Throne of Ash

by Lena Lee

  “It might be safer for me to stay here for now. If Sienna finds out I am also still alive too, she will be even more inclined to reign hell down on this planet and possibly use me as leverage against you.” I was pretty certain he had already decided this before the spell had been taken off of him. “You must destroy her.”

  The conviction in his voice sent chills down my spine. Did he mean I needed to kill her or just remove her from the throne? I turned towards him. “What do you mean?”

  “You will have to kill her.”

  Chapter 17

  After practically dragging Kyra away from the dragons, we returned to the castle. Kyra had at least gotten a ride on Edrie, which seemed to placate her for the time being. I was still mulling over what my father had said. I was quickly becoming more aware that my life on Scintilla was going to get a lot more complicated. More than anything Earth had thrown at me.

  We found Rex, Wyatt, and Jadan in the common room watching something involving a ball again. They seemed to have their eyes glued on screens a lot. Alex was noticeably absent.

  Jadan immediately stood and him and Kyra stood staring at each other. Kyra was for the most part a lone wolf like me. Her favorite past time was making out with half of the Blight population her age and then dropping them before things got too heavy. I was a little concerned that a guy with so much baggage seemed to be hers.

  There was a good reason Alex wanted to stab him with a butter knife.

  “I really don’t think you should be wandering off like that anymore, it is too dangerous.” Rex turned off the screen and turned to first look at me then at Jadan and Kyra. “We were worried about you two.”

  Overprotective much? It seemed to be getting progressively worse with each waking moment. I didn’t even want to think about how it would be if I fully reciprocated his feelings.

  “We were with the dragons. Besides that, we can take care of ourselves. We have for a long time.” I put my hands on my hips and looked down at Rex. I was starting to feel like I had a slight problem with authority.

  Kyra was still looking at Jadan and I felt like we were intruding on an intimate moment between them. I had definitely not had any moments quite as intense as they were having in front of us all. It was slightly romantic and slightly sickening all at the same time.

  “Rex is right. Now that you have your father’s powers, Sienna will know about it.” Jadan finally closed the distance between the two of them and took both of Kyra’s hands. “When Wyatt told me I needed to come home to meet someone special…” He raised her hands to his lips and gently kissed both of them. Kyra looked to be swooning a bit. “I felt you as soon as I stepped foot in Zephyr.”

  I guess soulmate bonds weren’t that rare. At least not in this family it seemed.

  Their mushiness was too much to watch so I turned to Rex and Wyatt. “Let’s give these two some privacy. Is there anything to do around here? I could go for some fun.”

  “I could use some fun myself. We have a pool, up for a swim?” Wyatt walked towards the elevator, Rex and I following.

  “I don’t know how to swim but sounds like it could be… fun.” The most swimming I’d done in my life was floating in a small tub of murky water for a bath. Putting a large amount of water in a hole for fun seemed to be quite wasteful.

  I felt Rex’s eyes watching me closely as we took the elevator down to the ground floor. He seemed to always be able to sense my feelings despite me not wanting him to.

  We followed Wyatt into the large outside area where a very massive swimming pool sat glimmering in the midday light. It was spectacular and seemed to be calling to me to jump in, which left me with an intense feeling of guilt. Rex quirked his head slightly seeing my face fall as I looked at the pool.

  “I told Theo… our leader, that Kyra and I wanted to scout out Felix’s water source. I guess in a way we found one water source.” My laugh caught in my throat and I walked to catch up to Wyatt before Rex could react. The last thing I needed was for him to touch me and cause me to crumble.

  “There are swimsuits in here to choose from. You should be able find something.” Wyatt opened the door to a small hut like structure to the side of the pool. He gave me a small nod as I walked inside.

  I took a few deep breaths as the door closed behind me. I had too much going on to lose my shit now. Everything was hitting me all at once. Plus, my father I hadn’t even known existed just told me I needed to kill my mom, like I was some kind of assassin.

  I started looking through the swimsuits hanging on a rack. Might as well swim naked considering they were just like underwear. I sighed and settled on a black two piece.

  I went back outside to find Wyatt gone and Rex standing near the edge of the pool, shirtless and in shorts. The way his waist tapered and disappeared into his shorts made me stop for a moment to compose myself. It was getting harder to resist him. The truth was that I could feel something between us, but it was very muted, not quite connecting all the way.

  I slowly approached and stood next to him, looking out over the water and to the elaborate waterfall and rock feature situated on one end of the pool. “I feel a sense of guilt being here.” So much for not sharing my inner turmoil.

  “Do those people mean that much to you?” Rex turned his head towards me. His eyes slowly took in my swimsuit and my tattoo before settling on my lips, then my eyes.

  “They are my people. Could we bring them back here somehow?” The question hung in the air like a heavy cloud.

  Rex spoke very quietly. “Do you mean everyone or just Theo?” Damn it, I had to stop mentioning him in conversation. Whatever had been between us was finished, especially now that I had up and left. While I did love Theo, it wasn’t like what I was starting to feel for Rex.

  “Theo and I were… close you could say. Nothing permanent but I did love him and I think he loved me too. He’s like the male version of Kyra I guess… except we…” I trailed off and snuck a glance to see Rex clenching his jaw. “It’s only a matter of time before Blight is wiped out completely. I can’t have their blood on my hands.”

  “You would have to convince all of the Kings and Queens to allow them here. And even then, they are human, they might not even survive being here.” Rex sighed, the finality of his words causing a surge of emotion in me.

  I stared back at the pool, my thoughts heavy. The water suddenly swelled near the edge of the pool, spilling over the side. Rex’s arm shot out but the water was too fast and swirled around me like a comforting hug. I felt it pulling me towards the edge and let out a shriek.

  As I felt my body hit the water I felt the weariness I had been feeling dissipate. Rex jumped in after me and pulled me into his arms.

  “The water just…” He looked at me in awe.

  I let my hand skim over the surface and felt a slight tingle. I grabbed a handful of the water and held it in my palm. It formed a perfect sphere. “Why do you think I have all these powers? The animals even call me Great Spirit… it has to mean something.”

  “I used to ask my mom the same question when I was younger and struggling with the responsibility my power brings. I am a walking shield… when shit gets dicey, I have to sacrifice myself to protect others. She told me that fate only gives us the powers it knows we can handle. She asked me if I thought any of my brothers could handle my power… and she had a point, they couldn’t. Just like I wouldn’t be able to handle theirs. Or yours.”

  “This world is so peaceful, why does anyone even need powers? If anywhere needs powers, it’s Earth.” I threw the water sphere across the pool and it hit the rocks by the waterfall.

  “Earth was built on the shoulders of sacrifice and hardship. The need for power and prestige has plagued that world for millennia. This world was built on working together and having a strong balance of lightness and darkness. When our world was born from the creators, there were five families they created which each had affinities for the five elements. Those families helped built the world together and thei
r powers eventually became less segregated and less powerful as the bloodlines became mixed with common blood.”

  I considered his words carefully. “But there has been a darkness here lately. The wolves have sensed it and now we know that Sienna has been dealing with darkness. Maybe your world is not so perfect after all.”

  “Our world… Sienna… she threw something off balance when she made that deal with the sorcerer. Maybe you are meant to balance it back out.” He turned me towards him, his hands gentle against my waist. I didn’t really need his support to float, the water seemed to be holding me in place without me having to move my legs like he was.

  I let him kiss me before I pulled back. “Tomorrow I am going to return to the dragon sanctuary to work with Edrie on my powers. You can come with me if you want.”

  “I’m surprised you are asking me to come, in the short time I have known you, you tend to just run off without telling anyone.” I cracked a small smile as he went on. “But you are also the toughest person I have ever met. You are handling all of this well.”

  I was glad he couldn’t see through my false bravado. I had a well of fear in my gut almost every waking moment but hiding in the bedroom wasn’t going to make it all go away. Everything that was happening was centered around me and my psycho biological mother. I didn’t quite know how to process the fact that someone who had wanted me so badly could turn on me so quickly.

  The next morning, we left before sunrise. Edrie and I had a full day of training ahead of us and I didn’t want to waste a second. After my father had revealed that I needed to kill Sienna, we had explored the different ways that would be even possible. As a manipulator of energy, she not only had ample power but could draw from the land and energy around her.

  According to Sebastian, there had never been unrest between the five lands and there would be no reason for them to join in now to overthrow Sienna, so it was up to me.

  I knew Rex was going to struggle with anything that caused me an ounce of discomfort or pain. His overprotectiveness was not something I was used to, but deep down I felt a slight comfort in knowing someone would protect me at all costs.

  “Promise me that you will be a quiet observer and not interfere with the training. There is one goal here… to become strong enough to kill Sienna.” Rex and I walked quickly across the field towards the cave entrance.

  “What if-” I stopped and narrowed my eyes at him. A line had to be drawn or he would cross it.

  “You want to protect me right?” He nodded. “This is how you do it. You let me train, even if that means I get my ass kicked a little. How am I supposed to go head to head with someone that can manipulate energy if I can’t even manipulate my own powers yet?”

  He sighed and put his hand on my cheek. “Just don’t take on more than you can handle. Your body isn’t used to having so much power available to it and since our bond isn’t complete, I can’t help.”

  “It will be fine. I have a bond with Edrie too, she won’t let anything happen to me. I think she is also my soulmate, but with none of the romantic thoughts.” Edrie was an integral part of who I was and every time we spent time together or communicated my bond became more solid.

  “Are you actually admitting you have romantic thoughts about me?” Rex stopped in his tracks, but I kept walking, simply shrugging my shoulders. Let him mull that one over for a bit.

  Edrie must have heard us approaching, she exited the cave and lumbered over to us. She was much more excited than usual, probably because we were going to work with fire. “I think we should go out into the deadlands to train, wouldn’t want to burn anything. Rexford, it might be best if you stay here, our training will be intense, and you will be unable to help yourself from trying to intervene. Sebastian will be along shortly to entertain you.”

  “The deadlands are dangerous, I won’t leave Mira unprotected.” Rex crossed his arms and stared up at Edrie. If he thought he was going to be able to talk a dragon into something, he had another thing coming. She would eat him for snack.

  “While I do appreciate your desire to keep her safe, she won’t be unprotected. I will be there and she is more than capable of protecting herself. Besides, if something did happen she would be the one protecting you.” With that, Edrie held out her wing for me to climb up. I struggled since I was laughing so hard at the look on Rex’s face.

  We took off, leaving Rex with his feelings. The ride was short and once we landed, the dragon sanctuary was no longer visible. One minute we were there and the next the brown red tinged land stretched before us.

  As I dismounted Edrie’s back, I felt my anticipation for training start to fade. I was scared.

  My powers had very distinct internal signatures. The jumbled ball that was inside of me had more distinct strands now, five in fact. A type of energy pulsed from each when I felt for them inside of me. Four had thickened to more ribbon like while one was still a thin strand. Fire.

  Fire scared me more than the others, which is why I had been ignoring it. I felt it quite prominently, despite the others being more well-formed now. I had connected with the other four without a second thought. Fire wanted me to take hold of it and let it burst from me, but fire was unlike the other four. It was destructive.

  “Is the plan still to work on fire today? It’s the last one that needs to be coaxed out of hiding.”

  “It’s interesting you say that because I feel like I’m the one hiding from it.” I made my way to stand in front of her.

  “Fire is precarious and doesn’t like to be controlled. That is why few possess the true power to handle it because in the wrong hands it can destroy too much. Let’s first try to see if you can stick your hand in my flames first.”

  “No wonder you didn’t want Rex to come along.” I backed a little away from her, she had to be kidding. I still didn’t know much about dragons, but putting my hand in her flames seemed to be like a bad idea.

  “Do you trust me? It will be fine. If you are that worried just stick a finger in it. Then if things go wrong you will still have the other nine fingers.” When she saw the look of horror on my face she laughed, blowing smoke in my face, causing me to wave my arms around. “I’m just kidding. You have to get over your fear of fire or you will never be able to tap into its potential.” Because losing a finger was an acceptable sacrifice for the sake of learning.

  A rumbling started in Edrie’s chest before a small flame shot out of her mouth. I wasn’t that close but could feel the heat of the fire on my face. It burned hotter than normal flames.

  “Just stick a finger in it she said. It will be fine she said.” I was mumbling as I held my finger close to the flame. I could feel the heat over my entire body, my own heat rising inside of me. I took a deep breath and finally just poked my finger right into it.

  My first instinct was to jerk my hand back because it was hot, but it wasn’t burning me. I held it in the flame until the count of three and then pulled back. My finger looked unharmed.

  Edrie cut off her flames, a smile in its place. It was pretty creepy when dragons smiled, all their sharp teeth were on display. “Again, more this time!”

  Flames shot from her mouth again. My own fire power was smacking around inside of me, anxious to get out but I held it back. This time I put my hand in the flames and slowly moved more of my arm inside the path, up to my elbow. It slightly tickled, but definitely was not burning me.

  I had started to pull my arm back when the cord of fire inside wrapped itself around my dragon bond and my whole body was yanked in front of Edrie’s flames. I let out a scream, but there was no stopping it.

  My body felt like it was on fire now, but not in a painful way. It felt similar to when the water had pulled me into the pool. My body tingled as the flames wrapped around me in swirls.

  I looked down and not only were my clothes gone but my skin seemed to have turned to flames. Crap.

  “Pull it back into you.”

  I tried but nothing was happening. Great, now I was
going to be a walking fire ball. The cord of fire was out of control inside of me.

  A sudden thought occurred to me as the ribbons of power smacked around inside of me. Water. It took a second to grab hold of the ribbon, but once I did I threw it at the ribbon of fire smacking around the inside of me. It wrapped around it in a spiral and the flames went out.

  “Holy fire balls, I can actually become a fire ball.” I examined myself and everything looked to be normal, besides my nakedness.

  “That’s the craziest thing I’ve seen in a long time, and I have seen some interesting things in my life. You seem to be unharmed and very, very naked. Now I am even more glad that Rex was not here.” I laughed and patted her snout.

  “I think I have to use water to help control it.” I held out my palm facing up and let the water release some of the fire. A flame shot up from my hand. Awesome. “I am not sure what use fire is to me though.”

  “It will be of use. You can control your powers to an extent, but also in battle or in dire circumstances, it will act on your behalf, doing what you need it to. Fire can destroy, but it also can cleanse and start anew. If Sienna is really releasing demons, fire is necessary to rid the world of them. That’s why dragons were created, our fire eviscerates them.”

  I nodded but was distracted by the ribbons inside of me. They were slowly swirling around each other as if communicating on how to best work together. Water and fire had already melded into a stronger ribbon where it was hard to discern one from the other. Edrie watched me carefully as I stood still, naked as day.

  “Don’t fight it.” Her voice was a whisper before all of the ribbons began swirling with such force, I flew backwards and landed flat on my back. I tried to get up off the ground but an invisible force was holding me down.

  The ribbons continued to swirl before gathering into a ball at my center and exploding inside of me. I felt a brief moment of pain which quickly vanished as ribbons quickly spread from my center to every inch of my body, forming a lattice over my entire being. The ribbons flared white, emanating a bright white glow into the sky and then slowly faded. They had become part of me now.