The Fire King’s Daughter
By
T.E. Ridener
Copyright ©T.E. Ridener, 2013
Author’s Note
These stories are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover art Copyright ©Joan Padolina, 2013
All rights reserved.
Dedications
This one goes out to Zane, for your never-ending faith in me that I could write something out of this world. Thank you for your encouragement, your wisdom, and your friendship.
To Sam, your input is always so precious to me and I thank you for cheering me on while this book slowly came together.
To Pamijo, Shellie, and Annie, you ladies rock! Thank you for your feedback. You are the best beta readers, ever.
To my Double J’s, because I love you so much and I appreciate your endless hassling to find out what happened to Isaiah and Heidi.
1
Isaiah was the coolest guy on campus-and she meant that literally. Being the son of the Ice king had its perks for a rebellious, obnoxious twenty year old who thought he was better than everyone else. If he didn’t feel like going to Calculus he would simply wish for a snow day; low and behold, classes would be cancelled until around noon. Heidi always found it pretty ironic how the weather cleared up just in time for her to attend biology. He did it on purpose.
Their relationship was a tale as old as time. Fire and Ice were never meant to get along. They were enemies, though one could not exist without the other. The warmth of the sun would melt away the ice left behind from winter, just as the snow would cover the lush green of the grass when it was time for summer to begin to fade away. Yes, autumn and spring did exist-but they were not nearly as prominent. For the families of Fire and Ice, there was never an in-between. One was hot, the other cold. One kind, one cruel. It was how it had always been, and was always meant to be. That was until two descending kings became friends; and when their kingdoms were threatened, they sent their two very stubborn, very adventurous offspring to a world that was not their own in an effort to protect them.
Nineteen year old Heidi was horrified to learn she had to go to the human world. She didn’t want to. She didn’t want to be around pollution, corruption, and the advanced technology that the inhabitants of Earth had to offer. She preferred things to be natural, as they were meant to be. She liked that she didn’t have to be around the perilous fumes of cigarettes and exhaustion from vehicles. She enjoyed the natural scent of warm air and being able to see a cloudless sky. Why did she have to go there? Why did she have to be around him?
She knew why. She understood why. But that didn’t mean she liked it.
“You must go, Heidi. The continuation of our kind depends on it,” Her father, King Sidius had said hastily as he pushed her towards the edge of their kingdom. It was a very long drop and Heidi didn’t enjoy the thought of plummeting to Earth. She had fought with all of her might to stay.
“But, Father, I do not want to!” She argued. “Please let me stay and fight! I can help.”
“No, Heidi. You will obey me and do as I have requested.”
“But I do not wish to go there! I don’t want to be away from you.”
“My child, you will not be alone. I promise this to you,” Then he had pressed his warm lips to her forehead, his strong hands resting against her small shoulders. “King Fryse’s son will be with you.”
Her eyes had gotten so big, and she still imagined her face was rather unattractive from hearing that news.
“What?! I am not going to be anywhere near that loathsome, miserable, arrogant little—Ah!”
Then her father pushed her. She fell so fast that even a Cheetah would have been jealous. Like a fallen star, she plunged towards the Earth with no signs of slowing down. With her gaze towards her home as it became smaller and smaller, she could still see the blazes of angry fires and the monstrous bolts of lightning that lit up the bright blue sky. She was being forced to leave her father and everyone she knew to fight on their own.
But that wasn’t her fault, now was it? She had been powerless against her father. How was a slender, five feet nothing girl supposed to take on a three hundred and seventy six year old God of Nature? She wasn’t. She had never been meant to. She was meant to be here, on this noisy campus with teenagers gawking and giggling as she attempted to ignore them.
She didn’t like it here. She wanted to go home. Was there even a home to go back to?
“Don’t tell me you’re sitting here, worrying about things beyond our control when you could be living it up on good ole Earth, Heidikin.”
The sound of his voice alone made Heidi want to ignite a bunny rabbit, and that was a shame because she quite liked bunnies. Slowly, she turned her head to peer at the smug grin he had upon his attractive face as he lifted a single, perfect brow.
“Don’t you have someone else you could be disturbing right now?” She asked, shifting uncomfortably on the bench as she moved a gloved hand up to push her dark brown hair away from her caramel colored eyes.
“Now why on earth would I want to disturb anyone aside from you?” He questioned, his grin growing bigger as he bared his pearly white teeth. There was something about that little Ice prick’s grin. When he grinned, his ocean blue eyes grinned, too. Other girls went weak in the knees from the sight of his baby blues, but Heidi only felt repulsion. He thought he was such a gift to the ladies, but he was actually just a nightmare.
“You’re doing it again,” He stated as he stared at her.
“Doing what?” Heidi asked in an irritated tone. She wished he would go away. Just one moment of peace would be so nice. He was popular. He had loads of friends. Why did he always have to single her out to torment her?
“Judging me,” He replied nonchalantly as he stretched his long legs out. He tilted his head to the side as he stared at her. It was that stare that always made her feel so out of sorts. It was like he was undressing her with his eyes-and given his reputation, he probably was.
“I am not,” She replied, gathering her books that were sitting beside of her. She hugged them to her chest as she stood up and she decided that it was time to head to class. It didn’t matter if she still had another twenty minutes to be there. She would be early if it meant she could get away from him. Though much to her dismay, he followed.
“You’re lying!” He chuckled, easily catching up to her considering one of his strides made up for three of her own. “Why are you always in such a foul mood, Heidikin?”
“I am not always in a foul mood,” She replied, “Only so when you’re around.”
“Ouch,” He replied. Oh, if only she could wound him physically.
“You’re going to make me late for Biology,” Heidi stated as she entered the lobby and tried to steer clear of oncoming students who were leaving for the day. Lucky.
“I am not. You’ve got nearly a half hour before your class starts!” He insisted, still walking alongside of her. “I get that you enjoy being punctual, but you never even give yourself five minutes to enjoy a beautiful day.”
“I was enjoying myself,” She muttered, shooting a glare in his direction as she headed for the elevator. Maybe she would make it in time. Maybe the kids inside wouldn’t push the button and make her wait until the elevator retur—Oh, never mind. Too late. “And I don’t know what beautiful day you’re referring to,” She said, pressing her thumb against the triangular button several times. “It’s cold and wet and ice is everywhere. Today is nothing but dreary.”
“You say tomato, I say to-mah-to,” He teased as
he leaned against the wall and gazed down at her.
She would not look at him. She would not subject herself to seeing his so-blonde-it-was-nearly-white hair falling into his eyes. No, she wouldn’t!
“So now you’re giving me the cold shoulder?” He questioned. “That’s very uncharacteristic of you.”
She rolled her eyes. It was no secret that he enjoyed being here. He indulged in everything Earth had to offer. From weed to women, Isaiah had partaken in all of it. He acted as if they were on spring vacation and he was making memories he could share with his friends back home. But Heidi knew better. This was no vacation.
“Come on, Heidi. You can’t do this to me today! Today is going to be a good day, damn it. Enjoy it with me.”
Heidi rolled her caramel eyes as the elevator doors began to open and she glanced up at him. “I have to get to class. You know. It’s something you should really consider doing every now and then.”
She watched as his eyes narrowed and then another smirk slid over his lips. As the elevator doors began to close, she could hear what he said and that probably wasn’t a good sign.
“We’ll see about that.”
2
That. Jerk.
Heidi found herself sitting in the campus diner at a smaller table-one that screamed, ‘Hey, I’m by myself. I have no friends that will be joining me today!’, but she didn’t mind so much considering she really did just want some peace and quiet for the remainder of her day. Seeing as her biology class had been cancelled-thanks to him- she really didn’t have anything else to do aside from order a cup of coffee and listen to whatever travesty they called music that was blaring from broken down speakers that desperately needed repaired.
She sipped at the warm liquid as she glanced out the window at the snow that was still falling to the ground. It had been a freak accumulation that came out of nowhere. The other students may have been shocked by it, but Heidi wasn’t. She knew exactly what had happened and it was done out of spite. She actually had a test that day, one she had studied for all night. Though somebody wouldn’t take that into account; it didn’t involve him in any form or fashion. He was so selfish!
Four months. They had been here for four months and she didn’t see how any progress had been made. If her father wanted to keep her safe, why hadn’t he just locked her up in an underground bunker rather than sending her here? Earth wasn’t as safe as everyone thought it was. It had been deteriorating for some time, and the human beings were no better equipped to fight off the forces of nature than anyone else. If they thought tornadoes, hurricanes, and tsunamis were the worst things a community could face; they were terribly mistaken.
Aside from the four seasons that kept a vigilant watch over the Earth and ensured everything happened when it was meant to, there were other forces at work; other families who had responsibilities just the same. The storybooks had it all wrong. Mother Nature was not one single being. She was like the leader of a club, or the governor of a state. There was a certain system that dated back to the beginning of time.
Heidi knew her place in that system. She was the daughter of her father, a princess in her own right. She had been kissed by the sun and blessed by the heat that great ball of light provided. She was destined to look over the Earth, and ensure summer arrived each year for many years to follow. But summer was not her main objective in life. No.
She had been raised to play with fire. She could create it with a single thought; tame it with a single stare. She was no superhero. She had not fallen into a bucket of toxic waste. She was born with a gift. It was really no different than a human being who was born with green eyes, or freckles. Well, perhaps it was slightly different. As far as her looks, there was never a change in pattern. Just like everyone in her kingdom, she had caramel eyes. They weren’t dark, but they weren’t light-such as a son or daughter of Earth.
Those who descended from the lineage of the Sun had similar traits. Caramel eyes, brown or auburn hair, and particularly small, button noses. They had the softest features out of everyone. Those who were like Isaiah, from the lineage of the Moon, had sharper facial structures; particularly pointed noses were the most defining. It wasn’t that they had big noses. They were quite normal noses, actually. But they were pointed-and often directed upwards as a symbol of superiority.
They weren’t superior at all. They were equal. Heidi had never considered herself above anyone else; not even the humans. But Isaiah had always worn his title with pride and often poked fun at the humans for not being as ‘cool’, as he would lamely put it.
Descendants of the Moon had lighter hair. Some of them had blonde hair, but for the most part their tresses would nearly be silver or white. If a human ever witnessed an average winter man or woman, they would mistake them for being elderly. At least the Descendants of the Sun looked youthful and would not have been offered a senior discount should they ever enter a diner.
“What are you doing here? Sitting all by your lonesome, Heidikin?”
Did he honestly not have anything better to do? It must have been on his agenda for the day to make her miserable.
“I’m drinking some coffee,” She replied, “And attempting to warm up thanks to your little blizzard.”
She heard his low chuckle as he plopped himself down in the seat across from her. Isaiah had no manners whatsoever. Heidi often wondered if his parents had ever attempted teaching their son how to be polite. He never said please or thank you; and he most certainly didn’t sit properly in his seat. That was something else that bothered her. His posture was terrible!
“You should be thanking me,” He insisted as that same sly grin began to appear on his face. “I got you out of class today. I wouldn’t do that for just anyone.”
“Well I’m not thanking you because I didn’t want my class to be cancelled,” She said pointedly as she lifted her steaming mug of coffee for another sip.
“That’s the problem with you warmers,” He stated, moving his fist upwards so he could prop his chin against it. His intense blue eyes stayed on her face as he squinted them a tad. “You don’t know how to say thank you when someone does you a favor.”
She calmly put down her cup of coffee and lifted her eyes to his face. “You call this doing me a favor?” She asked. “I’m not entirely sure what your definition of a favor even is, but I assure you that this did not benefit me in any form. I’ve missed my class and now I get to make it up next Wednesday. In the mean time I’ll sit here and wait until you decide to stop freezing people to death.”
Then he was laughing. Why was he laughing? Why did her anger amuse him so much? Honestly, he was like a child with these things!
“You think I’m freezing people to death?” He inquired, tilting his head to the side. “Darling, no. We’ve not froze anyone to death since the Ice Age. From what I understand it was a fun time to be alive.”
“I’m certain the dinosaurs would have a different opinion,” She muttered with a roll of her eyes.
“Oh come off it. You know we have a job to do just like you. Everything has a time and a place; the dinosaurs were no longer needed. It was time for evolution and who better to aid in that than a few Icers?” He paused long enough to study the look of judgment on her face before his expression became somewhat serious. “Besides, you act as if your kind is so innocent. How many cities have been ruined by volcanoes? Humans are fooled by the illusion that volcanic eruptions are so spontaneous and not a thing can be done about them, but that isn’t true, is it?”
She rolled her eyes. No comment.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. You warmers could keep the lava at bay if you wanted to, but you don’t. You get off on seeing things burst into flames. You enjoy watching things be destroyed. I promise you that your kind does much more destruction than my own. So what if we drove the dinosaurs into extinction? At least our existence has some sort of purpose.”
He really didn’t want to go there. For years there had been so many arguments between their famil
ies over a variety of things, but Heidi had never been a believer that one was any less needed than the other. What balance would exist if fire had no purpose? People would freeze to death. The ground would never thaw enough for flowers and plants alike to grow. The sun would no longer warm the Earth and any form of life would surely be miserable!
Heidi’s eyes were narrowing in on him, and she wasn’t paying much attention to the fact her coffee was beginning to boil in the porcelain cup upon the table. Isaiah noticed it though. His eyes were on the cup and the brown liquid within was steaming more so than before, bubbling over the rim of the cup and sliding down the sides as he lifted a brow.
“You think we have no purpose?” She asked with an obvious anger to her tone as she glared at him. “What would happen to the world if my father did not ensure the ice melted away from the leaves? What if we left the roads to be hazardous for humans to drive on? Was it truly not enough that we allowed your kind to have jurisdiction over the likes of Alaska, the Antarctic? If humans choose to live there, so be it, but don’t you dare try to insinuate that we have no purpose when it comes to warming the world and providing organisms with sunlight,” She scoffed then, crossing her arms over her chest. “It would have been lovely had we been allowed to intervene in nineteen twelve, you know. You point out all of the tragedies that have taken place under our watch, yet you forget to mention any sad ending your kind had a hand in. You disgust me.”
It was in that very moment that the cup shattered, sending coffee all over the table. Heidi’s eyes widened slightly before she immediately reached for a napkin in an attempt to clean up her mess. He did this to her on purpose!
Isaiah’s eyes moved from the mug to Heidi’s face and then he blinked. “You scare me,” He replied. “This is what happens with you warmers. Girls in particular. You get upset and then your emotions go haywire and you cause things to blow up. You need to get a handle on yourself, Heidikin. Especially here,” He glanced around at a few students who were staring their way. They were undoubtedly wondering what the hell had just happened.
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