When Ember asked Wally to go on a walk with her the next day, she had no idea what she wanted to say or ask. Ember tried to chase down her thoughts as Wally kept a constant stream of commentary about each plant and different palace gossip. He didn't seem to mind her silence, letting her think as she strolled. Finally, she gave up on being coherent. She left the path and sat in the grass of a wide tree, her long cobalt dress pooling around her.
“What’s wrong, Princess?” Wally asked as he sat beside her.
“Can I not be the Dragon Daughter for a minute?” She mumbled back as she moved her chest to her knees. Her body felt like a cave in collapse and while she knew she should not be on the floor right now, she could not keep herself upright any longer.
“Okay. What’s wrong, Ember?” he rephrased. His soft hands ran a circle down her back, she appreciated the gesture and took in deep inhales.
“What’s it like to be paired to Zhieve?”
His hand paused.
“Why do you ask that?”
Without looking at him, she spoke in a rush. She needed to ask, but was scared she'd lose her nerve.
“Because I feel like I am paired to this palace, this future that I didn’t ask for, and not just Noor and his… affiliation. I have little control and the exact opposite life I had wanted. I wondered if you feel the same about Zhieve and if that’s why you, uh, joined the same group too. So you have more control. An escape.” It was a blunt thing to say, but her thoughts returned to the murderous man her friend was paired too and the words came far too easy to her lips.
“Because in my scenario, Zhieve is the dreary and cold stone I cannot escape?” He asked with tense shoulders, but not an unkind face. He understood how others saw his pair, but he did retract his hand.
“Yes,” she said, feeling guilty immediately for bringing it up. Ember didn’t understand why Aaelia would have thought their hearts matched. Was Zhieve once a kind man? Was he different in private? Would joining the rebellion change Noor?
Wally leaned back in the grass, resting on his elbows before pointing to a flowering patch in the distance.
“You see those purple flowers?” he asked.
The bush held different patches of flowers. They seemed to glow, their purple hue cascading around all the other more subdued white flowers around them. This flower patch was lined with small round stones, and the soil within the stone border appeared leached of color.
“Yes, what about them?” she asked, not taking her eyes away. Was he not going to answer her question? The flowers swayed lightly as a breeze blew past them, but their stocks were stiffer than the rest. The other flowers waved dramatically in the wind, not having that same control. The purple was steadier. Stronger.
“Those flowers are growing out of soot created from a dragon’s fire breath or the remains of an object burned into ash by blood fire.”
Ember’s whole body startled, her eyes widened as she stared at the flowers.
“Really?” She asked, what a peculiar thing to bring up and a strange thing to even exist. Who would plant a flower seed in the destruction of fire?
“That is Zhieve and me. We are the purple flowers. We don’t know why were chosen to be together, but we know we love each other. We know we can make each other a better person and we are working on finding that balance. He is rough, sometimes unsympathetic, but I soften him. I show him kindness, and he shows me strength. He shows me order, and I bring him serendipity,” he said as a way of explanation. Ember understood immediately his message.
“For good to grow, sometimes bad has to burn down. For beauty to flourish, it is often after a struggle,” Wally said, plopping completely down into the grass. His eyes closed and Ember was reminded of the night the fateless man died. Seconds before, they were laying like this in the grass. But then, they were lit by moonlight.
“What about the white flowers?” Ember asked curiously as they moved in the breeze.
“Purging. Parts they no longer need. The flowers that become white instead of purple eventually crumble, become part of the soot. It’s part of life. They are called Kariana's Tears.”
Struck by the thought of the flowers crumbling into ash, Ember laid down next to Wally in the grass. No doubt, her dress would be stained and Cindrea would be angry when cleaning her clothes that night.
Kariana's Tears... She must have been a strong queen. Paired to a dragon, daughter of an over 100 year war, rebuilding from the ash.
“Am I a purple flower or a white one?” Ember asked out loud, looking up at the sun through the trees.
“That’s a question only you can answer,” Wally replied back, eyes still closed.
“Thank you,” Ember said. She knew that this conversation was something she would replay again and again for the rest of her life.
“I will meet them,” Ember said to Noor that night. Her arms were crossed, and she couldn’t look him in the eye. She was scared, felt wide-open in her fear, but she knew that this was something they needed to do together. She could uncover who killed her parents and maybe even some insight into the other kingdoms and merfolk from the traders. Aaleia could have brought them together for this exact reason.
“Thank you, Em, you won’t regret this. I promise.”
She hoped for the sake of her own sanity that she did not.
They had debated for several days on her disguise, cover story, and the inner workings of the rebels. Tonight was finally the night she would meet them under a false identity.
Noor’s cover story wasn’t as elaborate as hers. When Amir introduced him to the group, he suggested a fake name and to wear a hat. His face wasn’t as recognizable yet. She glanced at him, the circular shape of his fabric hat poking out from his back pocket. Shouldn't her captain and Knight of the guard have done a better job at hiding their identity? It was laughable.
Ember glanced in the dressing mirror. She experimented with kohl liner to alter the shape of her smaller eyes to appear wider than the official portraits of her likeness. Cindrea was happy to teach her some makeup skills. While Cindrea had used makeup to look more youthful, Ember aimed to do the opposite. She needed more practice. She had never used makeup before the palace, but discovered she actually enjoyed it. A masquerade. It gave her more license to feel confident going into a situation even more beyond her control.
She pinned back the shorter front sections of her hair, adding a ribbon to her braid and twisting it into a bun, mimicking the appearance of longer and fuller hair. It would do. At least at first glance, she appeared like a different person. At least strangers wouldn’t recognize her right away. If someone from the palace was also a rebel, they’d likely do a double-take.
Noor put his hands in his pockets and rocked his feet back and forth. The nerves of getting to this meeting had weighed on them. She wasn't going to pretend that it was okay, that his involvement in something so large was not a shock. But she owed it to him, her moms, and herself to learn more. The silence stretched until a knock sounded at the door. Amir popped his head in.
“Are you two ready?”
Ember and Noor walked into the living room, following the voice, two feet lay between them.
“Here it is,” Amir said, handing to Ember a small pin similar to his captain pin. She thanked him and pinned it on her sweater.
“Hi!” Wally sang happily as he came in unannounced. He saw the space between Ember and Noor and said bluntly, “Wow, it’s awkward in here."
“Everything’s fine, let’s get going,” Noor redirected. She didn’t reply to him, instead directing to Wally.
“And Cindrea is asleep?”
“Yes, not a peep from her room.”
“Good,” she nodded, her nerves hammering her chest as they left. There was still a few hours to sunrise, but not a lot of time for dawdling.
Following the same path they had a few nights prior, Ember saw how Amir dismissed or distracted every guard as he walked ahead of them.
“He doesn’t do this every night,” W
ally said, “Sometimes I do it and other times we just sneak around or say we are on the way to train. As long as nobody sees our actual direction.”
She didn’t think they’d believe she was training too. She also had no idea how they were getting away with this for so long when she was able to trail them easily. But then again, people don’t see what’s right in front of them unless they are told to look.
The hidden passageway was longer and more connected than she expected. They circled the perimeter of the garden with hidden doors at each corner to transport people wherever they wanted to go. After two turns down the long hallway, there was a break in the path where you could continue along the other side of the garden and then down under the castle. Ember felt the cold leak into her as they walked. Noor gripped her hand and chatted amiably along the way. She didn’t hear a word, barely feeling the hand she let him hold.
When the tunnel began to warm again and the air freshened, Ember knew they must be close to their destination. She never wanted to go underground again, but she was sure it would soon become a regular torture. If she had wings, they would ruffle.
Amir stopped in front of a door, outlined similarly to the one they entered. He pressed the top corner and it sprung open to reveal stairs and a top latch.
“This is where I leave you all,” Wally said with a wave and a kiss on Ember’s cheek.
“Good luck,” he whispered, he turned back down the tunnel to the castle. She took a deep breath and climbed with her remaining companions to the surface.
It took Ember a few minutes to adjust to their surroundings. They had climbed up from the ground to a secluded area beyond the gates close to the surrounding perimeter wall. Trees surrounded them, and in the distance the home districts were visible with lanterns lit in their windows. Fear began creeping in again as they followed Amir through the trees and into an alley between two inns.
Amir and Noor appeared more casual then Ember felt, seamlessly walking to the sidewalk as if nothing were suspicious about them at all. They walked half a block to the space between the market and the residence, where delivery carriages would bring in food from the farmlands and other goods for shopkeepers. It was a barren dark road at this hour, the glow of a few homes peeking between alleyways.
“There are several different entry points,” Noor whispered to her. “This one is the closest to the palace.” Before them was a fenced-in home.
“Here we are,” Amir said.
It looked like a regular home on the block, one of the many structures that lay in identical rows. Simple homes in grey and various tans, brown fences with small patches of green between.
Noor looked behind them and waved briefly at a faraway figure walking from the Scribe delivery area. In the dark of the delivery road, no one would be able to see them go into this home except for anyone also heading in the same path. Ember couldn’t tell who it was at this distance, and Noor pulled her through the fence before the figure could catch up.
Ember wasn’t sure what she expected, but walking into someone’s backyard wasn’t it. Especially an empty yard, no torches or seating area. Just grass.
“What are—”
Amir cut her off with a finger to his mouth, signaling her to be quiet. He gestured for her to follow and led her to a cellar door. They climbed down the stairs and Ember stopped dead, almost tripping Noor.
It was not a cellar at all, but rather a hidden city beneath the city. It was wide, almost as wide as the road in the market and extended farther then she could see. The space was filled with light, torches and fire pits created all along the walls and between divided camps. She was underground again and it made her squirm, despite the mystery of what was around her.
All around her were divisions she did not yet understand. Areas with many tables and seating, long and small couches where people were talking out in the open. Sections that were packed with tents for private meetings or sleeping arrangements. Other sections of open beds in an infirmary setting. A clearly defined kitchen area was close by, the smell of cooked vegetables wafting between them. And men and women all throughout. Smiling, laughing, and some - sparing in a training formation. And children. There were more children in this hidden world then she had seen in the market on a regular day.
Who were all these people? This was not the disorganized rebellions she was lead to believe. This was a way of living. How had this stayed hidden? Who built this place? Children ran around them, weaving between legs and bodies.
“It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” Noor asked, smiling brightly.
Not the first time, all that Ember had known was thrown on its head. There was more to this than Noor had said. Could this all have come together since the wall was constructed seventeen years ago? Given all that had happened just in the past few weeks of Ember’s life, she reasoned that yes, it could. Her family was not telling her everything. The rebellion held more for her to learn. She hoped that would mean answers.
They walked and Ember noticed other entry points at different intervals. And in some corners, suits of armor with the family crest from before the First Fating, like what guarded the entry to her tower.
In one corner were large chains that signaled the history of what this place could have been. Teenagers sat on the chains, wrist cufflets the size of sofas that fit many lounging people. Some of them even seemed familiar to her. Regular people that she may have passed during her many moves. But the majority were strangers, wearing clothing that looked weathered and used. Behind them was a claw-like scratch into the wall that extended deep. Ember shivered and looked away before the other teens spotted her.
Dragons had been trapped here before the First Fating. Possibly even a relative of hers. She understood then why she didn't feel comfortable. A lingering fight or flight swirled her blood. She was part dragon. Dragons cannot survive underground.
If dragons had been kept here against their will, there was a small list of uses this hidden makeshift city could have been created out of. Torture was one likely case. Torture and war planning. Beneath them all the time.
Ember glanced around her, unsure where Noor and Amir were leading her. She guessed the tunnel must be at least a mile or two in each direction. Enough for many people to come together, enough room for a tight-knit community to expand. Did every province have a place like this? Or was this the equivalent of a rebel capital? She heard whispers of conversation as they navigated where Amir pointed, to a tall tent several divisions away. The whispers she heard as they walked held a common theme.
“Her scales are purple and her skin is green,” one little boy conspiratorially whispered.
“She carried a fateless girl out of a burning building without getting hurt,” a small blue haired girl claimed.
“I think it’s cool. She’s a real dragon!” Another said.
Noor smiled at Ember and squeezed her hand, but they did not slow their walk. Ember didn't smile back; the hair on her arms rose.
They reached the larger of the tents. A woman outside appeared to be guarding the entrance with a stiff posture and ill-fitting attire. She nodded at Amir, recognizing them, and announced his entrance before opening the red tent flap.
Amir, Noor, and Ember walked inside to see a tall woman standing over a desk. She shuffled paperwork without looking up and Ember noticed a knife strapped to her side. Her muscles were lean and taut as she looked down over the scatter of papers around her. Other people were in the room, handing the woman tea and more papers. She had on one wrist a traditional fating bracelet.
The woman looked up, a shock of bright green eyes reflected back at her. She grazed over Ember briefly before turning to the men she came with.
“Hello Amir, Brookworth.” It took Ember a minute to remember the fake name Noor had told her he claimed in the rebellion.
“Who is this?” she asked and Ember answered quickly, bringing out her hand for this stranger to shake.
“I’m Emairy Waiting and yourself?”
“Jade,�
�� she replied and shook her hand firmly. Ember inclined her head to her, noting that Jade did not share her purpose name. Jade’s plump lips pursed as she turned back to Amir and Noor.
“And she is here because….” Jade gestured between the two of them, expecting an answer. Jade had a natural suspicion about her, understandable for her current situation.
“Emairy is my pair,” Noor said, reaching to bring a hand around Ember’s shoulders. “We met this week when she joined the Dragon Daughter’s tower.”
He parroted the cover story they put together. Emairy was a person of wealth, someone who could gain power, but not threatening. An unassuming girl with potential. Pairs don't go against each other. That was something she repeated to herself in this strange scenario. It was an easy story. Emairy complimented Brookworth's life.
“Well, congratulations. A lady to the Dragon Daughter….” Jade’s eyes squinted but her mouth tugged into a small smile.
“Amir and Brook haven’t been able to get close enough to her to share any useful information about our long lost Dragon Daughter.” Jade glared sidelong at Amir and Noor. The confirmation that they haven’t shared anything about her warmed Ember’s chest.
“We told you, Jade. She has a special guard from Jedoriah. No one can get near her,” Amir reminded Jade, covertly looping Ember into the story.
“What impressions do you have of her?” Jade asked. She gestured to a small seating area and they sat. A pale man nodded to Jade before vacating the space.
“She is quiet and observant. She doesn't like being helped in and out of clothes or being assisted much at all. Not in the ways that ladies would normally help,” Ember said. She acted as if this was an inconvenience, while also subtly pointing out that the future queen wasn’t used to wealth.
“She takes classes most of the day, learning about palace traditions and history,” Ember added. “I see her as kind. She treats the other servants in the palace well and isn’t as quick to anger as Jedoriah Knight.”
“Good, I’m glad to hear that. And what of Embrence’s Knight?” Jade asked, leaning forward with clasped hands.
Royalty Fantasy Boxset: Ember Dragon Daughter & Hasley Fateless (Fated Tales Series 1 & 1.5) (The Fated Tales Series: YA Royalty Fantasy) Page 14
