Embers of Passion

by Genna Love

  Her brother lunged in front of their parents, but an arrow pierced him straight through the heart. Her father took his mother’s hand and squeezed it as they gave each other one final look before the tall guard who had scanned the ground and another guard slid their daggers straight over their flesh and slit their throats.

  “No!” Zarah dropped to her knees as rage exploded in her soul. Everything around her grew silent.

  Motion raced in her peripheral, but she couldn’t pull her stare away from the balcony. This couldn’t be real. This must be a dream. A horrible, awful, soul-crushing nightmare.

  Then Aerilyn’s gaze met hers, tears pouring from her sister’s face, and the rush of screaming burst in her ears.

  Taariq and Eli pulled her up. “We need to get out of here.”

  Marius followed her sister’s eyes and a sly grin curved on his face when he recognized Zarah in the crowd. “She’s over there.” He pointed straight at her.

  If she could reach him before the guards found her, she would gladly die as long as, first, she burned every bit of skin right off his horrible face. But he was too high up, and without going through the cathedral, there was no way for her to get to him.

  Which meant, if the guards caught her, she would never get the chance to make him pay.

  Zarah

  It was as if Zarah was trapped in a nightmare she’d never wake from.

  Sounds swirled around her into a cacophony of noise that pierced her eardrums. Her vision blurred as vibrant colors of fabric moved around her.

  The guards were coming. They would take her and they would kill her just as they’d just done to everyone in her family except Aerilyn, only Zarah doubted her death would be as quick. No, Marius was sure to make her suffer. Her small bit of satisfaction came from knowing that he would live with the scar she’d given him the rest of his life. He could kill her, but he’d never forget her.

  “We need to move,” a voice said next to her, deep and calm. It took a moment, but Zarah recognized it as Eli’s.

  This time Taariq spoke. “Where exactly are we going to go? If they see what area you live in, we’ll have nowhere else to hide.”

  An intense burst of serenity ebbed through her, growing stronger by the second. Instinctively, she turned to her left and saw a hooded figure approaching, moving against the crowd.

  Taariq raised his fist, but Zarah gently pulled his arm down.

  When the person was closer, she saw his familiar brown eyes. It was the man from her dream. The Monk had found her just as Madame Briar said he would.

  “You must follow me. Now.” Despite the serene feeling he exuded, his tone was laced with worry.

  “Who are you?” Eli asked.

  “He’s an air mage,” Zarah said. She had no idea how she knew it, but she was certain. “We can trust him.”

  “This way,” the man said. “Keep low.”

  She gave one look back to the stage, desperate to see her sister again, but Aerilyn and Marius were gone.

  How had this all happened? Was it revenge for what she had done to him? Had she gotten her parents and brother murdered? Her heart had been split in two, tied together only by the fact that at least Aerilyn still lived.

  The crowd moved in all different directions, frantic from what they all just witnessed. Their rulers had been killed in front of their very eyes. It was a declaration of war like no other, yet who was there to do anything about it?

  The Lyrian city guards stood there, still as trees, as the people scrambled.

  With her parents murdered, would they revolt? Could they somehow save her sister? Or would they bow to Marius in order to keep some semblance of peace?

  Eli and Taariq kept close to Zarah as they zigzagged through the panic. Thankfully, wherever the Monk was leading them was in the opposite direction of Eli’s house. She kept her headscarf tight on her head, and as much as she wanted to check if any guards were following them, she didn’t dare risk it. The Lyrian guards were too shocked, so the only guards she feared right then were the Cardasian ones.

  Her legs tired more with every step as her body grew weak. Nausea pulsed in the pit of her stomach—rage, fear, and pain all churning inside her gut. She couldn’t fall apart. Not now. Not if she ever wanted the chance to avenge her family and kill Marius and his entire family. And she’d never wanted anything more.

  The Monk’s pace quickened, and Eli tugged Zarah along to catch up. When they broke from the thick crowd, they were more visible, but they could move even faster now.

  “It isn’t far,” the Monk said, not turning back.

  They all rounded a corner and a large, stone monastery appeared. It was detached from all the buildings around it, with two tall pillars reaching into the sky on each side of the entrance. Zarah had never been to this part of town.

  “Inside, quickly.” The Monk held the door open as she and the others hurried up the stairs and into the monastery. “Through here.”

  They rushed down a path toward a large statue of a woman holding a child. Sun beamed through the giant stained glass windows and shined directly on the sapphire in the middle of the woman’s forehead, highlighting the many cuts of the beautiful stone. Zarah couldn’t pry her eyes from its deep blue color until Eli pulled her out of its view.

  The Monk folded back a brown and gray rug to reveal a square door in the floor. He grabbed the handle and pulled it open. “Hurry, down the stairs. I’ll come back for you when it’s safe.”

  Eli didn’t move, blocking Zarah’s path forward. “How do we know this isn’t a trap?”

  The Monk said, “You don’t. But what choice do you have?”

  “Let’s go.” Zarah drew her hand from Eli’s and headed down the stairs into a large, empty room. Although she couldn’t explain this newfound connection to her intuition, she trusted it. The Monk hadn’t appeared in her dreams randomly. She didn’t know how—or why—but something was guiding her.

  The three men followed her.

  “I have to get back to my brothers for now, but I will return when it’s clear for you to leave.” He grabbed an oil lamp from the corner of the room and handed it to Eli. “I will explain more later, but you will be safe. You have my word.” His stare bore into Zarah’s.

  Just like in her dream, her stomach twisted into a knot. Now she realized, her dream had been some sort of premonition of this very day. He’d come to her in the garden then as a sign that she would someday be able to trust him. His dream-version knew something dark waited ahead. And now it had come.

  “Thank you.” She pressed her hands together in a prayer gesture and bowed. It was a sign of respect for Monks, or at least that’s what the book she’d read had said.

  He mimicked her gesture then climbed the stairs and shut the door, leaving them in the dark.

  Taariq created a ball of fire to illuminate the room as Eli flicked on the oil lamp.

  “Is it really the best time to be doing that?” Eli asked him.

  “No one can see us down here.” He shrugged but pulled the magic back into himself. “And I’m pretty sure if they find us with Zarah, me using magic won’t make much of a difference.”

  Now, as her heart rate slowed from the thrill of escape, the air in the room thickened, reality pressing into Zarah like a wave of heat. She dropped to her knees and reached for her throat.

  The guards had sliced her parents like they were nothing. They were the King and Queen of Lyria, and those bastards cut them down like trees. And now… they were gone.

  And what about Leo? Her older brother had always encouraged her to go for her wild dreams of riding horses and shooting arrows, no matter if they weren’t deemed appropriate for ladies. He was the first one to take her riding, and when their father found out, he stood up for Zarah. He was supposed to be king someday. But he never would.

  She’d never even gotten to say goodbye. And now it was too late.

  She urged tears to come. She should be bawling, so why couldn’t she muster a single sob?
<
br />   And what about her sister? What would the monsters do with her?

  “Why didn’t they kill Aerilyn?” Zarah asked no one in particular. “Was this all to get back at me for what I did? Is this all my fault?”

  The two men kneeled next to her, each taking one of her hands.

  “With your family…gone,” Eli started as he set down the oil lamp, “and you stripped of your title, Aerilyn is now the Queen. I imagine they plan to leave the prince here to rule as king alongside her.”

  Zarah was thankful her sister had been spared—at least, for now—but she still didn’t understand their actions. “Why not just kill them all and Marius could rule anyway?”

  “By leaving Aerilyn as queen, they might hope to prevent a rebellion. Or perhaps the prince is fond of her. I wish I could give you a more certain answer.” Eli frowned. “But this isn’t your fault. Your family did what they could to rectify the pain you caused the prince, even though he deserved every ounce of it. They did this. Not you.”

  “For all you know, they had this planned from the beginning,” Taariq added. “Perhaps if you’d have been the one to marry the fucker, then your sister would have been killed, as well.”

  Could that have been true? What if she hadn’t left the castle that night? Her magic might not have been triggered. The next morning, she would have joined Marius in the courtyard, fallen for his small flirtation, then hated him more than ever. But she would have, begrudgingly, followed through with her duty as Lyrian princess and married him as her father wished.

  She imagined Aerilyn crumpling to the ground in a pool of her own blood gushing from the slit in her throat. Bile rose up her throat. She brought her hands to her stomach as she swallowed the horrific image.

  She might have been wrong before. There was a chance her choices had saved her sister’s life. But there was also a chance that her choices were what got her family killed. And unless she knew for sure which was true, no guilt would be lifted from her.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “My ship leaves in the morning, and after today, we must be on it.” Eli lifted the lamp and stood. “The search for you will only be more important now that they know you’re still in the kingdom. With you alive, Aerilyn’s right to the crown could be questioned. They might fear you causing an uprising.”

  Wrath coursed through her. “What if I tried? The people don’t know I have magic. It would be Marius’s word against mine, and they just witnessed him kill their rulers.”

  Eli frowned. “If people would follow you, starting a revolution is only the first step. Regular Lyrians aren’t fighters. You might convince some of the army to join your side, but many won’t want to risk the safety of their families without confidence that you can win.”

  “But…” She wanted to destroy everything the Cardasians wanted. Their plans, their kingdom, and finally, she wanted to destroy them. But Eli was right. She couldn’t beat them on rage alone. “What do we do now?”

  “Somehow, we must get to my ship without being caught. And then you must leave Lyria behind you. Forever.”

  How could she leave now? Even more than before, she needed to protect her little sister. Aerilyn would be nothing more than a pawn to them, now. But the castle would be more guarded than ever.

  With Eli now pacing the room, Taariq moved in front of Zarah and took both her hands into his own. “You can’t save her.”

  “I…” How did he know what she was thinking? “What are you talking about?”

  “You’re wearing the same look you wore when you asked me to help you get into the castle the first time, Princess,” he said. “And if you try, you will wind up killed, and what good will that do anyone?”

  It was hard enough before to leave Aerilyn, but now, the thought of deserting her little sister after the events of the day was unbearable. Zarah yanked her hands from his and clasped them over her tightened chest. “I won’t know how to live with myself if I abandon her now.”

  “You aren’t abandoning her. You’re saving yourself. Either way, her fate is sealed.”

  She wanted to argue, to think of some plan where she could both rescue her sister and not end up caught and executed, but she had nothing. At least, not yet.

  If Madame Briar had been right, she could become the most powerful mage to exist. She couldn’t protect Aerilyn right then, but when she mastered all the elements, she would return and free her sister.

  And then, she would make everyone who’d hurt her family pay.

  Zarah

  No matter how hard Zarah tried, she couldn’t keep the mental replay of the guards slicing her parent’s throats from circling in her thoughts. In the moment, everything had happened so fast. But now, reliving the horrid moment in her mind, she recalled the finest details.

  Leo had screamed as he tried to protect their parents. As the arrow struck him, the life in his eyes had faded in a blink.

  Her father had clenched a fist as the guards approached them. Her mother stared at Leo’s dead body.

  Aerilyn’s face had twisted with a level of anger Zarah had never seen from her sister.

  And any small bit of innocence Zarah had still possessed had crumbled into ash.

  Now, she waited in the underground room. Whether her eyes were open or closed, the memory dug its claws into her head, bringing nausea to her stomach.

  She desperately wanted to wake up from this nightmare. If only it were nothing more than her fear getting the best of her, stirring up a bad dream as she slept soundly in the bed at Eli’s.

  But it wasn’t a bad dream, and there would be no waking up to everything how it was before the ceremony.

  Zarah, Taariq, and Eli all sat on the ground in the empty room beneath the monastery, waiting for the Monk’s return. In the craze of the escape, she hadn’t even gotten his name.

  Back when they were children, she and her sister would make up games to play whenever their presence was required at any boring dinner or event. One of their favorites was to guess the name of any guest they hadn’t met yet. Zarah tried to distract herself by playing their old game to predict the Monk’s name, but all it did was remind her of her family.

  Every muscle in her body tensed as she thought of Prince Marius. She imagined taking the blade and piercing it into his flesh over and over until the pain was too much for him to take. To force him to watch as she murdered his parents. Or she could use her new gift of fire to dull the life from his body inch by inch.

  Never before had such dark thoughts penetrated her mind.

  What would her mother think? She’d always urged her to tame herself. To fit inside the mold of princess, woman, and someday, wife. That had never been Zarah’s way, though. She had always left her mind unfiltered, and now, she allowed the sinful images to churn.

  “What if the Monk plans to leave us here all night?” Taariq broke the silence that had been lingering for over an hour. “We can’t catch your ship if we’re stuck here.”

  “I hate to agree with you,” Eli mumbled. “But my ship won’t return for two weeks, and waiting in Lyria is more dangerous than ever.”

  Zarah focused on Taariq’s shadow on the wall as the two men talked.

  “Why would your ship leave without you?” Taariq asked. “You are the captain, right?”

  “Because that’s what they’ve been instructed to do. There have been times where trade negotiations have proven more difficult and I’ve needed more time, so my crew now knows that unless I’ve instructed them otherwise, if I’m not there, they’re to take off without me.”

  “Well, why didn’t you instruct them otherwise?” Taariq stood up and lifted his arms.

  “How I run my ship is my business.”

  “Everyone calm down.” Zarah allowed her eyes to focus. “He will return, and we will get out of here. And if not, arguing about it won’t help.”

  “How are you…feeling?” Eli asked, now eyeing her cautiously.

  “Angry, devastated, brimming with hate.” Those were on
ly a few of the many emotions she felt. “But my feelings don’t matter either. All that matters is we find a way out of the kingdom.”

  As strong as the bouquet of emotions stirred in her, she forced herself to keep focused on the first step of her new goal. She would leave the kingdom and master magic.

  Heavy footsteps pounded above them.

  Eli and Taariq moved quickly to the far wall next to Zarah. Once they were all huddled, close, Eli turned out the lamp.

  “This is a sacred space,” an unfamiliar voice said.

  “No, it’s a building inside the Lyrian kingdom, and King Marius has ordered everywhere inside the Penrith’s walls to be searched,” a deeper voice said.

  Each stomp above caused Zarah to flinch. If the guard lifted the rug, he would see the door and it would lead him straight to them. There was no way to escape the room but the way they came. They would have no choice but to fight. And if it were only a guard or two, they might be able to get away. But if there were many more, it would end in Zarah and her men losing their heads.

  Eventually, the steps softened as the guard left the area above them.

  None of the three dared speak as they waited for someone to double check the room and locate them. Another hour later, the door opened.

  Taariq and Eli stepped protectively in front of Zarah. She peeked in between them and as the Monk descended the stairs.

  His hood was pulled down and he wore a ragged brown robe instead of the fine navy robe he was dressed in before.

  “I am sorry everything was so frantic before.” He stared at the other two men until Zarah stepped around them. Then, his gaze fixed on her. “We need to be quick, but the guards are gone from this area now.”

  Zarah approached him and stretched for his hand. Now that the man in her dreams had appeared in real life, the ideas Madame Briar shared weren’t quite as ludicrous. The Monk didn’t reach for her, but he allowed her fingers to graze his. “You were in my dreams.”