by Elly Blake
“I don’t know. I’d sense it somehow, wouldn’t I? I don’t feel all that special.”
“Neither do I!”
“Well, you are.” He placed a kiss on my forehead. “Also, Brother Thistle disagrees with Lucina.” He chuckled.
“How dare he disagree with Sage.”
“He’s still stuck on the prophecies of Dru. She predicted it would be a Fireblood who destroys the darkness forever. And something about a storm that blew in from the west on the day the child of light was born. Brother Thistle went on about it, but no one was paying much attention anymore. He chattered like an excited child from the moment the gods beat Eurus; they sent him headfirst through the Gate and sealed it up behind him. It was a spectacular sight. I don’t know if Brother Thistle will ever calm down.”
“I’m glad Eurus was banished.” He deserved to languish in that dark place where he’d tried to trap me. I shivered as the wind brushed my hair across my face. Pushing it back and shoving away the memories of the Obscurum, I asked, “So Brother Thistle still thinks I’m the child of light?”
Smiling, he nodded. “And so do I.”
It was my turn to scowl. “But I’m clearly the child of darkness.”
“Does it matter? Maybe you’re both. Maybe we’re all both. You may have been able to host the Minax, but that doesn’t make your spirit more corrupt than mine or anyone else’s. You used your connection to the shadows to free trapped souls. You saved us all.”
“And you saved me,” I whispered. He pulled me close, and despite the freezing temperature, I didn’t feel so cold anymore. “For the record, I think Dru was an attention-hungry fraud. She made a million predictions. Some of them were bound to come true.”
“Please don’t say that to Brother Thistle. In the state of agitation he’s in, he’s likely to challenge you to a fight.”
“I would beat him,” I said with a smirk until memory hit. “Oh. I don’t have my fire anymore.” The memory caught me off guard, blindsiding me with a staggering sense of loss. It was painful to even think about living without my gift. It was one thing to give it up when the odds were so steep, I hadn’t expected to survive long. Carrying on without it was a different matter altogether.
“I’m sorry, Ruby.” His voice dropped to a soft murmur. “I sensed it as soon as I touched you. You gave it up like your mother did?”
I nodded and he held me close, giving comfort without words. “You’ll make it through this. I’ll be there with you. We’ll figure it out together.”
I squeezed him tight to show my gratitude and trust. I would make it through this. I believed him. I believed in myself. I would explore this new identity, focusing on what I’d gained rather than what I’d lost.
“So Cirrus finally agreed to help your spirit?” I asked, leaning back to look up at him.
“She did. I may have to build a temple or two to show my gratitude.”
“We’ll build them all over the kingdom!”
He grinned and kissed my fingers. “We?”
“Always.” My voice was thready, barely heard over the cheers of victory from our forces below.
“I’m holding you to that,” he said.
I laughed shakily, the joy overwhelming. “I’m so… so…” I broke off, letting tears stream down my face unchecked as I cradled his jaw in my hand. “So glad you came back to me.”
His brow rose teasingly, but his eyes sparkled with moisture, too. He blinked it away, saying deadpan, “I knew you liked my body, but… I didn’t realize how much.”
A hoarse chuckle escaped my throat, and I tightened my grip on his cheek, pulling him closer. “You are so lucky I don’t have my fire right now.”
He placed a soft kiss on my lips.
“I love you,” I said. “I love you so much. Don’t ever leave me again.”
“I love you so much, Ruby. And don’t you ever leave me again.”
He bent his head toward me, and I pulled him close, needing to feel the solid reality of him, to inhale his familiar scent. Our tears mixed, cold on our cheeks.
Finally, he pulled back and dashed a hand across his face, his eyes dancing with happiness as we both stared at each other as if we’d just pulled off the greatest coup in history. This was the kind of radiant bliss that filled me with sunlight. A profound contentment settled into my heart. It was fire and ice and light and dark and all the colors from red to gray, and with them, the sure knowledge that I could build a life I wanted, a life I chose, even if I couldn’t always control what happened. The future might hold sadness and loss, but it would also hold joy. And I knew that for certain, with no shadowy doubts or fears.
Finally, he glanced down at the battle, surveying the scene. “I see my forces have arrived. I should go help.”
“No!” I snagged the collar of his tunic in my fist. “You are not risking your life again for a very, very long time. Maybe never. I mean it, Arcus!”
He smiled crookedly, which pulled the scar on his lip in that way that made my heart clench. “Only if you make me the same promise, Lady Firebrand.”
FORTY
OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS, THOSE who were healthy enough boarded ships and left. The captured soldiers were kept under guard in their own camp, and would eventually face judgment in their respective kingdoms.
We set up healing tents for the wounded in the lee of a curving cliff with an overhang, the closest thing in the area to a large cave. The weather remained dry, and the wind stayed calm, which seemed like a rather deliberate favor, considering.
Every once in a while, though, a harsh gust would come screaming in from the east, kicking up dirt and rocks before fading into a whispering breeze that sounded as if it were muttering threats.
Eurus was a sore loser.
Lucina and Brother Thistle had seen the full battle of the gods, which had ended in a screaming, thrashing Eurus being tossed through the Gate by his siblings. With some assistance, Cirrus had then modified the opening. It now had layers of lava and ice as well as light. Fors had declared that he hadn’t enjoyed himself so much in at least a millennium. Maybe two.
Eurus was sentenced to sit on the night throne he had created, presiding over an empty underground kingdom. His exile would last for as long as the stars shone in the sky. I hoped he still liked the word eternity after a few thousand years.
Brother Thistle said that after Cirrus had shrunk down to mortal size and assisted Arcus’s spirit back into his body, Lucina had transformed into the young and beautiful Sage and thanked Cirrus with a kiss. A long, rather passionate kiss that did dance on the edge of breaking Neb’s law about mortal interference. Not that anyone was going to tell.
Brother Thistle and I figured there was much more to Lucina’s powers than we would ever know. After a thousand years or so of life, he had assumed she would ascend to the afterworld now that the Minax were all gone, but she’d told him there were other matters she needed to take care of first.
At dawn on solstice, she took care of one item: my broken arm. She used sunlight to heal me completely.
Lucina also helped in the healing tents, working miracles during the daylight hours. I assisted the other healers on lesser injuries, rubbing salve on wounds, bandaging, and offering solace.
Many soldiers had died, and the guilt over my part in that would always eat at me. The worse I felt, the harder I worked, every bit of discomfort and exhaustion a form of penance.
“You’re doing it again,” Arcus said, his cold hand sliding under my braid to settle on my nape.
I straightened from checking a soldier’s bandage, assuring her that her wound was healing well before I turned away.
“Doing what?” I asked, rubbing at the ache in my back.
“Ruminating. Dwelling on your actions. Indulging in guilty thoughts.”
“I’d hardly call it indulging. It’s not enjoyable,” I said with a bit of annoyance. He kept trying to tell me that no one could have done any differently, and I’d coped better than most would have in
that situation. I wasn’t ready to accept that.
I stopped and turned to him, letting the ordered chaos of the healing tent ebb and flow around us. “Anyway, how do you always know when I’m upset?”
My eyes drank in the sight of him, something I’d decided never to take for granted again. He was dressed in a simple but finely tailored gray doublet and dark trousers with black boots. Of course he didn’t seem to feel the cold that plagued me every second of every day.
I had never realized how much my gift had kept me warm. I was wrapped in several layers of wool and furs, borrowed from here and there, and still I shivered. Since the day of the battle, Arcus had begun practicing warming his body temperature so he could still touch and kiss me, something that required stolen moments of experimentation several times a day.
“I don’t know,” he said thoughtfully. “I just do. I sense it. I can be on the beach helping load a ship and I know the exact moment when you start feeling self-doubt or shame. And then I can do nothing else but come here and find you and try to make you feel better.”
He bent and put his lips to mine, the jolt of his touch zinging through me in pleasurable waves. At first, his lips were cold, but within seconds, they were as warm as mine.
“You’re getting very good at that,” I breathed between kisses.
“It requires further practice,” he said, his arms drawing me closer. “Extensive research.”
“I’m willing, but only if you limit your research to me.”
He smiled against my lips. “I’ll give it due consideration.”
I bit him gently. He laughed.
A throat cleared at the door of the tent. We both looked up.
Kai wore a long-suffering look. “You are so predictable. Is there nowhere you can do that privately?”
“Did you seek us out just to chastise us?” I asked.
“No, we were summoned,” Kai replied. “We, meaning me, and both of you.”
“I was summoned?” Arcus said with an arrogant lift of his brows. He was, after all, a king.
Kai showed no sign of being overly impressed. “Yes. Queen Nalani’s tent. Now. I expect we will either receive a gift in thanks for returning her husband to her, or she means to browbeat us into doing her bidding.” He gave me a significant look, the meaning something along the lines of prepare yourself for a fight.
Kai and I hadn’t exactly told the queen that we wouldn’t be marrying. Not each other, at any rate. Liddy had other ideas when it came to Kai. After accidentally discovering the truth when she spotted me kissing Arcus, Liddy had continued to press her suit right up until her ships had sailed away. Her broken heart was somewhat soothed by piles of coin from both the grateful Frost King and Fire Queen.
Arcus’s hand squeezed mine tight. “Does he mean what I think he means?”
I squeezed back reassuringly. “I’m sure she just wants to thank us.”
But I wasn’t sure of anything when it came to the unpredictable Fire Queen.
Queen Nalani’s tent was richly appointed, with layers of colorful rugs warming the floor and vibrant tapestries blocking drafts in the tent walls. A brass lantern hung from a metal stand, casting warm light on the wooden bed, dresser, chest, and armoire, which she must have brought from Sudesia.
My eyes went to Prince Eiko, whose tall, lanky form was stretched out on the bed covered in quilts as he slept. When I had directed the Sudesian healers to where Eurus had left Prince Eiko’s body on the rock near the ramparts, I wasn’t sure if he was still alive. Fortunately for him and for the queen who loved him, he had been. He had little memory of his possession by Eurus, but what he did remember disturbed him greatly. He rested most of the time, and Lucina came every day to check on him and give him a dose of light.
“Your Majesty.” I curtsied low, which always felt strange when I was wearing trousers. I wondered if I would ever truly feel as if she were my aunt as well as my queen. “You wished to see us?”
“Indeed,” she said. Her dark hair was braided and flowed over one shoulder. She wore a thicker, quilted version of the masters’ robes, the vermilion color complementing her rich skin tone. “Please come in.”
Arcus bowed and entered, followed by Kai. There were two chairs, so I sat in one, and Kai sat in the other. Arcus shot me a look of amused annoyance at the way the prince showed him no deference and went to stand behind my chair. I tensed, wondering if he’d make a statement by placing his hands on my shoulders, but he didn’t. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed.
The queen clasped her hands together in her lap, her dark eyes snapping. “I am very glad to see you all well after the battle. And I want to thank you again for helping free my husband from that…” Her words faded. “I refuse to refer to him as a god. That trickster.”
I relaxed a bit knowing she’d called us here to thank us. “It really wasn’t anything we did,” I felt obligated to admit. “Eurus finally left him when he had no use for him anymore.”
The queen reached out and touched Prince Eiko’s arm as he slept, as if needing to reassure herself he was still there.
“You are too humble, Ruby. You have my eternal gratitude,” she said with quiet gravity. “Which is why I am in such a forgiving state of mind.”
“Forgiving?” I asked.
She looked at me and then Kai in a calculating way. “Unless I am mistaken, and no forgiveness is required? I was under the impression that you had both broken your vows to me. Prince Kai, do you intend to marry my niece?”
He straightened in his chair. “I regret to say no, Your Majesty.”
“You have broken a vow, which was also the third test in your Fireblood trials. Under Sudesian law, you should be stripped of your title of Fireblood master, which would also mean the loss of your newly restored island.”
Kai sucked in a breath, his knuckles whitening on the arm of the chair.
“And you, Ruby,” she said, turning. “You also broke your vow, and you deceived me, which hurts me greatly. Had you any intention of marrying Prince Kai when you made your vow to me?”
I took a long breath and forced myself to tell the truth. “Not if I could help it.”
“Thank you,” Kai muttered, sounding deeply annoyed.
“It’s not like that, and you know it,” I muttered back.
Queen Nalani squared her shoulders. “Breaking a vow to your queen is tantamount to treason. I could have you both executed for your crimes.”
“Now, just a minute,” Arcus said, moving to stand in front of me.
The queen held up a palm. “However, as I said, I am in a forgiving frame of mind. Very forgiving.” Her lips curved up as she watched me try to see around Arcus. “You may resume your post behind my niece… King Arkanus.”
It was the first time I’d heard her address him by name.
“Friends and family call me Arcus,” he said, moving behind me once again. “As I hope to count you as one or both of those, please use that name.”
She smiled, her eyes sparkling. “Perhaps I will. But for now I must address the issue of the Sudesian throne. I had planned for Ruby to be queen with Kai at her side, teaching her Sudesian ways. Now, I have a niece who has lost her Fireblood powers, and a prince who would have ruled well but has no claim to the throne.”
I swallowed. “I’m sorry that the loss of my gift also robbed you of an heir.”
She waved that away. “Not your fault, my dear, and I am sure you feel the loss far more than I do.”
I inclined my head, grateful for her understanding.
“Unfortunately, Sudesian law states that the ruler must be a Fireblood with a gift equivalent to a Fireblood master.”
Kai leaned forward. “And he or she must have the royal gift as well, isn’t that correct, Your Majesty? Ruby was the last in your line. If I may be so bold, how will you find a replacement for her?”
He referred to the queen’s power to control lava, which I had lost along with my fire.
“I could never replace
my dear niece, of course,” she said with amusement, “but I must correct your knowledge of the rules of succession. It seems, on close inspection of the laws, that the gift that has been passed through my family was never a necessary component to my rule. It was merely a benefit. And as you know, I have the right to bestow and revoke titles based on power, ability, or any criteria I wish.”
I heard Arcus shuffle behind me. He was probably a bit envious of her. Tempesian laws didn’t give as much unilateral power to the monarch. He always had his court to contend with.
“Do you have someone in mind?” I asked, suspecting where this was going.
“I do,” the queen said. “My only concern is that he may be too devoted to his life of privateering to consider the honor of my bequest.”
Arcus cleared his throat. “Queen Nalani, I hope that you will no longer honor letters of marque for captains who would set upon Tempesian ships. A peaceful future between our two kingdoms is my fond wish.”
“As it is mine,” she said, sitting back with a wide smile. “Prince Kai, I am afraid I must rescind your letter of marque. From this moment forward, you cannot set upon Tempesian ships without facing the consequences.”
Kai said simply, “As I’d planned to give up piracy—excuse me, privateering—now that I have my island back, I do not regret the loss. But thank you for clarifying the matter, my queen.”
“It is settled, then,” she said, clapping her hands. “I am very happy, and I hope you are as well.”
“Very, very happy, Your Majesty,” I said, leaning forward. “May I… may I give you a hug?” I felt a blush heat my cheeks. It seemed like a silly request, but I really did want to embrace her for this.
“Of course, child. Come here.” She extended her arms and I moved into them. I closed my eyes on a wave of emotion. She smelled a bit like Mother.
“Thank you, my queen,” I said, my voice wobbling. I turned to face Arcus and Kai, not surprised that they both looked confused.
“What just happened?” Arcus asked.
I walked back over to him, moving close. “It means I’m no longer the heir to the Sudesian throne, and I can stay with you in Tempesia, making your life interesting for as long as we like.”