“He is devoted to her, a guard from Cruelindime. Funny, handsome. Wherever she sides on a conflict, he is likely to follow.” She could almost feel the laugh that Noor was holding in from beside her. That had not yet proven to be true, or they wouldn't be here.
“Anything else?” Jade asked as she leaned back to extract a small bull-leather-bound notebook and pencil from her trouser pocket.
This was the card that Ember knew would cause murmuring across the rebel fleet. She’d be an asset now. Given all that she had seen as she came into this base, Ember needed to get accepted into the group to be able to get the information she needed.
“Her scales…” Ember started, waiting for Jade’s reaction. Jade paused her scribblings and looked up.
“Everyone out!” Jade called, keeping her eyes on Ember. A good precaution, Ember appreciated the discretion. The few guests left in the tent left, exchanging sidelong glances.
“What about them?” Jade asked when the room was quiet once more.
“They are only on her chest. They are not growing like the rumors suggest.” In truth, Ember didn’t know if that was a rumor, but the guess seemed to work as Jade’s attention wrapped around her like a moth to a flame.
“They are a family trait. The daughter of Kariana and Drakul had them. It was not public knowledge,” Ember finished explaining. "There was still a lot of prejudice against beasts in those early days, so it was kept quiet. When she was born with the same markings and then was kidnapped... I think they kept her scales quiet so they could identify her easily, weed out fakes."
Oma had explained so in vague terms to Ember in their many conversations since they met. It explained enough, but Ember still felt like she was a missing piece in a puzzle.
“Why would she share this with you?” Jade asked skeptically, eyes squinting in her direction.
“She didn’t. There are portraits of the child in her private quarters. As for whether they are growing, I stole her medical files.” Ember trained her face into a smirk, hoping she had positioned herself as valuable.
“Are you telling me,” Jade said as she turned to Amir, “that this girl could gain all this information in one week and you couldn’t get anything in a month.”
He shrugged as if this didn’t surprise him.
“I’m not allowed in her rooms unless she calls for help. Emairy is,” he said by way of explanation.
"There is one thing that she did tell me," Ember hedged. Noor glanced at her. They hadn't talked about this prior. Ember prayed she didn't overstep a boundary.
"Her kidnappers," Ember began, glancing again that they were alone. Using the word kidnappers was more painful than she expected.
"Yes?" Jade prompted.
"They were killed. Embrence," she said, referring to herself by her formal name, "said the rebellion is responsible."
Jade's face paled a degree. "What?"
Ember nodded solemnly.
"Get me their names. I'll look into it. This could be a problem."
"I agree." Ember said, jotting them down on Jade's notepad. She exhaled, glad that Jade didn't pry into this personal bit of information. The sooner they answered the question of Julimore and Echoris' death, the sooner she could decide what to do next.
“Welcome to the resistance,” Jade said as she stood, pulling Ember up with her and shaking her hand. Noor and Amir clapped her on the back in congratulations and shook Jade’s hand in return.
Seventeen
A Secret
Noor sat on the edge of Ember’s tub while she used the assortment of oils left near her sink. She had to get all of the makeup off of her face before she became too tired. Honestly, she was already too tired. Cindrea would have too many questions if she saw Ember covered in black when she had left her with a clean face and ready for bed.
“What did you think of them?” Noor asked, looking down at his shoes rather than at her eyes. She could feel that this was an important question to him. She thought as she rubbed the oily substance over her eyeliner.
“I think that there is a lot I don’t know about our kingdom,” she began saying. The idea that the kingdom was hers as foreign as the thought that she was part of a pair.
“And they will help me learn that information," Ember said.
Her mind drifted to the running children and to the group her age, sitting beside that large gouge in the wall. Claws. Ember pulled off the sweater so that her scales were free. Someone had to know what happened to them. As soon as the thought struck her, she wasn’t sure who she was talking about — the dragons, or her moms.
"How come no one recognizes you?" Ember asked him.
"What do you mean?"
"If your parents have been involved for so many years, shouldn't they know you?" Ember questioned, rubbing the oil again on her lids. She turned to him and leaned against the sink.
"The resistance isn't as organized as they seem. The scribemasters speak to all factions, but there isn't a set system or organization structure. Most of the time, the groups across the provinces don't speak," Noor explained and sighed.
Then he burst into laughter.
“What?” Ember asked, momentarily anxious at the outburst.
She looked back at her reflection and laughed too, the oil had smeared black all over her eyelids and into her brows. Well, at least he wasn’t laughing at her the next day when the black was not only on her face, but on their pillows and blankets.
She quickly dabbed her small towel back into the oil and worked to get the rest of the makeup off her face.
“I can see why you like it down there. It’s… different from the castle, different from any place I’ve been,” Ember added as his laughter died down.
And that was true. Ember knew it. The closest she had ever been to that much companionship was when she was with her moms, but that life felt so removed from who she was now that sometimes she felt like it was a dream. Had it actually been only two years ago that she was eating dinner at the family table alone, wondering why her moms weren’t home yet? Her eyes drifted to the door briefly, imagining them helping Karwyn get ready in the same room that she now slept.
Noor’s face lightened, as if the gravity of Aaleia was lifted from him. He stood behind her and smiled into her now-clean face, oblivious to the tilt of her thoughts.
"Noor, I need to ask you something," she said. Her tone changed, and his light face sobered. When she saw she had his full attention, she asked a question. The only question that she needed answered for them to move on.
She had not forgiven him for the lies. She would not forget that he didn't bring this to her first, but she could move on if he agreed.
"I am in this now. I will hear out the rebels," he winced a little at the term, "but if they did kill my moms in cold blood... If I find out they hurt people intentionally or are involved in some other danger that I don't agree with... I will make them pay for it. If that happens, I need you to leave them behind and not look back. Will you do that?"
Noor stood from the edge of the tub and held both her hands. "I promise you, Embrence Dragon Daughter. I will leave with you and help you take out whatever punishment you see fit if that were to happen. You can trust me."
"How do I know I can trust you, Noor? You've already lied and went behind my back," Ember whispered to him.
"Because, Em, I have one more secret to tell you. It could mean someone's death, this secret." His eyes watered and his voice cracked. This was not the answer Ember expected.
"Are you sure you want to tell it to me?" Ember asked. She feared what this could be, but knew that if someone's life was on the line it should be shared without care.
"Yes," he said. Noor edged closer to her, a hair’s breath from her face. In a whisper, Noor told her the one thing he had not told anyone.
"My sister, Naomi, is alive. She is fateless and has been in hiding for years. She was not killed, like I let you and everyone else believe."
Tears streamed down his face, a constant flow as h
e confessed. Naomi had always cared for him as a child, stepping in when his parents hadn't. When she went mad, he took care of her instead.
"I don't trust the community homes," he said. "Not yet, anyway. I think there is something more to it. Something Jedoriah Knight hasn't revealed yet. I want to keep her in hiding. Will you keep my secret?"
Ember felt the trust he was giving to her, the torch he now asked her heart to bear too.
For her birth mother, Ember said yes. Because if the Queen was granted life in madness, then it should be available to all. If all went to plan with the community homes, maybe Naomi could join later. For now, she would ease this pain for Noor.
"I promise to keep your secret," Ember whispered back. The trust that they had the moment of their fating began to flow back into place.
They had a lot to learn together, but they would do it—together.
He nuzzled his face into her neck. She leaned into his touch, feeling the scruff of his unshaved facial hair coming through.
Kissing her neck, his own arms snaked out from around her waist and went up to her hair. He lifted his face away and gently undid the black scarf that wrapped in with her braid.
Her short hair fell down into waves, very unlike their usual straightness. He unpinned her bangs and ruffled them.
“The day you are in charge is the day I will feel at peace,” Noor said, his arms on Ember’s shoulders. Ember’s breath halted, “Why?” she asked. She wasn’t at peace with the idea at all. Her? Responsible for the well-being of the whole kingdom? And a baby? She only just got used to the idea of thinking of herself as more than a dirty secret.
“Because you listen, you try, you give everyone a chance. Not many people would do that," he answered.
Ember held herself closer to him, enamored that he felt that way.
“I grew up hiding,” she whispered to him, inches from his lips. Something she now knew his sister had in common.
“I don’t want other people to have to hide too." She was surprised that it rang true. Surprised that she had quickly identified something she needed to believe in and fight for. It clicked into place today. Her moms. The Fateless. Naomi. Karwyn. And she welcomed it.
“I can respect that. I respect you,” he said, leaning down to kiss her lips. She shivered, but not from the cold. She felt a quivering in her heart, a pull like when they first met. Ember brought her own arms up to run her fingers through his hair, standing on her tiptoes and pulling closer to him.
In their short week together, they had fallen into each other’s arms often. To hug, kiss, sleep. To feel. But in this way, they hadn’t yet crossed. At first, Ember wasn’t sure why they had prolonged it. Their love was inevitable, a soul matching a soul. Aaleia guaranteed that with their fating. But she knew, instinctually, the pull to complete their bond was happening now because she had learned more about him and his desires. She knew now this other part of him, the hero and little brother in him that complemented his position as Knight.
Noor groaned into her mouth, and she felt his body rise against her. Heat exploded from her chest, and she moaned back, his arms inched lower.
As Noor pulled her closer, she fumbled with the buttons on the linen shirt he wore, eventually giving up and untucking it from his pants to pull it off. Noor loosened his grip on her body to let her take the shirt off. He pulled back and flew out of his trousers. He began walking them backwards until they were falling backward onto the furs and soul-thread that lay across her bed. Ember pulled her undershirt off. All that was left between them was her pants and his underwear.
“Are you sure?” Noor asked Ember, panting in between a kiss.
“Yes,” Ember gasped out as Noor’s hand dipped to take off his underwear and her own pants. They didn’t stop touching each other, hands groping and lips kissing wherever their skin could touch. Their bodies burned together in a slow rhythmic dance. Feeling each atom between them collide, they sighed into each other.
She felt whole and lost, perfect and broken, at home and both in another world while in his arms. She wouldn't have it any other way.
“Em,” Noor said in the dark. He ran his hand along the soft skin of her back.
“Hm?” She said groggily, cracking open an eye. Sunlight streamed into their room. The soul-thread refracted subtle light.
“When my sister started getting sick, she could tell it was happening. Because of that, my family wrote down what we each would do if we too became fateless. We discussed as a family what our wishes would be. She said she’d want to stay with us. If something were to happen to you—” Noor choked, having trouble continuing the thought.
“You want to know what I’d want for myself, if I were sick like Karwyn?” She pressed, the seriousness of the conversation waking her. He nodded.
If dragon blood allowed her birth mom to gain a pair and a child, while fateless? The same thing could happen to her, even with Noor in her life… Ember wasn’t sure what she would do. But as she opened her mouth to say so, she knew the truth of it. A hard truth to say aloud.
“If Oma and Jedoriah are alive, I do not want to be trapped and played up like a puppet. Not like the Queen. I would rather die. If they aren’t with us, I would like you to decide how to care for me,”
The line between Noor’s eyes grew tight and he reached to hug Ember. She held him back and was reminded again why no one could know the Queen was sick. If the fateless evolved in a way that anyone could become sick, if it progressed past this dragon blood exception, she didn’t know what the people of Ashkadance would do.
“When your family asked, what did you say you would want?” Ember asked him, her head tucked into his neck.
“I left it up to whoever survived me. If I am gone, mentally unaware and not myself, I’d want you to do what would give you the most peace.”
Her scales pressed against him, chest to chest, and heart to heart.
Eighteen
Not of Your Concern
Zhieve knocked on her bedroom door an hour later.
“Have a good time,” Noor said as he kissed her cheek, “I can’t wait to hear all about it.” He joined Wally and left the tower.
Ember felt giddy as they left the castle and walked down the drive towards the stables and carriages. When she was Ember Julimore, daughter to Julimore Instructor and Echoris Guider, she had seen the royal family as people that ruled with fear. Now that she was one of them, she didn’t know what to think. She had faith that her purpose was doing good, after years of hoping to just persevere, it was nice to feel like she suffered for a cause all along.
Even if her relationship with her family, Jedoriah and Karwyn in particular, was strained - it was worth it. To do this for Karwyn, prove it could work for Noor’s sister, and for the people that would need it.
In echoing steps behind her, she and her entourage met Jedoriah and his men in the main entranceway. Amir nodded to Zhieve. The man barely glanced at him. The beautiful face that matched his red hair shared a mask of indifference.
“Are you ready, Embrence?” The head Knight asked as the carriage doors opened before them. He wore his usual black suit with gold accents.
“Yes, Jedoriah Knight,” she answered, looking around them for her grandmother. If he kept insisting on calling her Embrence, she would call him by his full name. He seemed to enjoy his full name. His wide smile left her uncomfortable.
She looked away, wondering what it would have been like to grow up in the castle. Would he’d have taught her how to ride beasts in the garden? Time could have brought them together, but right now he was a somewhat cold and overbearing influence. Karwyn, while someone she felt bonded to, wasn’t much better. Ember wished she knew what their relationship would have been without the pressure of a foreboding madness and missing years.
“We should be on our way then,” Jedoriah murmured as he took her arm and helped her up the step of the carriage. It must be a shorter distance then, a few hours maximum if they didn’t need one of the beasts built for
endurance to pull them on their journey.
Once settled in the carriage, Ember asked, “Where is Oma?”
“She had other concerns to attend to today,” Jedoriah responded as the door clicked closed. The red soft interior of the seating stood out compared to the blue dress Ember wore.
“Is it anything that I can help with?” Ember asked, worrying how much Oma had to take on without the kingdom knowing. Jedoriah didn’t seem to mind the extra duties. Maybe she could lessen some of that load too if they would let her.
“Work to fight the rebels, not for your concern,” he responded flippantly. Ember’s face twitched quickly before she could stop it. She wished Noor was here. Or that at least Cindrea was sitting in here with her, rather than riding with guardsmen in the carriage beside them. This space was too big for the two of them to sit alone.
“Shouldn’t Noor be involved in anything related to the rebels? He is my Knight,” Ember asked. Noor was head of her security, and he should be involved in anything related to the rebels—plus, he was one. Ember paused, realizing that she too was one now. They’d have to find out what was said.
“He’s not suitable,” he said with a slight sneer to his lips, as if acknowledging him was a bad taste in his mouth. Maybe it was. When Ember was Queen, Noor would be head Knight. Jedoriah would no longer be in charge of much of anything.
“What about him is unsuitable?” Ember asked incredulously. She crossed her arms and the carriage began to move forward.
“He does not understand what it takes to be Knight. What sacrifices are required,” Jedoriah’s face went up to the covered sky before turning to Ember. His face became stillness as he added, “don’t push the subject.”
But she would. Once she spoke with Oma to see her plans for the rebels, she would bring up this conversation.
"Aaleia thought he was suitable," Ember pressed.
"And Aaleia is not all-knowing," Jedoriah countered. Ember was aghast, how could a divinely chosen ruler disagree with the will of the gods?
Royalty Fantasy Boxset: Ember Dragon Daughter & Hasley Fateless (Fated Tales Series 1 & 1.5) (The Fated Tales Series: YA Royalty Fantasy) Page 15