Chapter 13 #3
Pain creased her brow, but she opened her eyes again.
“He always inclined that way. Though I did too. His passion for our people was one of the things that drew me to him. But enough of that.” Her cheer was clearly forced, yes, but still it brought a flicker of almost-memory.
“Tell me about you. Are you wed? Children? I imagine at your age, you have a farm of your own.”
“No.” His life had always felt full. Worthwhile.
But looking back on it now, seeing how little there was to tell…
“Neither farming nor mining held any allure, and Pab sold off our land when I was a boy anyway. I’d have joined the kyrka, had there been openings.
The law even, had thanes been allowed. Brother Gylfi—did you know him? ”
Her smile went genuine, proving she did. “Of course! Everyone in Harroby knew Brother Gylfi. And his wife’s pastries, of course. As legendary as his wisdom.”
“Sister Dagny passed into the Beyond when I was a lad. I think perhaps that’s why Brother Gylfi agreed to teach both Raf and me, even though he shouldn’t have.
I spent my days in the library of an abandoned kyrka, with Brother Gylfi guiding my studies, and Raf has learned how to make the old mosaic-glass windows and build in the old ways too.
His name is on a list to receive lands in the next dome to open, but until then, he is without prospects. He’s a fifth son.”
Without inheritance. The law only allowed for division of land into quarters.
“My son—a scholar.” She straightened and drew in a breath that puffed her chest out in pride.
“Though I admit, I’m surprised some pretty girl hasn’t snagged you yet.
You’re as handsome as your father. Or…?” Her good humor fled.
“You and the queen seem close. Tell me that wasn’t part of the plot, Nikanor.
If you sought her affections to use them against her while your father—”
“What? No!” He pulled his hand free and rubbed it over his face.
“No. I only met her a few weeks ago. A month, now, I guess. Raf’s been infatuated with her forever.
We saw her on the street as soon as we crossed the Ice Bridge, and he chased her down for an icograph.
That’s when the bomb went off, so we came with her to help search for survivors. ”
When his mother lifted her brows like that, she at least looked older than him. “And that’s why you reached for her hand? Why she clung to yours?”
Why had he reached for her fingers? Perhaps he’d just sought the soothing her ice could bring to his fevered body.
Or perhaps it was because she’d proven herself to be exactly who she’d seemed.
Even more. Perhaps it was because she was the only Blessed he’d ever heard of who fought for a better way—and won.
Perhaps it was because she was the only woman he’d ever met who’d been told the worst about him but deemed him worth knowing anyway.
Perhaps, too, it was because the moment her blood mixed with his, a fire had lit inside that felt far different from the lava’s call, yet just as strong. Not that he was going to tell his mother that.
“We worked for hours together in the rubble, developed a rhythm. We spoke daily in the prison, and she defended me in my mockery of a trial. Finished my Awakening.” He pulled his left hand from the lava.
The mark glowed from the heat. “Her father used the flint on me. But he’d have sent me over that cliff without finishing the ceremony.
Why, if he’s been forcing you all to labor for him?
Why wouldn’t he want to condemn me to that punishment too? ”
Elianne pressed her lips together and rocked onto her feet.
He realized only then that whatever chamber they were in had a rocky tub that rose out of a sunken floor, basalt benches lining the wall.
She paced to an opening that led into another tunnel, then pivoted and paced back.
“The others have their theories—I don’t honestly know.
He sent me here without any criminal charges, without a trial.
But none since me have survived the fall.
I don’t know if that means they were like us but not Awakened, or if they were just ordinary revolutionaries given the worst possible punishment.
But clearly many of us have the potential in our blood.
I suppose it just goes undetected unless there’s a Test or as part of a criminal trial. ”
“In both Daryatla and the Sunken Kingdom, everyone is tested for magic. Perhaps Kyrja will start doing the same here, so that anyone with this fire inside can be trained to use it.”
Elianne winced. “Mastery is a long process, and not without pain. Be aware of that now. Perhaps it’s different with water or wind—but I felt like I was dying off and on for years.
Sometimes the lava would feel pleasant and welcoming.
Other times, especially if I hadn’t bathed in it recently, I’d feel as though fever were eating me alive, and I’d fantasize about snow and ice. Anything to cool me down.”
It sounded as though the secret, then, was in frequent submersion. Which meant what? That he’d have to live inside this mountain? Or at least visit it daily?
The others hadn’t had any other option, he supposed.
He sat up a little more, though when he spotted the black leather folded on the bench, he had no desire to emerge from the lava while his mother was there beside him. “I need to go back to the surface. Find Raf. He’ll know my trial was set—he must be fearing the worst.”
“For good reason.” The new voice came from the tunnel, and a moment later, Daemon stepped through the opening.
He looked just as fierce as he had before.
His gaze took in Nik, presumably to check his health, then moved to Elianne.
“The new queen has given us the streams I’ve always asked for, removed the ice wall, and told us we will be free to come and go between Below and Above.
Though she did ask that we wait until she has time to explain our existence to the people.
So that, and I quote her obnoxious friend here, we ‘won’t scare the children into hiding. ’”
Nik’s lips twitched. Perla wasn’t wrong. The group of them in their fitted back leather, inked skin, and partly-shaven skulls looked like what the king had always accused the Red Hands of being: bad news from their worst nightmare.
His mother wrapped her arms around her middle, as if the very mention of the world they called Above gave her a chill.
Fair enough.
“We’ll really be able to just leave?” She looked around her, and Nik wondered what she saw. What was new and strange to him would be familiar to her. Comforting? Or hated?
Daemon sighed. “She also asks that we stick to Reykstoll for now, until she can establish a new High Council and reorder the Great Council. She’s reaffirmed her offer of seats on either or both—and frankly, I don’t think she has any other Blessed in mind for the remaining ones.
We’re her only allies right now—and it’s going to take me a century or so to wrap my mind around that.
But if you want to leave, then leave. I don’t see what she could do about it. ”
“Don’t. Please.” Cursing, now, that he was stuck in this tub of lava, Nik held up a hand, palm out.
“Kyrja will bring changes Fjordlandi needs—changes we all need. Don’t judge her by her father or grandfather.
Don’t cut her off at the knees on her first day as queen.
And also…” He looked from one unfamiliar set of eyes to the other.
“Don’t underestimate her. She just defeated the king who’d held you all prisoner for the last century, all twelve of the strongest Blessed, and did it all on a cliffside overlooking a volcano that should have melted her ice and turned the water she called to steam.
She’s not the weakling her father thought her. ”
Daemon gave a slow nod. “Your reminder is wise. She is clearly stronger than the other Blessed combined. That’s nothing to take lightly.
As for what she’ll do with it? We’ll have to see.
But make no mistake, little brother.” His gaze glowed with reflected fire.
“We are her allies only as long as she keeps her promises to help all the Fjordic, thanes especially—and we children of fire included. The moment she turns on us, she learns what it feels like to burn.”
Nik lifted his chin, unable to explain why fire leapt to life inside of him, its sole purpose to defend her. “She won’t forget. She won’t betray us.”
His mother sighed and shifted toward the opening. “With all due respect, son, you’ve only known her a month.”
Nik tilted his head. “With all due respect, Elianne, that’s a month longer than I’ve known either of you.”