Soul Blaze

by Legacy, Aprille

  I looked up at Dena again, who was moving her hands in a manner than looked like she was conducting an orchestra. I could feelthe blood vessels sewing themselves back together as my flesh began to knit over. There was an uncomfortable tightening in my shoulder as the scar tissue began to develop but for some reason I wasn’t overly bothered.

  “Dena, you’re really pretty, you know that?” I told her in a slurred voice.

  She barely paused in her healing.

  “You’ve lost a lot of blood,” she said. “Dustin, get over here. What blood type are you, Sky?”

  I thought furiously for a few seconds, but was saved answering by my mother’s arrival. “She’s AB+,” she said, suddenly appearing in my view. She had that worried line down the middle of her forehead. “Take the blood from me, Dena.”

  “It won’t make any difference, not if she’s AB+-” My mother was already rolling up her sleeve. Dena shrugged, wiping her hands on the bloodstained tunic. Though she was blurry, I managed to follow her movements as she picked up what looked like a hand pump attached to a pipe. I saw, rather than felt, the needle she fed into my arm.

  “What’s that?” Mum asked, but didn’t stop Dena from threading a needle into her vein.

  “Not all healing is magical.” Dena replied, beginning to pump the blood from my mother’s arm to me. I lost track of time, but after what felt like an hour I felt strength returning to my limbs. Dena had stopped transferring the blood a while ago and had set to work on the shallow cut on my cheekbone from where Griffin’s first throwing knife had hit me. Dustin had left, but my mother stayed in the corner, watching the healing. Dena had sat me upright on the desk so I could look around. I watched as Jett burst through the doors, and prepared my ‘I’m ok, Dad’ speech, but before I had a chance to deliver it, he and my mother had a hasty exchange in the corner, before they both left without so much as a backwards glance.

  Dena saw where I was looking and patted my cheek to make me look at her again. “I’m sure it’s important,” she said, holding my chin in place so I couldn’t move again. She went back to healing my face. “They’ll tell you soon.”

  I wanted to reply, but she was holding my mouth closed. With one hand, she picked up a small jar and smoothed some balm down the half-healed cut. The coolness of the ointment felt amazing on my skin. But even so…

  Dena saw my questioning look. “I’m back at the hospital tonight, in the emergency ward. Last night we had a guy brought in who’d been crushed by a horse. Knitting bones back together takes it out of you. I’m afraid healing your shoulder wound magically is all I can spare for today,” she smiled apologetically. “I mean, you could order me to use up the rest of my magic on you to heal you back to 100%.”

  “Why would I do that?” I asked, as she replaced the balm in her kit.

  She glanced over at me and then made a mock curtsy.

  “Your Majesty.” Was all she said.

  My blood ran cold as those simple two words reached their full implications.

  “Where’s Phoenix?” I said, trying to hide the fact that I’d begun to tremble.

  “He’s upstairs still. Dustin went to get him. I expect he’ll be down here very soon.” As if on cue, the doors opened and Phoenix strode through them, pale as the moon. When he saw me on the desk, a bandage wrapped around my shoulder, the balm on my cheek and the blood on my clothing, his jaw tightened. His eyes were searching mine for something.

  “I’m going to head downstairs and see if Griffin needs assistance,” Dena said smoothly, picking up her kit and trotting to the doors. She paused at them. “Be careful with her, Phoenix.” She pulled the doors closed behind her and left the room.

  Phoenix reached me, and carefully traced the cut on my cheek.

  “What happened?” he asked softly. “Two throwing knives,” I answered, looking away. I couldn’t stand to see that look in his eyes. “I’m fine though. Dena patched me up.”

  He nodded almost unconsciously.

  “And... what was the outcome of the trial?” he asked finally. I paused before answering, knowing that I’d just changed both of our lives as well as the history of our country as well. I took a deep breath and looked him in the eye.

  “I won,” I said steadily. “I’ll be accepted as Queen now.” He exhaled in a rush, and dropped to one knee by my side.

  “I pledge my fealty to you,” he murmured. His hand sought out mine. “My Queen.”

  “What are you doing?” I asked, snatching my fingers away. “I won, Phoenix. You are King. I choose it.” He couldn’t meet my eyes. He must’ve known this was coming, surely? Fear sent chills down my spine. Was he going to renounce any claim to the throne and leave me to rule alone?

  “I wasn’t sure,” he whispered.

  “Wasn’t sure about what?” He finally looked up, his eyes meeting mine. My breath left my body in a hushed exhale. Every time he cornered me with that intense stare, I felt myself physically react.

  “I wasn’t sure, if you’d still want me.” He finished finally, dropping his gaze to the floor again. The words hung between us silently as I tried to understand them. When I was certain, I swung my legs over the side of the desk and stood before him. Carefully, I leant down and took his chin in my hand, making him look at me again.

  “Still want you?” I repeated quietly. “Phoenix. I have wanted you since the moment I first laid eyes on you. Since the fire of our magic ignited when we touched for the first time,” I pulled him gently to his feet, making him face me. “You are my soul mate, Phoenix. You are it. You are my home, my heart. Literally, the other half of my soul.” I gripped him by his lapels. “You are written into my DNA and you ask if I stillwant you.” I let him go and smiled. “The answer is, and always will be, yes.”

  He kissed me fiercely, pressing me into his body. I ignored the twinge of my knife wound and kissed him back as I felt the fire in my soul begin to awaken once again.

  ~Chapter Eighteen~

  When we finally emerged from the office, I had my hand on Phoenix’s arm that he had graciously offered me. I felt like I was walking on clouds; I was going to be Queen, Phoenix my King, and no one could stop us from being together now.

  “Where are we headed?” Phoenix asked. “Ryman’s office,” I replied, steering us in that general direction. “I need to have a few words with the Governor.”

  However, it wasn’t Ryman that answered my not-sotender knocks on the door, but my father. He took one look at me before sweeping into an elegant bow. I removed my hand from Phoenix’s arm so I could shove Jett.

  “Excuse me, I’m showing respect to my monarch,” he complained, rubbing his arm where I’d hit him. I smiled; for a moment, he sounded like my friend and tutor rather than my father.

  “I’m first and foremost your daughter,” I told him, reminding us both simultaneously. “Where’s Ryman?” I asked, finally noticing the man’s absence in his own office.

  My parents exchanged glances.

  “What?” I demanded. “What’s going on?” “We’ve lost him,” my mother finally answered, sitting in Ryman’s chair behind his desk. “He fled shortly after you blasted Griffin to high heaven.”

  “Why?” “We suspect that he feared repercussions,” Jett said, perching on the desk’s edge. “Specifically the way he treated you and your friends.”

  “Are you serious? He’s worried about the way he treated me when he’s been suppressing the non-magi using mages? He’s almost single-handedly driven a wedge between two factions of society and he’s worried about

  that?”

  They looked at each other again.

  “What?” I sighed, trying not to let my frustration show. “Well, the thing is... you can persecute him for it,” Jett said finally. “If you feel it necessary, you can order the city guard to track him down and bring him back to the palace for trial.”

  “We’ll need to pass laws,” Phoenix said, his voice low. “If we’re going to bring him to trial, we need a law that we can claim viol
ation of.”

  I was nodding, but Jett cut me off before I could say anything else. “We can get to passing laws after your coronations,” he said, and my stomach did a funny little wiggle at the word ‘coronations’. “In the meantime, we’ll have people out looking for him. However, there is something more pressing at hand.”

  “Which is?” I asked, impatient at their stalling.

  “You conducted lightning,” my mother said. “Was that pure lightning?”

  “What do you mean?” “Did it originate from you?” Jett asked. “Did you fashion your magic to look like it?” “No... it was... from the clouds, I guess,” I replied, puzzled. “I think I was just a conductor, but I could control where it went.”

  Jett exhaled and lifted a shaking hand to his face. My mother was staring at me as though seeing me for the first time.

  “You controlled lightning?” Phoenix asked, and I turned to him, desperate for some comfort, as I’d started to panic at Jett’s reaction. “Are you sure?”

  I thought back to the moment the bolt had hit the tip of my finger. I’d felt the energy soar through my body and then emanate from my outstretched fingers towards Griffin. I’d used the lightning as a weapon, but I hadn’t conjured it.

  “I’m sure,” I said in a small voice.

  “We need to stop word of this leaving the palace,” my mother said, stony-faced. “It’s too late,” Jett snapped uncharacteristically, finally taking his hand away from his face. He looked as though he’d aged in the space of half a minute. “Half the city already knows. There were guards at the duel. They’re spreading the story.”

  “Why is this a bad thing?” I asked frantically.

  “No one can control lightning, Sky,” Jett replied. “It’s never been done in over three thousand years.” “Well that’s not true,” I said, relief flooding through me. “Last year, Professor Watt used lightning to zap Nero in our first class.”

  “Actually, Professor Watt’s magic is just a very pale blue. She shapes it like lightning for the effect.” Jett told me.

  The ice returned to my veins.

  “So, just normal magic then?” I asked in a little voice. “Not the real deal?”

  “No, sweetheart,” Mum said from behind the desk. “And here you are, pulling bolts down from the clouds.” “I had to win,” I whispered. I clenched my fists, my fingernails digging into my palms. “Griffin was going to beat me. I had to win.”

  “You were cocky,” Jett said, and it was my tutor talking to me now, not my father. “You thought that because you had the Queen’s power on your side, you could beat him. He almost proved you wrong.”

  “I know,” I snapped. “You don’t have to rub it in; the knife in my shoulder did that for you. I know that Griffin was better than I was, and I knew that I shouldn’t have let my confidence cloud my judgement. I get it. I know that now. And trust me, it’s not going to happen again.”

  Jett nodded slowly. “I think you should go down to see him,” my mother said. “Safe to say, I think you’ve scared him into submission.”

  I’d been wondering if it would be appropriate for me to go down to see my competitor. With my parent’s recommendation, I headed from Ryman’s office, Phoenix hot on my tail.

  “I wish I could’ve been at the fight,” he said from behind my left shoulder. “I don’t,” I responded, striding down a majestic hallway lined with tapestries. “To be fair, I really sucked. Griffin almost mashed me into a little pulp.”

  He went quiet, and I didn’t dare glance back at him until I reached the entrance to the guard’s medic ward. I paused, my hand on the doorknob.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t come in,” I said uncertainly.

  Phoenix covered my cold hand with his large one.

  “I’m fine. Really.” He said, smiling, though it seemed forced.

  How ironic. You’d think he was the one who’d had a knife in his shoulder not an hour ago. I pressed the door open. It wasn’t hard to figure out which bed Griffin was in. Guards were clustered around it, screening him from my view.

  “Out of the way, moveit,” I heard Dena snap, uncharacteristically sharp. Blue flames flared at several of the guards, who were remaining in place.

  “Move out of her way,” I heard Griffin command, and the guards shuffled reluctantly to one side. I watched Dena work over him, blue light flickering. She closed her hands, extinguishing her fire. “You’re fine. A little shook up, but fine. If you hadn’t shielded in time-”

  “I would’ve been blasted to bits, I know,” Griffin said, sitting up on the bed. He spied Phoenix and I hovering near the door. “Your Majesties.”

  He bowed as best he could whilst sitting down. As the rest of the guards followed his lead, Griffin glanced up with a look meant just for me. Before I could figure out what the look was, it was gone.

  “May I introduce my soul mate?” I asked, drifting over to the group. “This is Phoenix, of Orthandrell. He will be crowned the same time as I.”

  Phoenix only nodded silently, his eyes on Griffin, who avoided his gaze by watching me.

  “That was some punch you packed,” Griffin said. “I’ve never seen anyone control lightning before.”

  I shrugged as though it was no big deal, trying to downplay the events of our duel.

  “You were going to beat me,” I replied. “I needed to pull out the big guns.”

  He laughed.

  “It appears that I keep underestimating you,” he said. “I’ll make sure not to do that again.”

  I nodded, suddenly very keen to be far away from this medic ward and the intense stares of the guards.

  “I’ll try not to throw lightning at you again,” I said, trying to smile like it was a joke.

  Griffin laughed as though it was. “I’d very much appreciate that.” The guards, who hadn’t moved since their initial bow, were still watching the two of us very carefully. Filled with the sudden desire to do something, anything, rather than stand here, I towed Phoenix back towards the door, nodding goodbye to Dena, who watched us go.

  “I think your parents may have wanted more of a discussion than that,” Phoenix remarked as we left the room.

  “I also think my parents didn’t expect there to be half the palace guard in attendance as well,” I replied, chewing my thumbnail. “I’ll talk to him later.”

  Phoenix only nodded. It suddenly hit me that we were alone together for the first time in years.

  “Are you staying in the palace?” I asked.

  He glanced down at me.

  “I’m not sure. Am I?”

  I raised my eyebrows questioningly.

  “It’s your palace,” he said, trying not to laugh. “Do you want me in it or not?” My palace. Of course it was. Although I wouldn’t be recognised officially until the coronation, this palace was mine and Phoenix’s to rule from.

  My stomach rolled uneasily and I found myself glancing around for something to throw up in.

  “You alright?” Phoenix asked, concern in his voice.

  “Just a scary thought,” I mumbled, trying to settle myself. “I’m only twenty.”

  “I’ll be right here with you the whole time,” he said. “I’m only twenty one, remember? It’ll be an adventure.”

  “An adventure?” I repeated, trying not to roll my eyes. “Governing a country is not an adventure, it’s...”

  “What?”

  “Madness. We’re barely out of our teen years, we can’t run a country!”

  “Hey,” he took me face in his hands, making me look at him. “We’ll be fine. We’re in this together, ok?” I nodded, mesmerised by his eyes. He leant forwards and kissed me slowly, promising security and love. I closed my eyes, losing myself in the kiss. When we broke apart, I’d completely forgotten about Griffin, the lightning bolt, the crown.

  “You can stay,” I said hoarsely.

  He chuckled softly.

  “Can I now? I thank you, Your Majesty.”

  I hit him gently, snapping out of any lovey daz
e his kisses might have induced. “Sky, Phoenix?” Larni popped into view from a side corridor. “Your mother has asked me to tell you that dinner will be served in the dining hall in half an hour.”

  “Ok, thanks, Larni,” I glanced down at my clothing, suddenly very mindful of the fact that my mother would not like it if I turned up to dinner in a bloodstained shirt. “I may need to change.”

  Larni hefted a small stack of clothing into view.

  “Already covered,” she said, smiling. “I better go and get ready too,” Phoenix said. He lifted my knuckles to his lips, and I struggled not to blush. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

  I watched him walk away, my fingers tingling where his lips had touched them. Larni coughed behind me.

  “Not a word,” I told her, and she laughed. We began to walk to my rooms.

  “How’s Niko?” I asked, remembering what she’d told me about her little brother. “He’s good... more than good, actually,” Larni beamed at me. “When the magic tester found magic in his blood, he said it was an unusual amount. He thinks Niko will grow up to be a very powerful mage.”

  As Larni launched into stories of Niko at mageling preschool, I was remembering the spell Niko had asked me to cast on him when I was at the Academy. Despite the complete insincerity behind the magic, it seemed to have worked anyway. Was Niko’s magic already there? Or had I in some way ... given it to him?

  I cast a sideways glance at Larni, who was completely oblivious to how quiet I’d gone. She had been non-magi when I arrived at the Academy, only to have her magic reveal itself a few months later.

  What was going on? Two siblings, in direct contact with me, had either discovered their magic or had extreme amounts of power revealed.

  I shook my head to ward off uneasy feelings. It was just a coincidence; besides, they were both related, and therefore it could’ve been a hidden vein of magic in their bloodline. Both of their parents were mages. It made sense.

  “I was thinking the green gown for dinner.” Larni said a little later, as we stood in my room.