“Over there!” a voice called, and she looked back to see someone pointing up at the window. At her.
Riven’s head of silver hair pushed through the crowd, his head turned upwards. The flames were pouring out the entrance, people either standing out of the way or scrambling to do something. One man struggled against the grip of four guards, fighting them, and she knew it was chaos both inside and outside the palace.
“Before we burn, Tanith,” Ward chastised at her hesitation.
Nodding, she started her descent, bare feet on the stone as she made her way down. There was a foot-long gap between the end of the rope and the start of the vines, and she paused when she met it, the ground beneath her looking harsh.
Then Riven was beneath her, at least ten feet below with his arms extended upwards. “Jump!” he called to her. “Let go of the rope and I’ll catch you!”
She shook her head, clinging onto it tightly. “I can’t! I’ll crush you!”
“Come on, Tanith!” Ekko shouted. “The rope can’t support two bodies at once!”
“Jump, princess!”
Nearly crying out in fear, she closed her eyes and released her grip, giving herself no time to think of the consequences. If she didn’t move, Shaw, Ekko, and Ward would burn. It was as simple as that.
The wind rushed beneath her, the cool air a welcome contrast to the unbearable heat of the fire. Then there was something solid—firm, but not painful. Arms. She’d fallen into a pair of arms instead of the ground.
Riven.
“Told you I’d catch you.” He smiled down, keeping his hand at the small of her back while Ward lowered himself. He was much faster, gray smoke pouring out the window and flames raging behind half the glass visible from below. He caught the vines with his feet first, making sure he had a foothold before crawling the rest of the way down, but he didn’t reach it before Shaw did.
The auburn-haired man didn’t even need the rope. He took a step off the ledge, his black cloak floating behind him as he thudded against the ground, rising and flicking a strand of fiery hair out of his eyes. Then he looked to Tanith. No, not her, but something behind her.
Kent.
His eyes darkened as he treaded towards his brother, the strawberry-haired man standing next to Ardeen and Uhri. As Ward hit the ground and Ekko reached for the rope, making his way to safety, she felt at ease enough to turn from the disaster ahead to the brewing one at her back.
“You’re a little shit,” Shaw spat across the distance.
Kent puffed his chest out slightly at the insult. “Good to see you’re safe too, brother,” he noted with no small amount of attitude.
Shaw’s boots scraped to a stop in front of him, and he looked down at the younger prince with a stare so venomous that Tanith started forward. There was already a fire raging inside, and she could only deal with one problem at a time.
“So. Fucking. Funny.”
Kent scoffed. “What’s your problem?”
“My problem?” Shaw asked in surprise. “My problem is you. First, you leave Tanith in the hands of our father, and then you leave her behind in a burning building.”
“What’s it to you? I couldn’t help then, and I couldn’t help today. In case you haven’t noticed, she does what she wants.”
Shaw looked at Tanith as she appeared next to him, his shoulders relaxing and the corner of his mouth lifting at the statement. “I know,” he answered easily, though his demeanor hardened again when he turned back to his brother. “I also know you didn’t even try.”
“You don’t know anyth—”
Kent never got to finish, because, with one shove, Shaw pushed him into the fountain.
For a change, Tanith felt nothing but pleasure as she watched the youngest heir to Shadow Hunt disappear beneath the water as some folks in the crowd gasped and chuckled.
Seconds later, Kent came up gasping for air, standing and looking down at his wet clothes in annoyance. In the moment, Tanith decided she forgave Shaw. Truly forgave him for tossing Kent overboard and never returning home to his family. Not for lying as long as he had, and not for leaving. Twice. But for those few things, at least.
Then there was a scream.
Tanith whipped around, more yells meeting her ears as she watched Ekko fall from the rope, down, down until his body met the ground seconds later. The sound, was shocking, gluing her in place as she saw the prince of Ograboden let out a breath of pain. He’d landed on one arm, remaining unmoving as Ardeen and a few others hurried forward to help him.
“Oh Ghods,” Ardeen muttered. “Ekko? Can you move?”
He groaned, one of his legs twitching, though the rest of him remained firmly in place. He was surrounded by people eager to assist. They couldn’t stop the flames, but they could help Ekko.
Tanith couldn’t even look. Had no desire to join the masses after hearing a few discouraging phrases from them.
“I think it’s broken.”
“No, it’ll just be a nasty bruise.”
“He can’t even move.”
“What if he’s paralyzed?”
“Maybe it’s a concussion?”
She turned away, afraid to see what had become him. He had already been halfway down, but it was still a nasty fall. The fire had reached the window, flames pouring out of it and the rope had been burned off. She’d moved too slow. He would have only needed another thirty seconds to make it to the vines, and he would have if Tanith hadn’t taken so long.
Guilt washed over her as she faced the entrance of the palace. It was still on fire, flames raging as maids carried fire retardant blankets around the building, setting them on the ground. She hoped the damage wasn’t too severe for the alternative method to work.
“Let go of me dammit!” a male voice demanded.
Tanith watched the same fellow who’d been struggling against the guards for minutes. His hair was dark brown, long, and half tied back. His skin was warm, his body strong, and there was a tattoo of an animal paw printed on his bicep. He flung himself forward, but their grips were too tight.
“You can’t go in there!” one guard argued.
“But she’s inside!” he countered helplessly. “She went back in to save the firstborns! She doesn’t know they made it out!”
Who, Tanith wanted to ask? Who was inside?
“There’s nothing you can do. It’s too dangerous,” another guard budded in.
“Just let me go!” the man pleaded, tugging against their iron grips like a wild animal.
“Calm down!” another guard barked.
“Stop fucking struggling, Bear! Just wait here with us!”
Tanith’s heart sped up. He was familiar with the guards, enough so that he could have been one of them, and his name was Bear.
Kenna.
He was Kenna’s husband, and she’d gone back inside to save her. Looking back at the others, she wished Ekko well but thanked him for the distraction as she darted forward, grabbing one of the fire-retardant blankets and wrapping it around herself.
Then stupidly—bravely, she ran up the front staircase and penetrated the wall of flames.
CHAPTER 27
Fear.
It was a powerful emotion that was quickly drowned out by the impossible heat. Tanith felt it licking at her ankles, her feet as she maneuvered to the staircase. The entire rug that ran up the center was in flames, so she kept to the edges, hurrying up it in search of the blonde-haired woman.
“Kenna!” she coughed through the smoke that forced its way down her throat. She could barely see through it, but she’d become familiar with the palace in the ten days she’d been a guest, so she held the blanket tightly around her and made her way to the correct floor, running beside the wall as she approached her room.
The door was open, the familiar carving in the wood disfigured by one fatal flaw.
A burn mark.
But the fire hadn’t reached it, and the blemish was in the shape of a handprint. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion as s
he stepped into the room. Not even it had been spared from the smoke, though it seemed to be coming from her curtains which had gone up in flames.
Tanith rushed over, taking the blanket and covering the fabric, smothering the fire as best she could. After a minute, it was out, the black tulle steaming with holes burned through it.
“Tanith?”
Kenna’s weak voice called from behind and she whipped around in an instant, ready to embrace her maid and get the hell out, but her plan was stalled by the sight of the blonde.
She was on fire.
Completely engulfed in flames, she stepped out of the bathroom, tears rolling down her cheeks and sizzling into nothing before they could drip off her chin. There was no fire on anything around her. Nothing that could have caused it unless she’d run into the bedroom after being exposed down the hall, but despite the fact that she was in flames, she didn’t seem to be burning.
Kenna stood upright, her skin still pale behind the orange and yellow inferno that ate her up. Her blonde hair was untouched, her clothes burnt to a crisp and crumbling off her body as she stood there.
“Kenna…” Tanith whispered in awe.
She shook her head. “I can’t make it stop. I can’t—I tried, but it won’t die down. I think I made it worse,” she cried, a sob tumbling out of her mouth. “I don’t know what to do.”
Tanith shook her head, coughing on the smoke again. “It’s okay. It’s alright, Kenna. I think… Maybe this is your gift. Fire,” she explained.
Turning, she picked up the blanket and approached the maid carefully as though she might combust before wrapping it tightly around her. Immediately, the flames extinguished, and Kenna let out a sound of joy and relief. “Ghods! It isn’t a gift,” she insisted. “It’s a curse, Tanith. I—I tried to come up here to get you, but I swear it followed me. The flames, they were drawn to me. I just ran and now…” She shook her head, eyes going vacant for a few moments. “King Riven is looking for you. We have to get out of here.”
Tanith nodded in agreement. The air was becoming cloudier by the minute, and every breath gave her barely enough oxygen to prevent her from collapsing.
There was the window, and they could certainly use the curtain tiebacks to slip down like before, but after what happened to Ekko…
“I think you can control it,” she countered. “The fire. If it really is your gift, you could extinguish the flames and get us out of here.”
“No,” the maid insisted. “I don’t know how!”
Tanith reached out, wrapping her fingers around the lip of the silver blanket covering her and looking into her friend’s teary green eyes. “Bear is going crazy down there without you. I don’t know how long the guards can hold him off, so channel all that love you have for him and all the feistiness you’ve shown me since the day you barreled in here and do your Ghodsdamned best. Alright?”
Sniffing, the blonde nodded her head, lifting her chin and wiping the fallen tears from her cheeks. “Okay. I can try,” she agreed, starting towards the door.
The fire had met the room to the right, and Tanith grabbed a cream-colored handkerchief from a drawer, covering her mouth and nose with it before following.
“Think about snuffing it out,” Tanith instructed, her voice muffled by the cloth. “Imagine smothering it or consuming the flames.”
Kenna closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, the tears were gone, replaced with pure determination as she stared down the raging fire.
“This is your element,” Tanith continued. “You are in control of it. It listens to you.”
The maid nodded, stepping beyond the threshold and into the hungry flames. Thanks to the blanket, she was a gleam of silver among the blinding gold and orange, and as Tanith leaned forward, watching, the smoke began to burn her eyes, stinging them. She was hot. So damn hot, but Kenna was unbothered as she stood among the flames, one with the fire that called her home.
She was still as it crackled and roared, inching further down the carpet in the hallway as it ate up the fabric, claiming more and more of the fae palace as though it were owed something.
Then she moved.
Kenna began walking down the hall and Tanith watched the flames stall. Then they began to retreat, following her like a pet obedient to its owner.
The charred rug smoked where the fire had touched, but the danger was gone, and all the flames were called back to Kenna as she strode down the hallway. Blinking away the stinging of her eyes and taking long deep breaths, Tanith pursued, walking several feet behind her maid as she brought them to the stairs.
Down they moved, and Kenna called back the flames that extended down the vast hallways of the palace, clearing it of the all-consuming element that had been carried away with its greed. It touched nothing else—nothing but her as she passed by, extinguishing it with her gift.
She could rid the building of fire, but the smoke remained, and Tanith’s lungs still burned, each breath a desperate attempt to feed her lungs. She felt like everything had turned darker. The walls were charred black, curtains and rugs burned, but the air itself was nearly a solid, dark gray fog. It was hard to see, but she kept her eyes on Kenna’s blonde hair, following her out as she blinked away the burning, stumbling towards fresh air that she so desperately needed.
The flames in the doorway were the last ones Kenna consumed, drawing them to her before snuffing them out with silent orders.
Beyond the smoke, Tanith saw the guards stall in shock and awe, forgetting to hold back Bear as he rushed forward and embraced his wife.
Tanith uncovered her mouth when she was outside, taking in one long gasp of air as she looked around the curious crowd, every single person with their eyes turned towards the doorway.
It was dark now, the fire gone, but she could see well enough to recognize a few faces. Ekko was still on the ground, sitting with a healer at his side, though they’d both paused to see what all the commotion was about. Kent and Shaw stood next to one another, the youngest prince still soaked, and the eldest filled with what looked like concern and anger.
Riven was starting towards her, silver hair gleaming in the moonlight as the crowd began to mutter, but Tanith didn’t care to listen. Didn’t care to do anything other than let her stinging eyes drift closed. She attempted to take another gulp of air, but the smoke still poured out the entrance, stronger than before, and as her final breath was in vain, she felt her knees tremble, her body sway before her senses closed off and the world was nothing more than a sweet dream.
+
It still faintly smelled like smoke. That was the first thing Tanith noticed when her mind woke before her body.
Her eyes flitted open, catching sight of the canopy above her bed. It was her room. Her guest room in the palace, and finally the burning in her eyes was gone. She could breathe again, the air crisp and cool.
“Tanith?”
The king was at her bedside, sitting in a chair. He was the last person she assumed would be present. Kenna, Ardeen, Shaw, or Kent would have been less shocking company, but she should have known. Riven had kept her best interests in mind from day one. It only made sense that he would be there.
“The fire?” she hadn’t dreamt it. Couldn’t have come up with something so intense, even with her wildest trains of thought.
A nod of his head confirmed her suspicions. “Kenna took care of it. Shaw told me everything, and Ekko and Ward won’t be punished.”
“Why are we here?” she wondered. “I mean, this place needs to be rebuilt, doesn’t it?”
The corner of his lip lifted slightly. “No. I have the full staff working on cleaning and replacing anything that was damaged. I imagine it will be done by tomorrow.”
“Oh. Good,” she sighed, though she suspected it would take longer for the smell to clear. “How long was I out?”
“Almost nine hours,” Riven answered, a wrinkle formed between his brows. “The smoke inhalation caused you to faint, but we took care of it. I’ve be
en here with you the whole time.”
She didn’t want to be ungrateful. Didn’t want to complain, but more questions nagged at her. “Why am I back here, then? If I inhaled too much smoke, why would you bring me to the place that’s filled with it?”
Riven frowned. “The smoke was cleared out by an air faerie hours ago. There’s none left. I promise you it’s safe, Tanith,” he assured.
She sat up slowly, waving away his help. “But I still smell it,” she insisted. “And my nose is human.”
Understanding passed over the king’s face as he leaned back in his chair. “It’s you. Your hair. I—um, I hope you don’t mind, but Ardeen changed your clothes. We couldn’t bathe you, though. I thought it best to wait until you were awake.”
Tanith looked down to realize she’d been changed out of her cream-colored nightgown, a new mint green, silk number covering her body. “Well… I’m awake. I don’t think you should call Kenna, though. I’ll bathe myself today. She should be resting.”
Riven’s mouth tightened. “She and Bear are on their way to the mountains, actually. They’re going to spend some time with the Elclave monks while she learns how to control her gift. I had a new maid assigned to your room in the meantime.”
Tanith wasn’t sure why, but the idea was troubling to her. “I don’t want another maid.”
The king’s brows rose. “You can have your pick if you’d prefer.”
She shook her head. “No. I’ll tend to myself until my stay is over, or until Kenna returns.” She supposed it depended on her decision, but she wished she could have said goodbye to the blonde woman, just in case.
“You know that isn’t necessary. Kenna could be gone for months. Maybe even a year or more.”
“I insist.”
Finally, Riven gave in. “Alright, but if you change your mind…”
“I won’t,” she told him. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
He smiled slightly, nodding in agreement. “I’m aware.”
“How did Ekko and Ward take the news?” she wondered. “And how bad were Ekko’s injuries?”
Tanith & Shaw (The Fealty of Firstborns Series Book 1) Page 23
