by Emily Rose
“Relax,” he said. “I’ve been coming here for the past year. My father will never find out. He never enters the Shadow Forest, especially not at night.”
I nodded. I guess I had the Prince’s protection, whatever that was worth.
“So what are we doing here?” I said to them both. They looked at each other, mirroring the same sneaky grin.
“Isobel can help us. With the flame, I mean.”
I looked at the woman. She seemed so young, but something in her eyes held great depth. Great wisdom. She held out her hand to me, and I placed my palm on hers.
“Ah,” she said, closing her eyes. “Ophine is strong in you. The Prince was right.” My heart began to beat harder in my chest. Isobel ran her other hand down my arm, over my upward palm. My skin danced where she touched me.
“Ophine, goddess of fire,” she said. But she wasn't talking to me. Or Aiden. “Have you chosen this girl to carry your power? Have you chosen Ruby to carry the burden?”
I don’t know what I was waiting for. Aiden looked just as shocked as I felt. Seconds went by, the sound of our breath was the only thing filling the air.
Red hot fire burned under my skin, where Isobel’s hands had just been. White flame rumbled in my palm instantly, my fingers filled with power.
Ophine’s power. I had felt it too many times before.
Isobel opened her eyes, staring at the flame and then at me. She smiled.
“So it’s true,” she said as the flame died. I pulled my arm from her grasp. “Ophine has chosen you.”
“For what? And why me?” My voice sounded weak. Desperate. But I was desperate. I needed answers. This flame had almost gotten me killed on too many occasions, but it was also the reason I was still alive.
When Isobel didn’t answer me, Aiden did.
“Do you remember the story I read to you in the library, about the dark spirits in the forest?”
I nodded. How could I forget?
“We were right about the protectors leaving the burden. But it wasn’t to just one person, Ruby.” He looked at me intently, learning forward.
“Isobel thinks that we were chosen. By Ophine herself. The burden would be too much for one person to carry, so they had to give us both the flame.”
Each word hit me like a punch. Not because it was ridiculous, but because it wasn’t.
“Ophine chose you a long time ago, when my father’s men attacked your parents. It didn’t make sense to me until you told me that you could only access the power when you were near death. I never had a problem accessing the flame. I actually have to fight to keep the flame away.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “So we’re both chosen? But for what? What are we supposed to do?”
His eyes darkened, and he looked to Isobel. She picked her chin up. “We weren’t positive until a few days ago, so we wanted to wait to tell you,” she said. “The prophecy states that evil would run the gods out of the Shadow Forest, we all know that. But we weren’t sure what the evil was.”
She paused. My heart was beating in my ears. “It’s my father,” Aiden jumped in. “My father is accessing the power of the Shadow Forest.”
I looked between the two of them. They looked entirely serious. It wasn’t the craziest thing I had ever heard, but it still didn’t make sense. The king was evil, yes, but not Shadow Forest evil. Not god-suppressing evil.
“There’s more,” he said. “I suspected something was up with my father about a year ago, when he started kidnapping more fighters. Weak ones, even, like your friend Harvey. It didn’t make sense. Why would he kidnap kids against their will when hundreds of Aslans were ready to join the Ring of Angels?”
I had thought the same thing. Riley thought something was up, too. Isobel spoke next. “It is believed that the evil spirits from the forest are fed by death. They feed off of the souls of humans, overtaking them entirely to control their own will. It’s a form of possession, so that the spirits can still interact with us.”
“But King Xavier doesn’t-”
Aiden cut me off. “Think about it, Ruby. The fight with Bane? We both know he wasn’t himself. His eyes were black, he was acting like a puppet.” Bane. My hand instinctively raised to my neck. He had a point. “And your flame awakens inside of you every time you’re near my father. I can feel it.”
There he goes again. Saying he can feel my flame, my emotions. “But how can you feel my flame when I can’t feel yours?”
“Separating Ophine’s power entirely would make either one of you too weak,” Isobel spoke. “Instead, she has given you the raw power. The anger. The vengeance. The Prince here is different. He has control. It’s almost as if he is your anchor back to the human world.”
I looked at Aiden. He was staring at the ground between us now, red creeping through his pale face. My anchor?
“He has his own power, too, and it is powerful, yes. But you will need him to access Ophine’s pure abilities. One of you cannot be without the other.”
I shook my head. This was all too much.
“So we’re supposed to do what? Kill the King together?” I tried to hide the smile that crept under my skin. My one mission. My one goal in life, and the Prince was about to help me. At least, that’s what I had thought. Then Aiden spoke.
“No, I think there’s another way.” He looked at Isobel. “We think the evil can be somehow removed from him. I mean, there has to be a way that this can be undone.”
I didn’t blame Aiden for thinking that. He was Aiden’s father, after all. But it was simply untrue. If spirits of the Shadow Forest had been using King Xavier to control people here in Aslan, there was no saving him. He had to be killed.
I had only heard of him once or twice in my life. The Shadow Lord. Where the gods protected the light left in this world, the Shadow Lord brought the darkness. My grandmother used to tell me old legends about how he haunted the forest, attacking any spirit that was unprotected by the gods. He was evil. It was that simple.
The evil spirits of the Shadow Forest and the evil King of Aslan. What a perfect match.
“So I’m assuming you have some sort of great plan, then?” I asked.
“Well, it’s a plan.”
✽✽✽
Soren quietly brought me back to the cages minutes before the sun came up. After the night I had with Aiden and Isobel, I wasn’t tired at all. In fact, I felt more alive than I had the entire time I had been in the Ring of Angels.
Harvey shifted awake as the cage shut behind me. Despite my best efforts to sneak out, she noticed my boots already on and my bed still made.
“Ruby, is that you?” She blinked through the darkness.
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Where have you been? Did you just get back?”
A sigh escaped me. The secrets I had been keeping seemed to build and build, like a volcano inside of me. Could I trust Harvey? Or Riley? Harvey hardly seemed to be any danger at all. I only feared the way she would react. Would she hate me for keeping the secret so long? Would she be afraid of what I could do?
“Uh, yeah. I had something to do with the Prince.”
I didn’t have to see her to know that she sat straight up in bed, jaw wide. “I knew it! He does like you!”
This time, I didn’t get angry at Harvey. A smile creeped onto my face as I sat there in the darkness, momentarily relieving the monumental weight I felt on my shoulders.
14 The King’s Dinner
The Champion’s dinner. This was a part of the Ring of Angels I had desperately hoped wasn’t true. I guess I was wrong. It was the start of something the King called Champion’s week, which was usually the only week of the year where Champions fought other Champions. Ideally, only half of us would make it through this week alive. And to start, all of the King’s Champions would sit at one dinner table, dining with King Xavier himself somewhere in the castle. How appetizing.
I had yet to make a single ally within the vicious group of Champions. Not like I was really tryi
ng, anyway. But still. Naomi didn’t seem to completely despise me, but I assumed she had known Opal enough to choose her side. My stomach tightened at the thought. I was never one to make many friends, but it would have been nice to know at least one person there didn’t absolutely hate my guts.
After a long, hot day of training with each other, we were all ushered out of the Courtyard. A few of the fighters murmured to each other, but it was nothing I could hear. I couldn’t help but wonder if any of them had been here last year during this dinner, or if we were all new. Maybe King Xavier would just poison us all now and save the trouble of the fighting. Time would tell.
A large group of guards corralled us through the corridor of cages and up a shallow set of stairs. The castle was quiet, as if nobody lived here at all. Maybe they didn’t live here. Maybe everyone was equally as terrified as the King as the rest of us were. I could only hope.
“Girls to the left. Boys to the right,” one of the guards said. The group silently split up, following the orders. I caught myself wishing Soren was here bossing us around instead of these strangers.
I followed the group into a large room. Before I even looked through the doorway, I heard a stream of gasps and murmurs from the other girls. It took me one glance into the room to know exactly what the fuss was all about.
The room was surrounded by eleven of the most elegant, beautifully designed dresses I had ever seen. I guess King Xavier wasn’t messing around with this dinner.
“Ladies, welcome!” A soft voice filled the room around us as the girls filed in. “My name is Amaris, and these are the rest of the royal maids. We are here to assist you all in looking as beautiful as possible for King Xavier and his guests tonight. Please, choose a dress!”
Amaris. I knew her. The maid from my branding and the healer in the infirmary. I tried to walk toward her, but I was quickly pushed aside by a rush of women reaching for the dresses. Opal was the first person to reach a dress, swiftly claiming one for herself. I even saw Naomi shoving her way to the front. It had turned into a madhouse here.
Dresses were never really my style. Back in Sundown, a dress would just give you sand in all the wrong places. Pants were always more practical. There was no way I could throw a punch in one of those things, either. It was ridiculous.
I stayed put, waiting for the other girls to calm down. I was expecting to get the leftover dress, the one nobody else wanted. Instead, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Amaris. The kind, soft woman who had so gracefully taken care of me before. She was grinning at me now, her face lit up with excitement.
“Ruby, it is good to see you.” This was the first time since the branding that I had truly spoken to this woman. It was refreshing to see a familiar face here.
I greeted her with a smile.
“Come, I have something special for you. The Prince’s request.” She turned and ran to the back of the room, ushering me to follow her. I glanced hastily at the rest of the women, floundering over the garments before them. The Prince had picked something out for me? This wasn’t good.
The other fighters didn’t even notice as I followed Amaris through the room. When I reached the back corner, Amaris was standing in front of another dress.
But this was not just any dress.
It was unlike the others. Those dresses were elegant and pretty, yes. But this one was fierce. The dress Amaris was looking at was something much more than beautiful. I wasn’t sure words could truly describe the perfection in the black, sequined fabric that flowed effortlessly to the ground. If I was ever going to wear a dress in my life, I was glad it was this one.
I tried to hide the butterflies that were forming in my stomach. Amaris helped me slip out of my old, dingy clothes from the cages. I stared at myself in the mirror as she tightened the black corset around my torso.
My entire life, I never considered myself to be beautiful. It was never a focus of mine. I saw beauty in the other women in Sundown, though. They were always messing with their hair or talking about the cute boys.
That’s the thing about chasing revenge. It makes you dark. Ugly. Unlovable.
But this dress reflected all of those things. It was black as night, contrasting heavily against the other pastel dresses. It was strong. It was defiant. It was me.
Why would Aiden want me in a different dress? Drawing any attention to me was a horrible idea. Yet here I was. The black sheep in the herd of pink and white.
The gown flared from my waist, giving me the illusion of an actual woman. A turned around, smiling at Amaris.
“Thank you,” I whispered. She pulled my hair into an effortless bun before speaking.
“You are beautiful, Ruby. Don’t forget that.”
In no way did I agree with her, but I appreciated her kind gesture. Kindness was rare around here.
The other girls were still murmuring and fussing about their dresses and how their hair was done. I even saw a couple of girls fighting over a small tube of lipstick. It was amazing how such evil, revolting women could actually look feminine. Or even care.
I stood there, in the back of the room with my black ball gown on, surrounded by the King’s Champions. For as much as I hated them, I easily forgot that I was one of them now. I was one to be hated. This was now my life, too.
Two guards busted through the doorway, hands on their swords. “Ladies,” one of them announced. “It is time for dinner. Let’s go.”
If any butterflies remained in my stomach until now, they were gone now. It was time to dine with King Xavier.
As we filed out of the room, Opal lingered behind. Her dress was white with sheer, sequined sleeves. She stared at me with spite as I walked by her. “Nice dress,” she barked.
“It is, isn’t it?” I responded, placing my hand on my hip in a sweeping gesture. Special treatment from the Prince was anything but comfortable. The satisfaction that I felt from seeing the jealousy on Opal’s face, however, might have made it worth it.
My dress dragged the stone floor as I walked past her, through the door and down the corridor. The men had already headed to the ballroom. We were escorted into a new part of the castle. It was large, with sunlight flooding inside through massive windows. It felt different than the other, dark parts of the building I had been to. It was lighter. Newer. The breeze in the air felt cool against my skin.
We arrived, one by one, at the dining hall. Centered in the middle of the huge, marble room was one of the biggest wooden tables I had ever seen in my entire life. A dazzling crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, which had to be at least three stories high. I couldn’t help but wonder how they even got it up there. The men were already sitting on one side of the table, with King Xavier and Prince Aiden sitting in the middle. I cringed. It was like walking into the den of a lion.
The women filled the open seats at the table with silence. Naomi sat first, confidently choosing a seat directly next to one of the male fighters. A safe choice. Her brave face showed no signs of nervousness, but I didn’t miss the way she nervously glanced around. The sound of feet hitting the floor was the only sound in the room, accompanied with the occasional swish of someone’s skirt. As the seats began to fill, I started to feel jittery. I hung toward the back of the crowd, letting the other girls take the lead.
It was just dinner. I had to Relax.
“So nice to see you all again, my beautiful Champions!” the King said as he stood from his seat, spreading his arms in a welcoming gesture. Aiden stayed sitting beside him, not even raising his eyes from his glass. He was clearly uninterested in the charade.
A few of the girls mumbled greetings to the King. I forced a smile as I walked closer to the table. Opal took the seat directly next to Aiden. Bold move. He finally glanced at her lazily as she bowed her head in what I can only assume was her attempt at showing her chest.
I realized then that I should have moved quickly, like Naomi. The only remaining seat was the one directly across from King Xavier. This was going to be a long nig
ht, indeed.
“Come, come! Don’t be shy! We have a great meal prepared for tonight,” he said as everyone settled down. I held my chin high, trying to avoid the stares from the other fighters as I lowered myself into the chair. I could nearly feel the King looking directly at me. It was blood-curdling.
“As you all know, the annual Champion dinner is one of my favorite events. So let us eat, drink, and celebrate everyone’s service to the crown! I can’t wait to know you all a little better.”
The King sat down as dozens of servants rushed through the kitchen doors. I hardly noticed as one of them filled my glass with the dark, red liquid. Wine. I would definitely be needing more of that.
My stomach burned with warmth as I took a few large swallows. “Well, Ruby,” the King said as the room slowly began to fill with low murmurs of conversation. “Don’t you look just stunning!”
“Thank you, King Xavier,” I swallowed. “You are too generous.”
“The maids must be very talented, what a beautiful dress!” His voice was low and focused, like he was questioning me. “A dark dress to match a dark girl, perhaps?”
I felt Aiden’s eyes snap to me as I nodded. My breath hitched at the amusement that crept into his words. He loved darkness. He thrived on it. “Yes, someone here really has a great vision.”
“So Ruby, what do you think about the Ring of Angels so far?” Aiden asked from across the table with a wicked grin. His words slurred slightly. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed if I didn’t know his usual, sharp conversation tone. Was he taunting me?
My mind sharpened as dozens of eyes focused on me. A couple of conversations halted. I took another gulp of my wine before answering.
“Well, your highness,” I said as I focused my attention on the Prince. “It has been quite the experience. It is no match for the practice ring I had back home, however.”
“I love it here,” Opal interjected. “It is such an honor to be fighting for the royal family every day.”