Falling For Fire

by Talia Jager

  “Congratulations, Sorin.”

  “Well done.”

  “Thank you,” he said, his cheeks turning red.

  Talv walked over and took both our hands. “That was a very creative way to teach bending.”

  “Sometimes you have to go outside the box.”

  “Indeed. With thinking like that, you will go many places, my queen.”

  “Your faith in me is reassuring.”

  There was a soft knock on my door later that night. “Come in.”

  Sorin entered and took me in his arms. Placing a kiss on my forehead, he said, “I have a surprise for you.”

  “What?” Being silly, I batted my eyes at him.

  Taking a step back, he unbuttoned his shirt and began to take off one shoulder. He turned enough for me to see that there on his back, near his shoulder, in the same spot as my sun tattoo, was a snowflake tattoo that looked very similar to my markings.

  “I had Kailani do it. I wanted it to be like yours.”

  I closed the space between us and kissed him.

  The next day, we sat in the spot our parents had when we were at our sentencing. Sorin reached over and put his hand on my leg, stopping the shaking. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “This feels awkward.”

  “I know, but these are our seats now.”

  The drums started, and everyone grew quiet. The Autumn king was the royal longest on the bench, so he began the meeting. “We have asked you all here today to help us move forward. We’re going to be doing things in a new way. First, a few of the old laws need to be abolished. Sorin? Why don’t you begin?”

  “Welcome,” Sorin greeted the crowd. “I’m happy to announce that the law of no romance between Seasons is officially gone from all of our lands. Feel free to fall in love with whomever you please.”

  There was applause from many, but some looked uncertain.

  “We would like you to feel comfortable coming to any of us to talk. If there are things you think would help our realm run better, we welcome your comments.”

  A hand in the audience went up.

  “Yes?”

  “What are you doing about the Iron Fae?”

  “That’s the next thing we’d like to discuss. We believe we know why they continue to attack us—”

  And as if on cue, a horn blew in the distance, and I knew what was about to happen.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Aurora

  Emotions of panic filled the air. We had to get everyone outside. If the Iron Fae knew we were all inside, they would freeze the doors shut and set the whole building on fire.

  “To the exits!” I hollered and sent a gust of air to open all of the doors and windows for the fae to escape.

  Thankfully, the horns had given us enough of a warning to get out of the building. A scout landed his flying horse near us. “The Iron Fae are coming from the northeast.”

  King Septimus nodded and turned toward the rest of the royals. “I suggest calling for all knights, guards, master benders, and anyone trained in fighting who isn’t protecting our loved ones at home. I can make the order for all of our lands, or we can do it one by one.”

  “This is an excellent time for everyone to see that we’re united,” Sorin said. “Let’s fight this together. Make the order.”

  King Septimus did so, and each royal gave a nod, meaning everyone agreed. Two scouts from each land took off to warn the castles and get reinforcements. Tannon was here with Lumi, but Artin had stayed behind with Raina, Kailani, and the kids. I knew he’d protect them, but it didn’t completely stop me from worrying.

  “Those here who can fight shall do so. Those who cannot need to find shelter,” King Newland said.

  I looked at Sorin and knew immediately we were both fighting. Neither one of us would seek shelter. Looking down at my gown, I rolled my eyes. Maybe I should start wearing fighting clothes under my nice dresses.

  Taking Sorin aside, I told him, “I think we should stay on the sides and attack from that angle.”

  Crushing his lips on mine, he said, “Be safe.”

  I hid on the northwest side behind the corner wall, contemplating every strike I would make. A lot of Iron Fae were heading our way, more than I had thought existed. I wished I could talk to their leader, whoever he was. Maybe if I admitted that we were in the wrong, they’d listen, but there wasn’t time for that because arrows and fireballs were already coming our way. Our army held until the first Iron Fae swung with a sword, then we attacked.

  Water was my go-to. It was the element I was strongest in. I sent a wall of water toward the enemy. It collided with a group of them, knocking them over. Quickly I darted behind the wall again, trying to keep my location a secret.

  I could feel one faerie coming. He was apprehensive, but strong. As soon as he rounded the corner, I met him with a fireball. The expression on his face proved he hadn’t expected that. I didn’t have a weapon, so I needed to keep him from drawing his. I kept him busy with fireballs, then snowballs. I threw in a few icicles.

  Spinning the faerie around with the air element, I wrapped him in a stream of water. With him now immobile, I asked, “Where is your leader?”

  “I’m not a traitor.”

  “I don’t want to hurt him. I just want to talk.”

  He laughed and said, “What makes you think the leader of the Iron Fae would come with us?”

  “I’m here.”

  “Yes. We knew you would be.”

  Narrowing my eyes, I asked, “How did you know?”

  Laughter was his response, and it infuriated me. I shoved a small snowball in his mouth and peeked around the corner. Nobody else was coming this way yet. It was the perfect time for my second attack.

  I created a small fireball on the ground and then carefully controlled it as it rolled toward the Iron Fae. Because it was so tiny, nobody even noticed it. Once it was in the middle of them, I flicked my wrist and lifted my hand palm up. The small fireball exploded and sent a bunch of Iron fae flying.

  Before the Iron Fae could find me, I went around the other side of the building and joined the others. Some of the knights were fighting with swords. Others were using hand-to-hand combat. The benders were using elements. A Winter faerie made the ground a sheet of ice while a few Spring faeries moved the air so that it would be hard for someone to stay standing. However, it was just as hard for the fae on our side to stand too.

  An earth bender put up a wall, trying to hold them off, but an earth bender on their side would knock it down. A water bender would use ice or water only to have a fire bender destroy it.

  Lumi was off to the right shooting ice from her hands, and Tannon was next to her fighting an Iron Fae with his sword. The Iron Fae’s sword sliced Tannon’s side, and Tannon fell to the ground. The Iron Fae turned to Lumi, and my breath caught. I ran toward her, but I was too far away. I wouldn’t get to her in time.

  “No!” I yelled, slamming my foot into the ground. Suddenly the earth opened up. Following it with my eyes, I watched as it cracked right in between Lumi and the Iron Fae about to kill her.

  Lumi looked up, and our eyes met. She smiled, and I nodded before turning back to the battle. The crack should give her enough time to help Tannon and regroup.

  Scanning the area, I felt the enormity of the situation. People were fighting for their lives. If only I could talk to the leader, maybe I could put an end to this, but I didn’t even know who it was. With all of the Iron Fae mixed in with ours, there wasn’t a lot I could do that wouldn’t hurt the faeries on our side. Any kind of bending would affect both sides. There was no way to single the Iron Fae out. At this point, everything had to be hand-to-hand, weapon fighting, or surprises.

  Movement to the far right caught my attention. Navin and Iris were fighting a small group of faeries trying to sneak off toward the woods, which would lead them to Spring Land.

  As I hurried toward my friends, they injured two of the Iron Fae, but two more still came at them. Navin and
Iris fought them with swords, but Iris wasn’t as good as Navin and took a hit in the stomach. She collapsed to the ground just as I got there.

  Two Iron Fae were left. I threw an ice ball at one of them, hitting her in the back of the head. She flopped to the earth in a heap, unconscious. The other Iron faerie spun and looked at me.

  “Navin, get Iris and get her healed.”

  Navin scooped Iris up and rushed off with her, leaving me with one Spring Iron faerie.

  A blast of air hit hard, causing me to lose my footing. Quickly I wrapped ice around my feet so I couldn’t be knocked down. I hit back with fire, but the Iron faerie was quick and dodged them all. I melted the ice at my feet back to water. Gathering it in my hand, I threw it at his feet and changed it into a sheet of ice that he slipped on but didn’t fall. He jumped off it and threw air at me so hard it pushed me back against a tree.

  He kept pressure on the air so I couldn’t get free. Fury raged inside of me as I struggled. “Look who captured the Winter queen,” he said proudly as he placed his hands on my shoulders. When he leaned in as if he were going to kiss me, I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head away. He grabbed my head and slammed it against the tree. Pain shot through my head and neck.

  I was able to move my leg enough to kick him in the shin. The annoyance in his eyes turned to hatred, and he grabbed my neck, closing off my airway.

  Struggling to breathe, I gained just enough control to grab his throat with one of my hands. Then I commanded the water in him to rush to his lungs. Seconds later, he was gagging on the water in his body. His hands let go of me and rushed to his neck. He staggered backward and fell onto the ground. I had no doubt the sounds that came from him would haunt me forever. Looking at the Iron faerie on the ground, I felt guilty. Drowning someone was something I had never done. I killed him. I hadn’t killed anyone before and doing so made me feel sick.

  It was then our reinforcements came, and the battle continued. I realized the Iron Fae weren’t going to give up, not unless they were all dead. They’d keep fighting. A number of our faeries were captured under at least three of their nets. Too many others had arrows sticking out of them. Unnecessary death.

  I had to do something different. Something that would get their attention, but also threaten that if they didn’t do what I wanted, I would unleash fury as they’d never seen.

  Putting my hands up, I created a huge ball of water, and using air, I kept it high in the sky over the heads of the Iron Fae. One by one, all of the fae looked up. Walking toward them with my hands still up, I said, “If I let that ball fall, I will turn it to ice as soon as it hits the ground. It will freeze everything it touches instantly. I want to talk to your leader. You have ten seconds. One…two…”

  The Iron Fae looked around as if they weren’t sure what to do.

  “I am the leader of the Iron Fae,” a female voice came from the left.

  I looked over but couldn’t see where the voice had come from.

  “Show yourself!” I demanded, letting the ball drop a few feet.

  A petite faerie with white and lavender wings stepped out from behind a large Iron faerie. The Iron Fae leader was a Winter faerie? Since she was covered in battle makeup, I couldn’t see her face very well, but one thing I could tell just by looking into her eyes…she couldn’t be much older than me. That shook me. Their queen was a young, petite, Winter faerie. I had to rethink some things. Why were they being led by someone so young?

  The Iron Fae had been banished, but that punishment was supposed to have been lifted long ago. These were faeries who were never given a second chance. I needed to apologize for what happened, and hopefully, that would open a door.

  “I am Aurora, queen of the Winter fae.”

  “I know,” she said as if it didn’t matter. She didn’t offer her name.

  “What can I call you?”

  “It doesn’t matter. My faeries will destroy all of you quickly.”

  “Before you go on a spree to destroy everything, could we please talk?” I asked politely.

  One of her guards leaned toward her and whispered something in her ear.

  The Iron Fae leader faced me. “We have nothing to talk about.”

  I needed to talk to her alone without the guards and knights and everyone watching. Spinning in a circle, I put up an ice-fire wall, isolating the Iron Fae leader and me. “Now maybe we can get a minute’s peace.”

  “What is that?” She stared at the blue flames.

  “Ice–fire. You don’t want to touch it.”

  “My guards won’t be happy.”

  “I need you to listen to me without distractions.”

  “Fine.”

  “You are owed an apology. A huge apology. And I want to be the one to give it to you.”

  I could tell she was taken aback, wondering if this was the truth.

  “Long ago, your ancestors were banished, and the royals were supposed to reevaluate their punishment when those who banished them passed on. That did not happen. Although I wasn’t queen at that time, I am truly sorry.” She didn’t say anything, so I continued. “This didn’t come to light until I was banished. None of the royals wanted to deal with it. Maybe it was easier for them to keep you banished. Maybe they were scared of what you had become. I don’t know. It wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t right. I want to fix this. Let us reevaluate now.”

  She was quiet for a minute. “How do I know you will do as you say?”

  “I give you my word, but I’m sure that doesn’t mean anything to you. I’m not sure how to convince you what I say is true. I was banished to the human realm for falling in love and only allowed to return when my parents died. Sorin and I got a second chance. You didn’t. You can trust us to make this right, but we must stop the fighting first.”

  “Our lands have fought forever. How do we make them stop?”

  “We’re the leaders, the queens, right? They have to obey.”

  “Isn’t that forcing them to do something?”

  She had a point. “If my faeries knew what had happened all those years ago, I think they’d realize what has happened since is wrong and offer peace. If you tell yours what happened, that we didn’t know, that the royals kept it to themselves, do you think they could learn how to forgive us and live in peace?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Well, maybe is better than no. We could try. Call a ceasefire, and let’s talk.”

  “I will try, but one wrong move, and we will be back to where we were.”

  “Understood. May I know your name now?”

  “Isolde.”

  “Nice to meet you, Isolde. Ready to do this?” I asked.

  Isolde nodded.

  I dropped the ice–fire circle.

  I took Isolde’s hand and raised our hands up over our heads, trying to show everyone we were united. Murmurs flew through the crowd.

  “Queen Isolde has agreed to call a ceasefire—”

  The Iron Fae growled.

  I continued, “Our ancestors did the wrong thing many years ago. Originally, the royals banished the Iron Fae to the outer lands, but it was only to last until those royals passed on. The new royals were supposed to hold another trial to see if the Iron Fae had changed their thinking. That didn’t happen. Just now I apologized to Queen Isolde for that wrongdoing and asked her to let us give them that second chance. Please put down the weapons, and let us do things the right way.”

  Nobody moved. Not one soul.

  “Maybe you should say something,” I whispered to Isolde.

  “Queen Aurora is right. It is time for peace.” Isolde smiled at me, and I returned the smile. “Lower the weapons. Lift the nets.”

  The Iron Fae did as they were told, and as soon as they did, so did the Winter Fae. Sorin ran over to where I stood with Isolde. He planted a kiss on my lips and held my other hand. “Summer Fae, as your king, I ask you to lower your weapons and take part in this ceasefire.”

  The Summer Fae lowered their weapons.

&nb
sp; Out of the building walked the Autumn and Spring royals, looking a little shaky. All of them agreed to the ceasefire as well, and soon all the weapons were down.

  Sorin walked off to talk to Keir before we headed into the building to talk specifics.

  Movement off to the side caught my eye, and I turned. Someone was raising his weapon, and within a second, I realized it was an Iron Fae, and he was aiming at Isolde.

  “No!” I yelled, throwing myself in front of Isolde. I felt searing pain as an arrow went through the right side of my chest. Gasping for breath, I felt as if I were choking.

  “Aurora!” Sorin called, but Keir grabbed hold of him to keep him safe.

  Then it was as though I lost all control of my body, and my legs buckled. Isolde caught me under my arms and laid me on the ground. She jumped up and looked in the direction the arrow came from. With swift movements of her arms, she created a lasso of water around the Iron faerie and pulled him to her.

  “What is the meaning of this?” she seethed.

  The Iron faerie scowled and answered, “You are considering peace with these fae!”

  “And that warrants an attempt on my life? Who do you think you are?”

  “Someone whose judgment isn’t clouded.”

  “Clouded? I’m seeing crystal clear. This is the best option for us. It can work. Do you think I enjoy attacking the lands we’re from? I don’t. When the land I’m from hurts, it pains me.”

  “But if we listen to Eira—”

  Isolde scoffed as a piercing sensation formed around my wound. “That little witch is a traitor to her family and her land, and she even tried to murder her own flesh and blood. You think I’m going to trust her? That woman has nothing but a hateful soul.”

  “She can help us.”

  “No. She can’t. The one who can is lying on the ground with an arrow sticking out of her chest. She saved me. She’s known me for all of five minutes, and she jumped in front of an arrow to save me. She’s the one who I trust to help us. She’s already made strides in changing laws that never seemed possible before. It’s she who has my trust because I know she’s the one who will be able to create peace so we can visit our home lands that we so desperately miss.”