Embers of Darkness (Through the Ashes Book 2)

by J. A. Culican

  Mikah stood suddenly, launching himself from his chair and sending it flying backward. "How dare you? Must I warn you again about how I expect you to treat my family?"

  Darren shook his head. "No, First Councilor. I apologize for saying what was on every other Councilor's mind. You have my word, I will no longer state the obvious when it comes to your son, as I have no wish to be punished or imprisoned for speaking the truth you should hear."

  Mikah's fingers turned white as they gripped the table and his lips pressed into a thin line while his eyes flared red and bright.

  Jaekob stood straight again, taking his hands off the table and shoving them behind his back. "I have been raised to honor this Council, Darren, but respect is earned or lost because of what you say or do. Or what you choose not to do. Are those feeble ideas the best we dragons have? Are you the best we dragons have to lead us? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, then we are doomed. Thankfully, the answer to both questions is 'no.'"

  Well, Bells mused, he had rolled the dice and there was no taking them back. She couldn't see any way the dice could come up with anything but a losing cast.

  Nonetheless, Jaekob was right as far as she was concerned. All the Council's ideas were based on fear and admitting defeat, not fighting back like dragons should. Only Jaekob seemed to have the courage to refuse to let the Council lead his people to ruin. Or so she hoped. He might have just been angry and lashing out. She hoped not, because they needed an aggressive plan now more than ever if they hoped to beat the elves and keep the dragons and the world free from enslavement.

  Of all the Pures, the fae knew best how terrible that fate was. Bells frowned and sent a prayer to her ancestors and Creation.

  Bells watched Jaekob make his arguments, but only Mikah seemed to understand how severe the situation was. He put his hand on Jaekob's shoulder, giving his son his support, but none of the other Councilors met Jaekob's eyes. Most shifted in their seats and looked anywhere but toward the head of the table. They would do nothing, Bells realized. Darren didn't even have the grace to look uncomfortable. He just picked at his fingernails, looking at them with a vague smirk.

  Bells saw a red glow from the corner of her eyes. She glanced over to Jaekob just in time to see him spin on his heels and storm to the door, his eyes glowing bright and smoke trailing from his nostrils.

  As Jaekob passed through the doorway, Darren said just loudly enough for him to hear, "If he can't control himself, how will he control our armies? He's no Mikah."

  Outside the room, there was a loud thump.

  Bells bolted after Jaekob without bothering to look to see Mikah's reaction. She came out of the room and, seeing him already halfway down the hall, sprinted after him. Panting, she caught up as he reached the tunnel's end at an intersection. "Jaekob," she shouted as she came up beside him.

  He didn't slow down.

  She said, "You can't let them get to you like that. They weren't there, so they don't know what we know." For some reason, she felt a deep need to calm him. Maybe because his irritation was seeping into her, too. Perhaps it was because of the weird bonding they'd had when she first mounted his dragon form.

  Continuing around the corner, he snarled, "The fools. They'll get us all killed with their petty, stupid games. What are we, humans? Are we bickering for the captain's chair while the ship sinks around us? Madness."

  She had to struggle to keep up with his long-legged pace but asking him to slow down didn't seem like a productive thing to do. Instead, she half-walked, half-ran to stay next to him. "Your father believed you. He's the only one that really matters, right?"

  Jaekob shook his head hard enough for his hair to shift back and forth. "Wrong. He makes final decisions and can remove a councilor at any time, but he doesn't get to pick them, and replacing them must never be done lightly. Darren has spent his lifetime crawling in the shadows like a cockroach, building alliances in the dark. Removing Darren now, right when we need to be unified the most in the face of this crisis... That would weaken us, perhaps fatally. Fa knows what he's doing."

  Bells didn't reply right away. Her thoughts raced, and not just because of the rider-bond they shared; she was learning a lot about how dragons ran things, and it didn't seem much better than how humans had ruled the planet back when there were more of them. And that, in itself, was a sad thought, since dragon lore said humans weren't animals. They were fallen Pures.

  Bells thought he might be heading for the armory, but she wasn't sure. It was weird how dragons never hesitated, never got lost. She got lost all the time, so she wasn't about to let him get away from her so deep in the heart of a huge building in the Dragon District in a strange city.

  When she didn't answer, he kept talking, shoving his fist into his other hand over and over as he walked. "We have to get that sword back. Without it, we're doomed. In someone else's hands, we're worse than doomed. We'll be slaves."

  Bells felt a pang run through her chest. The way he'd said the word made it sound like the most terrible word in the world. "At least you'd be happy slaves," she muttered. The fae sure weren't happy about it. In a way, maybe it would be better to be owned by the sword's wielder. No more suffering.

  "What did you just say?" he shouted. His nostrils flared as he shuddered, visibly trying to control his temper. "Dragons are no one's slaves. We'd rather die."

  They came to another T-intersection and he turned right without hesitation.

  Bells replied, "You say that now. Fae are slaves and we hate it, but we do what we have to. We survive. That's better than the extinction you're talking about. Being happy slaves is better than being free corpses." Maybe shifting his focus from his own rage to her wellbeing would help calm him down. "Can we get a coffee? I'm thirsty and tired."

  He stopped and looked down at her. His handsome eyes lost a bit of their red glow and she smiled up at him, though whether it was to calm him or because his intense gaze was beautiful, she wasn't sure. She felt heat flood into her cheeks and ears.

  He took a deep breath, then nodded. "Yes, maybe it'll do us both some good. I'm sorry to vent to you about those idiots."

  "I don't mind. That's what friends are for, right?" Through the hair that had fallen over her face like a mask, she watched his expression to see his reaction. Were they friends? She felt like they should be after everything they'd shared and everything they'd been through, even if he was a dragon.

  He smiled wanly and the red left his eyes almost completely. "Well, thanks. My burdens aren't yours, but it's nice to have someone listen."

  Her stomach flip-flopped. Were they friends? He hadn't answered that, dammit, but he was right about one thing. It was nice to have someone listen, even for a self-absorbed, arrogant dragon prince who could often be completely insensitive.

  "Which... Which way to coffee?" she asked, trying not to let her voice crack despite how tight and dry her throat suddenly felt.

  Jaekob smiled and said, "Follow me, little fae." His voice sounded softer, less gruff than it had been.

  She followed, smiling. He had put aside his own frustrations to help her with something as trivial as coffee. So, they were friends after all, even if he couldn't say it out loud. She stifled a grin.

  Then another thought hit her and her mood fell. This was Jaekob she was thinking about. Jaekob, the Dragon Prince—powerful, arrogant, and driven. What if he was only doing this for her because her mood was seeping through and impacting him? The connection they shared meant they each affected the other's mood, at least some of the time. Even if he didn't care one bit about her, except perhaps as a means to an end, he might still be helping her only to stop having to experience her feelings, whether he was consciously aware of it or not.

  The thought angered her and she gritted her teeth. He must have felt it because he kept silent as they walked.

  Bells reached across the table and put her hand on Jaekob's, wishing it would comfort him a bit. And maybe comfort her, too. He looked up from the platter and m
et her eyes, and she felt a thrill in her stomach. His pupils grew large and his lips parted just a tiny bit, and the world around them seemed to magically fade as she got lost in his eyes.

  His aura began to shine. It was almost bright enough to actually feel, and the range of colors rippling through his aura was hypnotic. It shifted, flooding with more blues and topaz and gold hues than she'd ever seen in anyone's aura before.

  Plus, it was kind of thrilling to physically affect someone that way. They may have been from different worlds, but some things were universal. Her face flushed hot and she found herself putting a hand over her mouth, halfway hiding a growing smile as time seemed to slow almost to a stop.

  She wasn't sure how long they sat like that, staring at each other, but she slowly became aware that there was more in the world than just the two of them, such as the air in the breath she was holding. She took a deep breath and time resumed ticking away normally.

  Jaekob said, "I..." but didn't say anything else.

  Bells waited in a trance for him to finish his sentence.

  An unwelcome thought shattered her trance. The things she was imagining between her and Jaekob could never happen, not in the real world. Still half grinning, she withdrew her hand from his and put both in her lap, hoping to hide her faint tremor by letting it out through her hands beneath the table.

  "Ah, so," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "I suppose we need to figure out what to do next."

  She got the feeling he was trying hard to hold back something he wanted to say. She grinned even wider.

  "What's so amusing?" he asked, his struck expression mirroring hers.

  She blinked rapidly, everything coming back into focus at once, including the danger her family was in along with everyone else in the world. "Nothing. I had something on my mind, but it will have to wait. Right now, I'd like to just kind of check in with you and see how you're feeling about all of this," she said, waving her hand to indicate the whole world. "I know you're brave, but it can't be easy for you. You're a dragon and a warrior, one of the best, but despite how important it is for us to retrieve that sword, there's nothing you can really do until we find somebody you can do something against, right?"

  His smile faded and his lips became thin and drawn out as he regarded her. "No, it's not easy. I'm used to being able to see my enemies and then go fight them. I don't know if it's the White King or the Black Court who attacked us and took the Sword of Fire, but even if I did know, what then? They've got the sword. Plus, I'm angry that our agents haven't found it yet. You're right, I don't want to just sit here and wait."

  She nodded, trying to put herself in his shoes. It didn't feel very good.

  "So, how are you?” he asked. “You've been ripped away from your family, thrust into a situation way beyond your experience, stuck with an arrogant and reckless dragon, and your people are in as much in danger as mine, yet you can't fight it the way I can. Once we find out who our real enemy is, I mean."

  She locked eyes with him. For a moment, she couldn't think of anything to say. Frankly, she hadn't expected him to show so much concern about anyone but himself or his own family, much less some fae farm girl. Once again, she had the thought that there was more to Jaekob than just the man he presented to the world. From the glimpses she caught through his disguise, the real Jaekob was an outstanding young man, even if that quality was hidden deep below his mask of cocky narcissism.

  She said, "Thanks. For asking, I mean. And you're right, it's not easy. As a farmer, I'm used to being in control of my environment. We grow what we want, as large as we want. When I talk to the field of wheat, it listens to me and grows tall and strong."

  He nodded, and his aura flared with understanding. "But?"

  "But as a fae, I'm also used to being helpless to control my own destiny. I may have some control over the things we grow, but I've never been in control of my own life. Everyone older than me still thinks of me as a little girl and expects me to do as they say. And I do it, too, because that's how fae do things. And I do whatever our village foreman says. I do whatever some random troll looking for a free mace does. And with the whole world at risk, I have to do whatever I can to save it. No one can save my family but us, Jaekob, but I'm no hero. It's not fair that Creation stuck you with me for this crisis."

  Jaekob sucked on his teeth and nodded slowly. "Yes, I can see how that would be difficult. And that's why we've got to get my people organized. It's up to the dragons to rise up and save the Earth." He steepled his fingers in front of his face, elbows on the table. "Perhaps the fates have more in store for you than just raising wheat. Have you ever thought that perhaps Creation has more in mind for your future than just farming?"

  Bells frowned. "What do you mean, 'just farming?’ There's nothing wrong with being a farmer. People need to eat and my people are the only ones with the talents to quickly raise enough of it. I'm sure you've never thought of this, but if all the fae decided to just stop working all at once until we were freed, the whole social structure collapses. Riots in the streets, nobody listening to orders, hunger and looting and pillaging. Meanwhile, we fae could watch and laugh from the other side of the Veil."

  Jaekob laughed out loud, startling her. "Fae would never do that. You and your people are much alike. You care too much about other people and the world itself to ever run away like that. No one can get back through the Veil anyway, not until all the Pures’ leaders decide to open it. I don't see that happening anytime soon, not until someone gets powerful enough to force the others into submission. This is new territory for us all, and no one knows what the future has in store for us."

  Bells pulled her hands out from under the table and folded them together on top. She looked him dead in his eyes and said, "And that's the point. Someone has to win, which means someone else has to lose."

  "Perhaps," he replied, frowning, "but why must someone win? Why can't we simply share it? Or are you saying it's in our nature, just like it was in human nature?"

  "All I can say for sure is that this sort of competition is the reason we fae came back across the Veil. We wanted to get away from it and we imagined that with a fresh start would come fresh ideas. But then the Pures made war on the humans to take over, which is the reason dragons woke up early again. I'm just so happy that you're taking responsibility for saving us all, for fighting for what's right, and hopefully, for a better place for my people too."

  "Wait. Who said anything about fighting? I got involved to help you personally, not everyone. Things just kind of went from there. I know how high the stakes are with that sword and the infection loose, and I'm willing to fight that, but I have no intention of trying to fix everything wrong with this world or the people living on it."

  Bells stared at him agog. After all they had seen together and everything they had learned, he was still only going to focus on himself. She felt her blood begin to boil, and for half a second, she almost walked away. Then she remembered the old mythology about the sword. A dragon and a fae were both necessary, both to stop the infection and the growing evil behind it. She needed him if she wanted her own people saved, just as much as he actually needed her to save his.

  "Fine," she snapped, "be a leader for your people only—you'll still end up helping everyone in spite of yourself, though. When that happens, and they all call you a hero and forget I was there, I hope you're honest enough to tell the grateful Pures that you didn't care what happened to them in the first place."

  An angry expression flashed across his face, but as he opened his mouth to snap back, she stood, spun on her heels and stormed away. She needed time to think and to adjust her attitude. She couldn't help anyone if she angered the prince so much that he gave up the one reason he apparently felt he was doing the right thing, and staying there to fight with the arrogant jerk wasn't the way to do that.

  She had thought Jaekob was changing, that she brought out the best in him, but apparently not. She wasn't sure why she was so angry, though, since he had ne
ver said anything different about his goals. That thought made her even angrier, and she walked faster, leaving behind a confused-looking Jaekob in her wake.

  Jaekob

  Shortly before lunch, after all the interviews and reports were over, Jaekob left the house. He had to find Bells and tell her what happened. Some may have thought she was 'only a fae,' but she was brilliant with those sorts of things anyway. He trusted her, too, which was rare with anyone, even someone as... well, as beautiful as she was.

  The Prince of Dragons and a lowly fae farm girl had no hope of any future together, though. He suspected that if they were somehow intimate, even if it was with the understanding that they were merely enjoying the moment together, she might take it to be more than it could ever be. The fae were far less casual with such things than other Pures.

  Maybe he would find it hard to take it casually, too...

  He frowned and changed his train of thought. No use dwelling on what-ifs. Still, he felt a certain excitement at the thought of seeing her again, and it brought a smile to his face—until someone grabbed his arm, ruining his moment. He spun on whoever had dared to grab him, ready to inflict some painful lessons, but saw it was the same tweed-suited fae he had glimpsed during the interrogations, whom he'd met with Bells as part of the Sword Society.

  Jaekob's anger died on his pursed lips, unspoken.

  "Hello, Jaekob. I'm Dawning—"

  "Yes, I remember you." Jaekob glanced around to see if anyone was watching but saw no one. "What do you need?"

  "I'm sure you can deduce what this is about. The Sword of Fire, of course. Can we speak in private?"

  Jaekob really just wanted to go find Bells, but it seemed she would have to wait. Dawning would never risk grabbing him in public unless it was truly urgent. "Yes, of course. Lead on."