Throne of Ash

by Lena Lee

  Both myself and Kyra had been so accepting of their being an otherness about us. Hell, we even blindly went into a swirling black hole with three strange men. Maybe we had always both secretly hoped to lead different lives, never really truly accepting our fate in Blight. Jokes about death at age 30 aside, both of us were always secretly hoping something would save us. Maybe Theo never had that same hope. I had never bothered to ask.

  My irritation started to flare. If I had the strength I’d teleport, but I could still sense the lack of power to get me back to Scintilla. “What do you want me to do? Grow you a plant?”

  His eyes widened again but this time he looked more intrigued. “Do it.”

  I looked at the packed dirt floor of the room before kneeling on it. I hoped it worked or otherwise I would look like a fool. I sent all the spirals of power in the ground, letting them branch out from my palms. There was water deep in the Earth, farther down than any well we could dig, but still it was there. I could feel it. Slowly roots took hold in the soil and I pulled my palms back, allowing a sprout to break through the top.

  I heard Theo drop to the ground next to me and his arm brushed mine. I glanced at him briefly before refocusing on my piece of art. It slowly wormed its way from the ground before stopping at my hand and forming an orange flower, a poppy.

  “What are you?” Theo’s voice was in awe as I removed my hand from around the flower and he gently touch the petals.

  His eyes landed on me and then he moved his hand to touch my cheek. I bit my lip and leaned into his hand. I hated having feelings, but it was hard to deny the feelings I still held for him. They had been buried, but with being back in his presence the reality of them hit me like a punch to the gut.

  Scintilla was making me soft. I was suddenly very aware that Theo was making bedroom eyes at me and it stirred something in me that my heart hurt.

  “You know what this means?” Theo gestured to the flower, snapping me out of my thoughts. “You can save us. Save Earth.”

  I stood and looked down at him, still kneeling next to the flower. The thought had briefly crossed my mind back when I had grown a bed of grass in the deadlands of Toska, but I hadn’t put much thought into it since, my mind on other more pressing issues.

  “I can’t… I have to get back to Scintilla.” Hopefully I could get back there. “Kyra…”

  He stood and faced me, grabbing my arms as if anticipating me trying to escape. “Kyra is more important than an entire world?” His eyes searched mine. “More important than me?”

  “I’ll come back.” I bit my lip and tried to step away but he held me firm. “I have to finish what I started.”

  “What about what you started here?” His face was inching closer to mine, his breath tickling my lips. “I missed you.”

  I let him kiss me just for a moment, before I pulled away. My heart was pounding in my chest and I felt guilty. Interesting, since I hadn’t felt guilty at all being with Rex.

  “I can’t. There’s… someone.” He dropped his hands and I turned away from him, walking to a map of Blight and Felix on the wall. “We’re soulmates.”

  Saying it out loud to someone not from Scintilla sounded ridiculous. It had sounded ridiculous even to me, but it was hard to deny the feelings I had for Rex. I had fought it, but now that I had it, I never wanted to let it go.

  I felt Theo come and stand behind me. Not too close, but still close enough to make my skin prickle with his nearness.

  “I didn’t think you believed in that crap.”

  I studied the map on the wall and realized that it had the entirety of Felix mapped out on it. “Where’d you get this?”

  “A lot has happened since you’ve been gone. We were attacked in the middle of the night by hundreds of night beasts. The fence had been knocked down. Felix helped save us… now they are offering us a place in the city.”

  “At what cost though?” I turned to face him and crossed my arms over my chest as a barrier between us. Theo wasn’t one to back down, especially when presented with an impossible challenge.

  “We don’t have much choice.” His eyes were pleading with me to stay.

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes. I have always trusted you. Even when you do stupid shit.”

  “I promise you I’ll come back.” I touched his cheek and then walked to the door, unlocking it. “Promise me something Theo?”

  “Anything.”

  “I’m not sure when I’ll be back but promise me if you go to Felix you won’t become like them.” I opened the door and walked out. Wesley’s eyes met mine and I grinned as I walked past him and back to my hovel.

  I spent the rest of the day resting. I could feel the pull towards Scintilla growing strong again and when it was enough, my body just knew it could make it there. I was thankful my body seemed to know how to handle the powers it held, because I didn’t really have the time to figure them out, although it probably would be to my advantage to learn to control them better. When I let them, they seemed to have a mind of their own.

  I had been worried for a while I would be stuck on Earth, after all, when had there been time to learn how to make a portal?

  As much as I wanted to help Earth, there was something greater awaiting on Scintilla. I’d come back, but one woman couldn’t regrow an entire world from the brink of extinction.

  I shut my eyes and let myself be pulled back to Scintilla. I felt the softness of my bed around me and sighed in relief that I had been able to get back.

  “Where have you been?” I sat up at the sound of Rex’s voice coming from the chair he seemed to frequently sit it when in my room. I needed to move the thing or get rid of it. It always seemed to be the starting point for serious conversations.

  “I needed space.” I made my way to the window and looked out at the night sky. The stars were bright tonight. What I really needed was a room with a glass ceiling and walls so I could always see out. Or better yet, why not live in a treehouse?

  “I was worried when I couldn’t sense you anymore.” He came to stand behind me and my body flushed with heat.

  He wrapped his arms around me and put his lips against my neck before trailing them up to my ear. I shivered and laced my hands through his as they rested on my stomach.

  “You haven’t been waiting here for me all-day, have you?” He nodded his response against the side of my head before stepping to stand next to me, keeping one of his hands laced with mine. “I’m sorry.”

  He squeezed my hand before bringing our entwined fingers to his lips. “You don’t need to apologize. I understand. I just hope that one day instead of running away from me that you’ll run to me.” He turned me towards him, and I felt my cheeks flush at the lies I had told him. “I’m all in Mira. No matter where you go, what you do… I’m in it… with you.”

  I stared into his emerald eyes and felt regret. I didn’t deserve a man like him, or even one like Theo. I never in a million years thought I’d be lucky enough to have him to protect me and cheer me on.

  “You should get some sleep… we have a lot to get ready for the next few days.” He pressed his lips to my forehead before retreating to the door. “Goodnight Mira.”

  He shut the door softly and I heard his shoes against the wood floors as he made his way down the hall.

  Chapter 21

  I punched the mats at my sides and stood up, squaring off against the four brothers again. They were not taking it easy on me, especially since Alex could heal me. They slowly started moving to form a circle around me for what seemed like the hundredth time. I sent out a stream of power knocking Jadan to the mat.

  “Don’t cheat!” Jadan growled as he popped back up. I was just putting him in his place a bit, he was holding nothing back. I was the reason his soulmate got taken after all. Now was his opportunity to beat the crap out of me. He forgot that she was my best friend long before he even met her.

  “This is stupid!” It really was. We had been training heavily for the past several
days in an effort to get me up to Rex’s standards of combat. I had the weaponry down solid, now we were practicing hand to hand combat. I had thought I was skilled, but when facing super strength and more than one attacker, I was seeing I was lacking. I was not allowed to use my powers because what if I was spelled from using them.

  I hated what ifs.

  I moved quick to not let them get me in a circle, aiming my trajectory for the door. It didn’t help that this was turning into a learn as you go exercise. When one on one proved to be too easy for me, Rex upped the ante by deciding I needed to learn to take on multiple attackers.

  Just when I thought I’d had a miniscule of hope, it would be dashed away. Taking on four attackers with no weapons was an impossible situation, anyone with brains knew that. My first inclination was to run, but that was also off the table in terms of strategies. I had tried it.

  I dove for Wyatt, pushing him into Alex. They both stumbled but recovered quickly. My plan currently was to keep moving and try to take at least one of them out. It was easier said than done since the second I got close they all moved in like a pack of wolves after a tasty morsel of meat.

  A pair of arms wrapped around me from the side and took me down to the mat. My arm screaming under me. Damn Jadan.

  “Focus Mira, you know this is important.” Rex’s voice spoke from above me, snapping me out of my thoughts. My ears were ringing slightly from my head hitting the mat repeatedly. I had tried to argue that my fire balls and general badassary was all I needed, but Rex had insisted on this training exercise. What it was teaching me was that if I was ever cornered by more than two and couldn’t use my power, I was toast.

  Wyatt’s words had weighed heavily on me the last few days so despite the pain, training was a nice distraction. I ached to tell someone about it, but kept it locked deep inside. Rex knew something was wrong because I continued blocking him from most of my feelings. I didn’t like that he could feel my emotions, especially when they were so dark. I just lied and told him I needed to keep my head clear of outside elements.

  Resa and Edrie had arrived shortly after Wyatt had dropped his bomb on me. They were a good distraction from the murders I was going to have to commit. How had I gone from worrying about getting caught sneaking around to worrying about how I’d kill my mother and her soulmate?

  The dragons were certain the egg was newly formed and would need time to develop. They had no clue how it had come to be. I refused to believe that somehow my mind had conjured it. But what other explanation was there? I had just dreamed about helping it hatch. They took it back to the sanctuary with them for safekeeping. One less thing to worry about.

  Wyatt was mostly back to his normal self, cracking jokes in light of the current situation. I wasn’t buying it, he had a faraway look in his eyes at times. I wondered what else he had seen in his visions. If he knew what was going to happen, he should tell us, so then at least we would be prepared.

  Sienna had sent her demand, it was no surprise that she wanted me. For the time being we were planning on drawing Sienna to us. Her being in Ardor was an advantage for her and her power.

  I grumbled in frustration and stood again. They would pay for this later. I wasn’t sure how, but I was sure with my skills, I could get my revenge. Maybe in the middle of the night.

  “Remember I’m a healer. Don’t worry about hurting us.” Alex touched my arm, sending a wave of healing energy into me. “Pretend we are Felix guards or something.”

  I guess Alex was right, no more clean fighting. It was time to get back to my roots and fight dirty. If I couldn’t run or use my powers, I was going to have to pull out all the stops for this. I clenched my fists and walked back to my starting point. Round 842, ready, set, go.

  Instead of running away, this time, I dove for the man I had been mostly ignoring in the attack situation. He was the largest and was in charge, I shouldn’t have ignored him. Coming from the side of Rex, I plowed into him, causing him to stumble to the side. He moved to come back at me, but I dove between his legs, bringing my foot up between them, right where it mattered. I’d make it up to him later.

  As he fell to the mat with a curse, holding his crotch, I sprung up, dodging an advance from Jadan. Alex briefly hesitated trying to decide if Rex needed his attention and I took that small window to grab his arm and flip him onto his back, kicking him hard in the gut since he had immediately sent his hands to protect his man parts. He wouldn’t be down for long.

  I moved quick, keeping the other two in my line of sight. The twins stalked towards me and I moved so both were not coming at me straight on at once. Wyatt was now in my immediate vicinity and I struck out with several punches. He was able to block a few before my knee connected with his crotch. He let out a yelp and went to his knees. Alex had been the wise one, protecting his goods.

  Alex and Rex were already leaning against the wall, watching as only Jadan and I remained. I should have gone for the ball shots sooner. It was a highly effective maneuver and if I could distract with punches, even if they had anticipated it, they’d be caught off guard.

  Jadan moved forward as I moved around the perimeter of the area. The chairs in the meeting area had been quickly put out off limits but a new weapon caught my eye. As I side stepped past it, I grabbed it and twirled it in front of me.

  “Really? A broom?” Jadan laughed but continued to follow me around the room. “You going to sweep me to death?”

  A broom was better than nothing. I took the brush part off it and held it in my right hand. Time to end this so I could take a long hot shower.

  I threw the brush part at Jadan’s face as hard as I could. My purpose wasn’t for him to be hit with it, but for him to lose his focus on me. When he ducked, I dove forward, knocking him to the ground. I shoved the broom handle into his throat and was about to put all my weight on it when arms grabbed me around the waist and pulled me off.

  “Hey! You guys can throw me around like a ragdoll and I don’t even get to finish? Lame.” I turned on Rex and shoved the broom handle into his chest before letting it fall to the ground.

  “Well I was going to say good job, but now I’m not sure you deserve the accolades.” He held out his hand to Jadan.

  “I don’t think my balls will be the same ever again.” Wyatt was standing with Alex, who was touching his arm with his glowing hands.

  “Can’t Alex…” I nodded towards Wyatt’s crotch.

  “He can, but only the ladies and me get to touch.” I laughed at the ridiculousness of that statement and turned back to Rex and Jadan. Despite his mood, Wyatt at least still managed to let a funny comment or two to slip.

  “With weapons and your powers, you will be a formidable opponent.” Jadan nodded slightly at me before leaving with Wyatt and Alex. I was glad Alex was tolerating Jadan a little more, although he often would still glare at his brother.

  “Are we done for the day?” I grabbed the two pieces of broom and reattached them. “I could use a shower and a distraction.” I turned and let my eyes wander over Rex in a suggestive manner.

  “What kind of distraction did you have in mind?” He uncrossed his arms and walked towards me, keeping his eyes glued to my lips. “I think you owe me an apology.” He stopped in front of me and took my face in his hands.

  “For hitting you with the broom or kicking you in the-” I didn’t get to finish before he captured my lips with his in a heated kiss. If this was his idea of me apologizing, I needed to commit more offences immediately.

  His hands trailed down my back before he lifted me up by my butt, my legs instinctively going around his waist. I teleported us to the forest to a spot I had been practicing my powers in. He pulled away and turned around in a circle, a look of wonder on his face.

  After Kyra’s capture and my trip to Earth, I had returned to this spot daily, working on fixing the damage the demons and my fire had caused the land. I was hopeful I could replicate this growth on Earth, even if just a little.

  I had cleared the
space and grown trees and foliage to cover the marred land. Slightly set back from the edge of the trees was a tight cluster of trees that upon first glance appeared to be one. I took his hand and lead him towards them.

  “You did this?” Rex laced his fingers with mine and touched some of the tree trunks and bushes as we walked. “I thought you growing things was random?”

  “It was, but I came out here to make amends for my role in the damage and to think. I have to be in a meditative state to make it spread and grow to this. It just kind of started happening.” I gestured to the surrounding area. “It’s not easy to get to that place when you are in fear or grieving.” It had only taken a brief moment of complete mental clarity for my nature ability to flare to life and allow me to grow life from the ground.

  As we approached the cluster of trees, I asked them to open and two of the thinner trees bent to the side, opening a gap. Rex gave me a curious glance but followed as I stepped through to the inside of the cluster of trees, the opening closing as he stepped through. Inside was a circular space completely closed to the outside world with soft moss covering the ground and soft light filtering in through the canopy of leaves and branches.

  “Welcome to my secret lair.” I turned and took his hands. “The trees know to let you in and out if you ever come here alone.”

  Rex looked down at me with admiration before bringing my hands to his lips and then settling them on his cheeks. We stared at each other for what seemed like several minutes before he lowered his head and took my lips with his. My powers swirled in me as we removed our clothes and he lowered me onto the bed of moss.

  As our kissing and touching went to another level, the ribbons of power and our bond wrapped around each other before bursting out of me and surrounding us in a soft white light. Rex gasped and stilled over me as the ribbons began wrapping themselves around him. It felt right so I took a few deep breaths and let the energy flow between us.

  The initial shock of the energy subsided and Rex’s lips crashed back into mine. I wasn’t sure what just happened, but whatever it was, made me feel like I could take on whatever Sienna was going to throw my way.