“Be kind, Kar,” Oma said quietly as she too stood from her seat.
The fight left Ember, as did all color from her face.
Cindrea whispered loudly to Wally, “I told you she was cruel.” He looked back at her with a squinting eye, not recalling that conversation.
Oma shifted gears, turning her tone to Ember’s lady in waiting. Unable to save her daughter, she seemed to take a lot out on the fierce Cindrea.
“Cindrea, why don’t you leave to get ready. We no longer need your services.”
Not seeming to mind; Cindrea left without complaint.
“I'm here to walk you down,” Karwyn said, as she walked to the door, staring down the hall at Cindrea as she walked into her neighboring room to get ready. It was as if the past few minutes hadn’t happened at all, as if she had just arrived and didn’t insult her daughter seconds prior.
Amir and Wally stood awkwardly by the fireplace, awaiting their departure and pretending not to notice the strange behavior. A cough came from the hallway and Ember realized the Queen’s guards, whom she had yet to get to know outside of Zhieve’s behavior, must have been waiting in the hallway this whole time.
With a hug from her Oma and a nod to her guards, Ember squared her shoulders and walked towards her mother. This was not the time for fear or upset. This was her first day addressing the people she would have to one day rule.
Maybe one day she would get used to it, but Ember knew that day wasn’t today. This ball was non-negotiable, so she reminded herself that this would be the most hectic her life would be for a while. After tonight, she could ease into it. Oma could guide her. Maybe Jedidiah would even ease up with Oma here to support her.
There were many traditions for this night, her debut into society, and the first one was about to begin. The current queen would always present her successor to her subjects, as an acceptance of their monarchy and a passing of the torch when Mutrien willed it.
“You’ll do great,” Amir said as she passed. She smiled back at him. Karwyn’s eyes were unfocused as she took in the hall and stairs before them. Her hand reached for and now gripped Ember’s tightly as they moved down the stairs. As the former Dragon Daughter, she must have walked down these stairs many times. In fact, so did Ember’s moms.
She glanced at the Queen, recalling all that her moms had said about the woman. Knowing now how close they must have been to each other, she didn’t know how to act. She knew she’d have to get her alone to speak, but she has never seen her mother without her guards. And now, Zhieve was here, leading them down the stairs.
“We need to take care of the people that take care of us,” Oma told her when they first began ball discussions. One tradition that had alarmed her were the parties outside the palace gates and how long the party would last. At sunrise, Ember would greet them from the balcony and discuss their new plans for the Fateless.
Anyone and everyone could come to catch a glimpse of the future queen during her debut, but only those formally invited could be in the main ballroom and its private gardens. Even as an invite-only event, those in attendance were large since every keyholder could bring their family and prominent guests from their province. Many people had a day away from their purpose to attend and celebrate, which made Amlin’s refusal to let Hasley attend the ball even more infuriating.
Ember glanced at her mother behind her as they walked single-file down the stairs with their guards. The faraway look she saw there startled Ember. Karwyn was haunted, memories swarming in her eyes.
“You look like him,” Karwyn said.
Ember turned around, not seeing the connection at all, and forced herself to focus on putting one foot after another. Ember began to shake in nervousness, her knees almost turning inwards as they paused at the end of the stairs.
“It’s just one night,” Ember said softly to herself, not realizing that she had until the Queen answered.
“No,” Karwyn replied, taking Ember’s hand again on the bottom step. She forced Ember’s face to look straight into her own again as she pulled her daughter forward. In a moment of lucidness, she seemed to think and speak clearly. “This is a day you will always remember.”
Ember knew there was truth in that. This ball was a demarcation in her life. An unstoppable moment that was bound to come and would likely come again for every ruler afterward. The last moment she was free.
There is nothing strange about me.
Eleven
"It's you."
“Good luck, Dragon Daughter,” Wally said, taking one of the large doors as Amir opened the other. Zhieve walked through first with two other guards, followed by Ember, Karwyn, and then the rest of Ember’s guards.
The second they came into sight, a hush spread as if on a wave. The elegantly dressed men and women in a myriad of colors stilled. The further along they walked, the more the quiet became an ache in Ember.
She noted some of the traditional decorations Ahnika had described to her during their lesson. Along the entrance of the main ballroom was a garland created from tree branches and fallen leaves. They combined branches from previous celebrations with ones from the current year. It symbolized Ember entering into a relationship with the past and future generations. Many of the decorations were created with that symbolism in mind. Both old and new, present everywhere. The life Mutrien provided and the pair Aaleia brought to you. While this was supposed to feature more Aaleian influences than Mutrien, some aspects snuck into her debut.
As she stepped past the threshold and into the space designated for the ball, she felt crushed by the sudden weight of silence. Dozens of bodies looked expectantly at her. They judged her movements, her outfit, and her entire life in the split second first impression. The Dragon Daughters before her had several years to build up to this. Three weeks was not enough time.
She took one step forward and felt their expectations curl around her. Karwyn pumped her hand twice before leading her into the center of the room. The guards fell back. Karwyn took a deep steadying breath before addressing the crowd. A collective breath was held as the Queen opened her mouth to speak.
“I give you, Embrence Dragon Daughter.”
Karwyn stepped away from her daughter, and Ember was left alone in the center of a sea of guests. She turned 360 degrees around the space, not seeing Hasley in the crowd, she stopped when she saw someone she recognized. Her eyes trailed to the thrones at the end of the room. Jedoriah stood there by the thrones in his completely black attire. He walked purposefully towards her. His slow pace left her feeling vulnerable, but she didn’t look away. The familiar, albeit intimidating, man she knew was a better focal point than the hundreds of hopeful faces in her periphery.
Ember pinched the inside of her wrist to keep herself standing tall. She would not slouch or cower. She would not scratch her scales. There were many things that Ember told herself that she would not do at this moment, but the main request she asked of her soul was that she not cry. The attention surrounding her was a suffocation she was not used to. The instinct to hide was too ingrained in her life up until these past three weeks for the habit to have died down.
Finally before her, Jedoriah’s boot hit the floor with a click. His hand extended for her left and he placed his right onto her waist. Without any commentary, he pulled Ember into a dance, and she followed on instinct as he led her around the room. While spinning, she couldn’t ignore the world around her. At each step, a new group of faces emerged. The whispers began to climb, a crescendo of voices and soon she was spinning and spinning into them. They moved with her, taking her through their hopes. Faces of excitement, trepidation, reverence, and more swam in circles around them.
Whispers left behind, the crowd started to cheer and clap. All around her, Ember heard her birth name shouted. In honor and in horror, she took their praises. She looked to Jedoriah, still spinning her gracefully around the room. His face played an act she hadn’t seen before, displaying affection and care for her as he smiled and twirled her with fo
rce around the room. The lit lanterns blurred around him, and spots formed in her vision as he danced faster, taking her through unfamiliar steps as the music changed. He looked almost handsome, the blue of his hair bright in contrast to his black clothing.
They stopped their dance back at the center of the ballroom as the music gracefully fell away. Jedoriah put his hand into the air with an unspoken command. The voices joined the instruments back into the quiet. Once they obeyed, he projected loudly for all in the palace to hear. Ember held her arms behind her back, restraining herself and trying to open her body up for more air. Her breath disagreed with her own personal orders to remain calm as her heart also began to dance.
“We hoped this day would come, but dreaded that it never would,” he began, calling to their fear of being without an heir. To her knowledge, it was the first public acknowledgment that it was a possibility they considered.
“We are so grateful to our royal guards, men charged under my duty with the task of finding our only daughter unharmed. And she was found, only a few days travel from where we now stand.” He gestured to the men bordering the room and Ember smiled back at them, their faces beaming with pride.
“She was taken,” he proclaimed, “from my pair’s birthing chambers by two of her ladies in waiting. They did not harm her; they were just misguided in the ways of the gods. They misinterpreted the will of our world and wanted to protect our Dragon Daughter themselves.”
When Jedoriah told Ember that he would need to address her kidnapping during the ball, Ember had insisted that the family that raised her not be tarnished during her debut. Thankfully, Jedoriah had agreed that more unrest was not necessary.
“And now, we are all gathered here today to bring honor to her life, her return to us, and to the people of Ashkadance. So, we invite you to get to know our Embrence Dragon Daughter. Dance with her, speak to her…” His voice trailed, looking back from the crowd to Ember. He moved forward and Ember saw the show he was projecting. The difference in how he looked at her when they were among those that knew about her mother, and how he then looked to their people.
His hands came down on top of her shoulders, and he projected again to the crowd, looking Ember straight in the face as he did so. While his voice seemed proud and kind, Ember saw in his eyes something much more sinister.
“As she will one day be our queen.”
“Hello.” Her first dance partner was next to her in moments. A tall and imposing man that stood stoic in front of her. She complimented the buttons on his coat, naming the gem that adorned them as a distraction from her nerves. The man barely noticed as he stared at her scales the whole dance, not saying a word. She let him go the second it was appropriate, and before she knew it, another person was in front of her. This time a female anchoris trainer. Ember immediately disliked her for the way she talked about the beasts. It reminded Ember to go and visit them in the stables the next day.
Queasiness overtook her stomach after her seventh spin and as many partners. Her feet ached, and she wished she could cover her scales again. Wouldn’t there be another break for speeches soon? What about a break for food? Or even prayer? Ember would take any excuse to stop as her chest began heaving, and she completely ignored what her next partner said. The world began to close its ugly mouth, and she felt its teeth prickling her neck.
“Are you well, Dragon Daughter?” Her latest partner asked. She nodded, unable to form more than a sobbing gasp. Ember told herself it was only another minute longer.
But she was not okay. In fact, she could barely keep standing as the crowd seemed to push closer to them. Many people primed to jump away from their current dance partners as soon as she was available. Ember looked desperately for any familiar faces, having yet to see Cindrea in the crowd and needing someone to take her away from the close heat of these bodies. Her eyes searched wildly until she spotted Amir standing before one of the glass doors that lead to the garden entrances
Ember detached her arms from her dance partner and squeezed between bodies, the touch of so many people surrounding her felt slick and balmy. Her body began to heat.
Finally breaking from the crowd, Amir recognized the panic in her features. He met her halfway, pulling Ember with him to the garden door. He gestured for Wally to guard the entrance and they escaped. The garden was blissfully quiet.
She fell almost limp as Amir helped right her stance, her breaths coming in shallow puffs. She tried to force her breathing to slow, taking in whiffs of the white Gardemonian flower bushes that surrounded this outdoor sanctuary. Ember shut her eyes tight, wrapping her arms around her upper body in a choking hug. Amir Captain put his arms around her shoulders.
“It's going to be alright,” he said. Ember heard the concern in his voice and looked up. Her eyes slid into the background of twinkling lights and suspended candles. She froze as a figure from behind Amir came into focus.
“Are you okay?” The new voice asked from behind them.
Ember lowered her arms, and Amir turned to see who had spoken. When he was out of her vision and only the stranger stood in her sights, the world became alight with a gold and glittering glow. Sparks shot from her chest, bouncing off of her heart and scales. A light erupted from his chest, electricity pulsing between them. She felt an unexplainable current drawing her closer to this man and tingling up from her toes to her ears. He felt the same, approaching as if pulled towards her on an invisible thread. Their eyes locked on each other.
“It's you,” Ember whispered.
“It's you,” he said back, eyes widening as his hand outstretched towards her.
Twelve
"You're a guard?"
Ember met him in the middle, staring into chocolate eyes rimmed with blue. Their hands entwined and gold sparks shot between them. A shower of heat surrounded them as they pulled closer.
She knew now what the fating was. That feeling that every other Dragon Daughter and what most of Ashkadance had felt before her. And Ember did understand. She believed a woman could find her home in a dragon’s arms because she had never felt as safe as she did now with this stranger. Barely a second had passed between them, yet she knew. Her pair. The one person Aaleia had chosen for her. He was here before her eyes, and she couldn’t look away.
His arms enveloped her, and Ember inhaled the sweet scent of his skin. She heard sounds around them: Amir speaking, the opening of doors, and a fluttering of the ball’s music. It muffled around her like a bubble popping in the sea. Her head landed on this man’s chest, and it was the single most comforting experience Ember had ever had. She felt the sparks between them break and grow stronger as their bodies held each other. She noticed the uniform he wore as her eyes fluttered open after a moment in his arms. She asked her first question.
“You’re a guard?”
He laughed at a joke she didn't know.
“Yes, from Cruelindime. My first week.”
His first week as a guard, and it happened to be to provide assistance at the ball. Aaleia worked in mysterious ways.
He looked down at her, lifting his cheek from the top of her head so that he could stare into her eyes again. Ember lifted her head instinctually to do the same.
“And you are the long lost Dragon Daughter.” His voice held a wonder to it.
Ember blushed. “It was a surprise to me too.”
“I bet.” His pearly teeth shone with laughter, and his eyes twinkled at her.
Ember felt mesmerized. She couldn't look away as gold reflected from his dark skin and square-shaped face. He laughed again, finding it as easy to feel joy as it was for him to breathe. Ember laughed back as she felt tears slip down her face. She put one palm up to his face, catching a spare tear from his own eyes.
“Why are you crying?” she asked.
“I don’t know, why are you?” he asked. She brushed his tears away, his face leaning into her hand. She felt serene and exhilarated, a heart that beat an extra thump when in love rather than pain. She hoped the feeling never e
nded, that this moment stayed frozen with her.
A shuffle came from behind her, and Ember half-turned to see her Karwyn coming out of the ballroom. She glanced frantically in both directions before settling on their golden forms. Amir sat on the bench to the left, waiting. He jumped to his feet at the sight of the Queen.
Ember wanted to know more about the person that had become her forever. She ignored her mother momentarily, turning back to her pair. She needed to introduce him.
“What's your n—” Ember began. His mouth opened to answer, but they were pulled away from each by the Queen’s surprisingly strong arms.
Amir walked towards Ember, pulling her back from the Queen, eyes wide in shock.
“What are you doing?” Amir yelled at the Queen, disregarding the fact that she was his monarch. Ember protested from behind Amir, blocking her path from Karwyn and Ember’s new pair.
“Inside! Now! They! Must! See!” The queen screeched each word, her hair wild around her slim face, crown missing. Ember’s fated pair reached towards the Queen rather than recoiling back, his kindness coming to the surface instantly.
“Are you alright, Karwyn Dragon Queen?” His arms braced in front of him to stop the Queen, but with surprising strength, she grabbed his arms and began tugging him to the door. Shocked and not willing to fight back, he followed her. Gold sparks trailed behind him, and Ember felt them fray away from her heart.
Feeling sick at the thought of being away from him, Ember pushed Amir to follow the Queen. Karwyn did not wait or explain; she opened the door back into the ballroom.
The soft glow of the night sky left their skin and the sounds of their guests filtered through. Karwyn pushed Ember’s pair through the door. He turned back towards Ember, and she grabbed his hand. Their skin exploded in sparkling lights as they touched again. The crowd gasped and the Queen composed herself, smiling and standing tall. Amir awkwardly followed, not sure what to do now that they were in public. More composed now, Karwyn pushed back her hair behind her ears and spoke.
Royalty Fantasy Boxset: Ember Dragon Daughter & Hasley Fateless (Fated Tales Series 1 & 1.5) (The Fated Tales Series: YA Royalty Fantasy) Page 10
