly. I half-heartedly
scrubbed at my arm with the bar of soap before deciding it
was too weird. The abandoned soap floated across the bath
between us. “So, uh, how’ve things been?”

She fixed me with a stare, apparently uncaring that we
were starkers with only a few metres of soapy water
separating us. Then again, she’d had a few years to get
used to bathing with other girls.

“Things are different now,” she said, her voice ringing
off the stone.
“Because I’m back?”
“Yes,” she said sadly, taking me by surprise.
“You don’t want me back?”
“Of course I want you back,” she seemed mildly
surprised at least. “But I thought you would want-”
“To spend more time with you.” I finished for her.
She lowered her gaze.
“You were my best friend.” She said softly.

“I still am. Dena,” I went to scoot closer to her,
remembered where we were, and stopped. “I didn’t have
any friends in Ar Cena that came close to you. Even when
I couldn’t remember a damn thing about Lotheria I missed
you somehow. And when I came back, I didn’t want to
intrude on the group too much, you guys have had a lot of
time without me.”

“We still wanted you around, but you seem to be
determined to go off and do your own thing lately.”

“I know, and I’ll admit that I have an agenda,” I gnawed
my lip. “Dena, you know the responsibility I have to
undertake soon.”

“And all of us want to be here to help you!”

“Help I’ll gladly accept,” I said. “But I’m still trying to
get my bearings. When I’ve got a game plan, I’ll need
advice. And my friends are the first place I’m going to go
for it.”

That seemed to placate her somewhat. She fidgeted in
the water, steam rising around us.
“If you need to test any ideas out, I’m right here,” she
said eventually.

Suddenly I needed to tell her everything. I started with
Seff and the familiar feel I got from her. When I
questioned Dena about it, she agreed that she too felt as
though she knew the girl but couldn’t recall how. I
recounted my meeting with Ryman just a few minutes
before retreating to the bath house and she shared my
anger and resentment against the governor.

“Seff is out of harm’s way,” she reassured me. “Hidden
in his own kitchens. He won’t even think to look under
his own nose… provided he can see there.”

We sniggered together in the cooling water. The soap
had floated back to me and I picked it up, sliding it over
my skin.

“I don’t know about that… from the looks of him, I’d
say he’s fair fond of the kitchens,” I said, and she burst
into laughter again.

When her giggles subsided, I pushed the soap over to
her.
“There’s something else,” I said gravely. “About where I
was last night. But I have to swear you to secrecy.”
She eyed me off, catching up the drifting soap.

“I was in a tavern brawl last night,” I began, and she
opened her mouth to say something but I stopped her.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, anyway. I met someone there.”

I saw the word form on her lips but didn’t stop her in
time.
“Phoenix?”
The name jarred me like a hit to the elbow. I was
shaking my head before she’d finished.
“No. Eleanora.”
Her mouth fell open even further, and she almost
swallowed some bath water.
“Elea-… but she’s supposed to be in Gowar!”
“I know,” I quickly outlined Eleanora’s current living
situation and the offer I’d made her. “What do you think?”

“I think you did the right thing by wanting to help
her,” Dena said, deep in thought. “And whilst I get that
you want people you know by your side during the
takeover, I think having Eleanora as their captain straight
away might give the guard the wrong impression. To
them, it’ll seem like favouritism.”

“It’s not though.”

“I know that, but they don’t. They’ll get a new Queen
and then a new captain. It’ll unnerve them, and the last
thing you need is a twitchy guard around you.”

I nodded, considering her input.

“But at the same time,” she continued. “Having
someone you know and trust protecting you will be
reassuring. I get why you offered her the position.”

“Final thoughts?”
She leant against the back of the bath, combing her
fingers through her hair.

“Keep the offer there. Wait to hear what she says and if
she accepts, worry about the consequences then. Though
she’d be mad to turn the opportunity down.””

“You haven’t seen how she’s changed,” I shivered
slightly; the water was cooling. “I didn’t recognise her
until our faces were almost literally shoved together.”

She laughed, and we continued chatting in the bath for
a while. For the first time since arriving back in Lotheria, I
felt as though I had my best friend back.

I padded back to my room a short while later, the lush
carpet soft against my bare feet. I dressed in my room
quickly and collected Morri from his sleeping place atop
my bedstead. The sun was illuminating my city, making
dirty rooftops gleam reluctantly. In the distance I could
see the harbor sparkling, several ships at the dock, their
tall masts swaying slightly as the waves rolled underneath
them.

I was going to be Queen of all this. This city and the
country that extended all the way north. I stroked
Morrigan, who was sleeping contentedly in my hands. He
chirped softly, completely unaware of the turmoil that was
making my stomach turn over.

I decided a walk would settle me. I thought briefly
about tracking down my friends to accompany me, but
then decided against it. Dena had mentioned that she
would be spending the day at the city hospital, shadowing
the healers there to better her craft. Ispin was down at the
docks again, and I was unsure of the whereabouts of Rain,
Petre or Yasmine. Theresa had taken to disappearing into
the city much like I was about to, though she would spend
days on end in the lower districts before returning
without a word to explain her absence.

Morri relocated to my shoulder as I passed under the
portcullis, preening as I walked. The high road was busy as
usual, and I had to weave my way between several carts
headed for the palace. People jostled me as I passed, but
after a few days of walking the busy city streets I was used
to it. Morri, however, took every opportunity to pass
comment to every person that bumped into the shoulder
he was riding.

As I giggled at him and stroked a finger down his glossy
back to settle him, I noticed Ryman’s city guards at their
usual posts. Suddenly my good mood vanished, and I
lowered my head, unwilling to catch their attention. By
now, they would’ve heard what I’d done to their
colleagues.

I was nearing the central district, contemplating finding
a place for lunch, when I saw a young man striding up the
middle of the road. His long dark hair fell around his face
like a curtain, but it couldn’t hide his eyes. I stopped dead
in my tracks, time slowing down.

“Phoenix.” I breathed.
~Chapter Sixteen~

He looked up, though he couldn’t possibly have heard
me. Our eyes met through the crowd of people, and I saw
his mouth fall open slightly.

“Sky.” He mouthed, and then I was pushing, shoving
through the crowd to get to him. I saw him doing the
same, people complaining loudly, but he wasn’t taking any
notice.

We were but a few metres apart, reaching for each
other, when I heard someone yell. Phoenix broke eye
contact with me, seeing the guard at the same time I did,
just before the guard slammed into him. I froze in my
tracks as the people around me shrieked and began to
clamber out of the way; they’d lived under Ryman’s
oppressive rule long enough to know to get out of the way
of an arrest.

“No,” I said softly, but the three guards pinning
Phoenix to the ground didn’t hear me. “NO!”

Fire raced down my arms to my fingertips. Those
closest to me started trying even harder to leave the scene.
I extended the flames of my right hand to the guard
closest to me, plucking him from the ground and tossing
him into a nearby cabbage cart. A second was thrown
through the window of the nearest building. The third
managed to get a block up before my fire could reach him,
but I smashed through it like frail glass and sent him
flying.

“Phoenix!” I reached him a second later, pulling him to
his feet. “What are you… why are they… how are you
here
?”

“I’m not supposed to be,” he said, taking my face in his
hands. “But I couldn’t stay away from you any longer.
They’re attacking me because there’s still a reward out for
my arrest. I was exiled, remember?” Suddenly he was
looking over me. I turned, breaking out of his hold. A
small army of city guards were descending upon us.