Ashes to Ashes

by A Lonergan

  I couldn’t say anything as my mind drifted to despair.

  Beatrice didn’t take long. The magic vanished from the double doors and Alister’s mother breezed right through. She took one look at me and her face filled with concern. “How are you feeling?”

  I watched as the magic filled the space again and I felt relief flood my bones. I was sure Tremaine was listening, but I didn’t care. If I wasn’t going to make it out of here, I had to make everything count.

  “Will you do me a favor?” I asked.

  “This stitching looks familiar. But it’s not possible.” She whispered as she looked at my wound on my arm.

  I closed my eyes and imagined his face. His beautiful, calculating face. “It is.”

  Her eyes jumped to mine. “What?”

  “Alister.” Emotions clogged my throat again and I tried my hardest to get the words out. “Will you tell him I love him when all of this is over?”

  I hadn’t known that I loved him. I hadn’t known until I saw him drop from the trees at the edge of the woods. I hadn’t known I had loved him until the Fairy Godmother told me that I wouldn’t survive this. I hadn’t known anything until I met him. Now that I knew everything, it hurt so much worse.

  “You will tell him yourself,” She pulled Alister’s stitches out and replaced them with her own. “There is no one out there as stubborn as you are. If anyone will make it out of this mess, it’s you.”

  I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. To go on with my plan, I have to know that you will tell him.”

  “You saw him out there?” She rubbed a salve over the cut and then wrapped a bandage around my arm.

  I nodded. “He’s the one that started the resistance.”

  Her face lit up. “I always knew he was created for greatness.”

  Fifty-Two

  Alister

  My chest ached. Watching Ara go was the hardest thing I had to do. Especially when the guards put their hands on her. I wanted to shred them. I knew she could take care of herself and that was the only thing keeping me sane. Plus the fact that all the throwing knives were gone, as well as her thigh holsters.

  I paced the wall of fire and wanted to go through it immediately but I knew we had to be ready. We couldn’t go through the wall halfcocked. We couldn’t storm the castle without being prepared. Night hadn’t fallen yet and if we played this wrong, everything would be in vain.

  * * *

  I perched on the edge of a branch. We were so close. The sun had gone down and the world as we knew it was about to change. Little John nodded to me from the tree beside me and we were ready. My feet connected with the ground and the knife slid easily into my palm. The metal was cold as I shoved it through the fire. The impact of it threw me backward. I missed the tree trunk by a few inches. My ears rang and everything hurt.

  What had happened? Had I done something wrong? My vision swam as I tried to sit up and get my bearings. Little John was yelling but I could hardly hear it. In the blast, my hearing must have been blown out too. Everything moved in slow motion as I got to my feet, but one thing was apparent. The wall was gone. In its place was charred earth for as far as my eyes could see.

  The blade that had been used to do it was a puddle of molten steel. The jewels must have been incinerated. How I had survived that I didn’t know. I couldn’t comprehend what had taken place. My body still felt sluggish but we couldn’t stop now, the castle would be on high alert and we still had to get inside.

  Fifty-Three

  Arabella

  Alister’s mother hugged me before she left. The woman was sweet and patient. She had raised a thoughtful young man and I knew she was a woman that would be revered. I was still thinking about our conversation when the ground shook.

  I was knocked off of my feet as Beatrice came through her door. Her eyes filled with shock as she dropped the tray she was carrying in. I braced myself on the wall and the ground stopped its trembling.

  “What was that?” Beatrice asked.

  I rushed to the window and realized the magic was weak. The wall was gone. Alister had gone above and beyond but that meant he could no longer sneak in. Tremaine would know he was coming. Panic flooded my body as I ran to the doors. Beatrice was on my heels as I tripped and stumbled down the hallway. Guards met me halfway.

  The blonde was at the front of it all. “You must come with us, Princess. We don’t want a struggle. Your safety is our top priority.”

  I rolled my eyes but followed them anyway. I needed to know where my parents were or at the least, my mother.

  They brought me right to her, Tremaine and my aunts. My mother was trying to tell me something with her eyes but I couldn’t decipher her code. Tremaine was sitting on the throne with a seething look on her face. “What did you do?”

  I frowned. “What is it with your family immediately placing blame on me?”

  “I have a feeling you are usually up to mischief. Why wouldn’t I place the blame on you? You obviously hate me and want to get out of here.” Tremaine grabbed the chains that were connected to my mother and yanked her off of the floor. She didn’t even make a sound. My mother’s eyes were cold and calculating. I had never seen her with so much malice. The guard shoved me to the floor just as my father was being dragged in. My breath caught. His usually dark hair was now speckled with gray. His face was drained and there were wrinkles on his once youthful face. I had done this to them. I elbowed the guard behind me and rushed to my father’s side.

  “Father,” I cried as I fell down beside him. I hadn’t thought it possible for my heart to ache this badly. I thought for sure that it would pound itself right out of my chest. “I am so sorry.”

  “Shhh,” he said as his lips trembled. “We should have been better.”

  Tremaine cackled. “Separate them. This is disgusting.”

  Two guards yanked me away from my father and somehow I remained calm. I would get my parents out of this. The guard on my left shoved my head down into the tile and I watched as Tremaine approached my father.

  “This man could have listened to me. He could have married one of my other daughters and we wouldn’t be here right now. But he had to be stubborn and do the wrong thing.” Tremaine shook her head as she grabbed a handful of my father’s hair.

  “You’re insane,” I screamed as I struggled against the hands holding me down. My mother continued to stay silent.

  “Me?” Tremaine laughed. “That’s fine, I’ll show you just how insane I am.”

  She pulled a long thin knife from her thigh and slid it across my father’s throat. I barely had any time to react. All I could do was watch as my father’s blood spilled on the floor. It took me a while to realize the wailing echoing around the room was coming from me. I could hear distant whimpers and suspected they were coming from my mother. I inched my fingers down to my leg and pulled a blade free. I took a deep breath and jabbed it into the man behind me. I didn’t care who it was. I didn’t care if he had a family or what he had done in his life. All I could see was red, like my father’s blood on the tile. I bared my teeth as I killed and killed some more. I knew I couldn’t kill Tremaine, but I was going to take away all of her help. I was going to destroy everything she had acquired. I was going to do what I could to take her down.

  Madness coursed through me. My body shook with the need of vengeance. I thought I had felt rage before. I had never experienced anything like this. The pain sliced through me like a physical weapon but I kept going. I wouldn’t stop until they all paid.

  “Be calm, child,” a voice whispered in my ear. My body hummed with the need to kill and fight my way out of here. The need to save my mother and help her through this trauma. The need to hold onto Alister and never let him go. Nausea bubbled up my throat and I vomited. I doubled over and couldn’t stop.

  All I could hear was Tremaine clapping. “Wow, what a show. You learned somethings while you were missing, didn’t you?”

  “Don’t listen to her, child,” the whisper came bac
k. “You are out of knives, but there is one thing left. Check your holster when the time is right. You will need a distraction.”

  Fairy Godmother hadn’t left me. A peace washed over me and I righted myself. I straightened out and stared the murderer in the eye.

  “Are you finished?” Tremaine asked.

  I managed to nod my head as the doors burst open. All of my men marched into the room in all their leather and brooding glory. Brunhilda marched in behind him. She winked at me. She had chosen her side.

  Alister was at the front of it all. He held his bow loosely, like he didn’t have a care in the world, but when his eyes fell on my fallen father something changed in his body. His stature was more aware, straighter. He was ready to take on anything now. His eyes looked over the fallen around me and I could almost read the amusement in his eyes. There was blood on my hands, far more than I had planned for.

  “The resistance. How cute.” Tremaine drawled as she walked around my father’s body. “Are you the one they call Robin Hood?”

  “Now,” the whisper said.

  My fingers itched the material of my dress up and I felt the cold steel of her wand. I frowned and felt myself hesitate. This wasn’t right. Didn’t Alister have the knife? He had made it in time.

  “The dagger was destroyed when he took down the wall. I knew that would happen and so I suggested against it. You are far more stubborn than I could have ever imagined. You were ready to give your life but I won’t let you. I have lived for far too long, now is the time I do the right thing despite the consequences.” She was going to forfeit her magic to save me and my people.

  The magic in the wand thrummed up my leg and I knew that if I was going to do anything, now would be the time to do so. The wand felt like it was at home between my fingers. I took a deep breath, reared my hand back and as I exhaled I let it fly. Tremaine made the mistake of turning toward me as it whistled through the air. The end of it pierced straight through her neck.

  “Magic is the only thing that can destroy magic.” I whispered as I fell to my knees. Somehow Alister caught me as I went down. He wrapped his arms around me and I watched as the magic devoured Tremaine whole.

  Priscella burst through the doors a second too late. Brunhilda rolled her eyes. “You always had to be fashionably late. Good for you so you didn’t have to see our mother die. Bad for you because now you’re going to be arrested for attempted murder and treason against the Charming Crown.”

  All of the emotions I had been keeping back through the killing and the plotting washed over me tenfold. Everything Brunhilda said brought the reality back to me. Was it over now? Far from it. Alister helped me stand and get to my mother. There was blood covering me but I wasn’t sure if it was from me or the men I had killed.

  Fairy Godmother managed to materialize from thin air in front of my mother. “I told you someday she would come around, I am so sorry it had to be like this. Let me use the rest of my magic before I leave you all.”

  She picked my weeping mother off the ground and destroyed the chains that were attached to her limbs. My mother’s body shook as she stood. I had wondered why Tremaine hadn’t killed her. I had wondered if it had been so she could be tormented in the worst way possible. That was, until I saw her body. Her belly was protruding with child. I rushed to her and held her up, Alister took her other side and we just looked at each other in shock. Everything and nothing made sense.

  * * *

  Fairy Godmother smiled. “It’s a boy,” her last words before sparkles overtook her body and she disappeared.

  Epilogue

  “I told you that you would be the one to tell him yourself.” Alister’s mother said from my doorway.

  It had been a month since Tremaine had been taken down and I had gotten my home back. A month since my father had died. A month since my world as I knew it changed forever. The castle was in constant motion to clean up the mess that Tremaine had left behind. When Tremaine had died, so had all of her magic and minions. There was still much to do and clean up. But today was different. My mother was going to have her child, my brother, any day now and I was to be crowned Queen.

  I smiled at the woman that had raised such an incredible man. Today was a special day and I was overjoyed to be sharing it with her and her daughter. I couldn’t ascend the throne without a husband, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve.

  My mother was the next one to come into the room. Her belly had more than doubled in size since that dreadful day. That dreadful day that had also brought me much joy. There had been too much heartache and not enough celebration. Having a little brother was going to do so much for our kingdom. I was sad that I would probably have to give the throne up to my little brother someday, but I knew it would be worth the temporary placement. My mother could have stayed the Queen but she was too tired and heartbroken to do the ruling without my father. She reached her hands out and I noticed a piece of paper in one of them.

  Tears rolled down my mother’s clean cheeks. “This is from your father. He wrote it the night you ran away.” She blinked and shook her head. “There is so much you have done. You managed to do far more than I could ever imagine. You proved me wrong and your father right on so many occasions. You exceeded our expectations. On that day, all I wanted to do was die with him. I stared at his body and wished my time was coming. The only thing that kept me going was the fire inside of you. The fire I finally saw you using for good. Having a sibling always meant the throne would be taken from you, if it was a boy, but I wouldn’t be so sure, even now that it is.”

  “Can I please have this time alone?” I asked them as I unfolded the parchment. My hands trembled and my voice hitched as I read.

  Arabella,

  There are many things I wish I could tell you and maybe one day when you come back I will be able to. But for now, all I have are my thoughts and this paper. We have known your mother was pregnant for a while and I want you to know that you are the only person I want to rule this kingdom. This new baby changes nothing. You were meant for greatness. When I held you in my arms after you were born, I could feel your determination. You came into this world like no other baby. With a stubbornness in your brow and an attitude in your cry. You knew from a young age what you wanted and you always did what you could to get it. Someday you will rule and you will rule with a passion that our people have never seen before. I have a habit of acting out when I’m angry. I never meant to push away like I have. You and I are a lot alike. Come back to us.

  Love,

  Your father

  I folded the letter up and tucked it into the pages of my favorite book on my nightstand. The one I had thrown at Alister that night. The one that he had kept despite everything. It was the first thing that had come back to the castle with me, with my suit of course. I thought my mother would swallow her tongue when I tried it on for her. But then she smiled and said it fit my personality and that she was proud of me. Forgiveness had been the only thing I was after and I had found it in Cinderella’s arms.

  I invited the women back in and they fussed over my hair and dress for hours. Everything had to be perfect. I grinned from ear to ear as I slid my holster up my thigh. Then fitted my knives into it. I didn’t know why they looked so surprised. They should have known better.

  The organs played and the people stood as I marched into the very room my father had been slaughtered in. I held my head high as I walked down the runner to the throne. There waited everything that was important to me. My mother. Alister. Alister’s family and our troops. I couldn’t do this without them. When I reached the end of the runner, the archbishop had me kneel. I bowed my head and tears filled my vision.

  “I promise to take care of my people. To nurture their lands and their fields. I promise to rule with a fair fist and never with anger. I swear to always put my people first, to think of their needs and to rule justly for them. I swear to do my best for my people, my family, and my heart.” As the last words left my lips, I stood up and I turned toward A
lister. The archbishop placed the crown on my head but I didn’t care about its weight. All I could think of was how much I loved the man beside me. “I promise to love you. I promise to always put you first. I swear I won’t leave you in darkness or sickness. I will always nurture us.”

  Alister’s mother gave me wide eyes. Everyone had expected me to ascend the throne through the emergency act when my father had fallen. Through great consideration and many long nights, Alister had proposed. He told me he wanted everything to be done the right way and promised that there would never be loopholes in our marriage, ruling or love. We had planned everything in secret and I was thankful for it. It had strengthened our bond.

  Our families had no idea but we knew they supported the gesture wholeheartedly. They were constantly in our ears telling us to marry before the coronation. But we had other plans. The archbishop had been filled in earlier that morning with all of our secret plans.

  Alister took my hands in his. “I promise to always listen to your counsel. To always put you first. To love you with all of my being and to never leave you through sickness or darkness. You are my life and you hold my heart. Please, be mine for eternity.”

  “I now present you all Queen Arabella Charming and King Alister Gagneux!” the archbishop announced.

  But that wasn’t all. I winked at Alister and the color drained from his face. He knew me too well.

  “Wait,” I addressed the crowd. “I have special titles that need to be announced today as well. Our personal guards and our dear friends. Please stand as your name is called, for today each of you will be Knighted.”

  Alister grinned and followed my lead. “Little John. Flick. Rink. Friar. Much. Alan.”