72. Chapter 65
Chapter 65
My father was the greatest King the House of Steel ever had. He was clever and strong enough to beat every other Great House by himself. It was only because I betrayed him that he lost. Yet, I did not mourn him. The House of Steel is better with him gone. His funeral pyre was empty. Even the dwarves did not see him into the void. Casimir was the weakest of them all, and all of us shed tears at his passing. Sometimes, being strongest does not matter nearly as much as we assume it does.
~Rhion Rahn, The Future of Magic and Dragons
Maeve
Three days have passed, and everyone has told me how much of a hero Cole was. They’ve waxed on about how he was an inspiration. They even went as far as to wish they could have done anything to help.
All I want to do is choke the life out of them. The other High Fae and Lesser Fae didn’t help him. He had to force their hands as the Shade to get anything to happen. They all saw the problems, and they did nothing.
They are the reason that Cole is dead as much as Gethin. Obviously, they had nothing to do with the fight, but they didn’t help. They hid and hoped someone else would fix our slowly failing world.
If they’d have fought, if they’d have pushed to protect the world rather than themselves, maybe Gethin wouldn’t have had that damned Gauntlet or Burning Brand. Maybe we would have been able to fight him in the open together.
They didn’t, and now they’re trying to offer me their condolences because it’s what they’re supposed to do. When the most powerful person in the world controls the House of Earth, the Painted Crown, holds all the House relics that Gethin was hunting for, and rules the city, you do whatever groveling you need to do. I understand it, and I hate it all the same.
I sit on the Throne of Earth and try to ignore the fact that my right hand is cramping from digging my nails into the agate of the Throne. It’s all I can do to keep from lashing out at the High and Lesser Fae in front of me.
Three days have passed, and the pain in my chest is just as agonizing as it was the moment I watched Cole fall. Every few moments, my body feels like it’s being hit by lightning. The blackened piece of wood in my left hand shines in the bright light of the floor to ceiling windows.
Hazel stands on one side of me and my Uncle Trevor sits at a table in front of me. The last two people with House of Earth bloodlines flowing in them. “Why are you here?” Hazel whispers to me. “Can’t someone else do this?”
I shake my head. “No. It’s important that we change things. Even Rhion agrees that the four Houses working together is necessary so we never have another Shattering.”
“But it’s been three days since Cole…”
I turn to her, anger filling my expression. “I know exactly how long it has been. It changes nothing. I’m going to feel like this for the rest of my life, so why wait?”
She can hear the fury in my voice, and she doesn’t say anything else, her head bowing in sorrow for me. I turn to Casimir, who’s sitting at one of the long tables in front of me, and I give him a quick nod. He stands up, and everyone becomes very quiet.
“My fellow Immortals, it’s time that the leaders of each House decide who the next Conduit of the House of Steel will be. This is the first time it has been done this way, but we are setting the precedent. My generation of Conduits failed, and the world cannot survive another Shattering. It cannot survive another war between Great Houses. It is only by working together to make decisions we’ll prevent it. Brenna stayed too far away. Roderic refused to work with the rest of us. Gethin thought he was above us all. I was not strong enough or clever enough to unite everyone. That won’t happen again, and it begins now.”
He looks at me, and the crowd follows his gaze. I stand up, one hand hooked in a claw and the other holding the burned piece of wood. “I suggest that Rhion Rahn be considered to lead the House of Steel. It’s what Prince Cole planned, and I agree. He is the strongest with a Steel bloodline. He ended the tyranny of Gethin. I cannot imagine a better person suited to be the Conduit.”
Echo stands up, and she looks out of place here. The storms in her eyes hold maturity that many of the people in this room don’t understand, though. She’s known what her purpose in life was since the day she was born.
“I agree with Queen Maeve. He is the best choice.” Her words carry through the Throne Room even though few in the room would give her a moment’s pause on the street.
Casimir solemnly states, “I also agree with Queen Maeve. That is a unanimous decision. Prince Rhion will claim the Throne and become the King of Steel. Let his rule be one of peace rather than war.”
People cheer, and I sit back down as Rhion climbs the stairs. Hazel glares at him, having heard of the things that he’d done through the years. Rhion ignores her, which is probably the smartest way he could deal with that situation.
“Thank you,” he says softly. “I…”
“You’re the only option I trust,” I respond quietly enough that no one other than he and Hazel can hear. A wave of pain flows through me, and I grit my teeth, my nails digging into the stone again. “You are strong. You are clever. You have been trained to be the King of Steel. Anyone else would be a mistake. That doesn’t mean I like you, but I will work with you.”
He nods to me. “I’m sorry,” he responds. “Cole was…”
“Cole is dead.” I interrupt him again, not caring what he has to say. “Because of you. You get everything you want because it’s what is best for Nyth, just like Cole wanted, but Cole is dead, and I’m left miserable. So do me a favor and keep his name off your tongue. You don’t deserve to be allowed to speak his name, and I’ve nearly killed you twice now. Try not to tempt me into doing it a third time because he won’t be there to stop me this time.”
The words come out as a hiss, and Rhion’s eyes shimmer with the challenge. For the first time, he’s really appraising me, and he’s not entirely sure that he’d come out of that conflict as the winner. My Earth senses follow every emotion and thought that wanders into his mind in that time, and I know he doesn’t back down from me because of the challenge. He backs down out of respect for me and for what Cole sacrificed to make sure that I sat on this Throne.
It looks like he’s going to say something else but then thinks better of it. Instead, he gives me a nod before walking away, and I’m left with my nails raking the stone armrest again as I cradle the piece of wood in my other hand.
He moves to talk to Echo, and I let a wave of pain course through me without tensing the hand holding the piece of wood. The first times the pain had racked my body, I’d been terrified that I’d squeeze the last bit of Cole I have left and crush it into nothing.
Now I’m learning to fight through the pain and control myself. I can function even though every muscle in my body aches from it.
Lee walks up to Rhion as he talks to Echo and presses her body against him. The necklace he gave her as a betrothal present hangs between her breasts, the elegant Steel dress showing more than a little cleavage.
It’s hard watching them. One of Cole’s best friends and the man who is the reason he’s dead together. Cole would be happy for them. He always liked Rhion, and he loved Lee. He’d never be angry at them for smiling and laughing together, even though he died because of their failures.
But I’m not Cole.
I’m not that good or kind. I’m not able to set my emotions aside that well. Maybe if I’d died and Cole had lived, the world would be a better place. Maybe he would be stronger than me and could separate his emotions from what was best for the people he cared about.
But I’m not Cole.
I am the Queen of Earth, and everything inside me wants to go cold again. It wants to lash out and let anger rule. My shadows barely trickle from my fingertips any longer. Even the thought of Cole is one of protectiveness and solitude rather than lust-filled desire.
So I watch the crowd of people here rather than take part. I whisper, “You should be here instead of me. You should have been the one to survive. You were so much better than me.”
It’s like I can hear him. A phantom voice that isn’t real. You were always the one who had to survive. You were stronger than me. You’re the reason the world is still standing, but now you need to remember yourself. Go train, Maeve. Pick up the spear again. See me at the end of it just like all those afternoons together.
A tear runs down my cheek as I remember the vision he left me. Imagine me at the end of your spear . I stand up, and for the first time in three days, I can feel him again. I can feel the way his hand would feel against me.
Shadows splay from my fingertips, surrounding my feet in them. I imagine seeing his body, and revulsion courses through me. Then I’m falling through the world into the void.
I don’t go back to my chambers to change into training clothes. No, I need something else that’s far more important than clothes. I go to the hidden space in the Keep of Flames that Cole had used as a place of solitude. It’s the only place I’ve felt safe to keep the relics in, and I pick up the Burning Brand and Steel Gauntlet, the two relics whose powers I’m not already capable of wielding. I slip the Gauntlet on over my left hand, and a sense of pride wells up inside me. That’s the activation emotion of Steel.
I hold the Burning Brand in my left hand, and joy courses through me, burning away the despair that’s threatened to well up inside me almost constantly since that terrible day.
I feel like I can move without pain. Flames flicker around me, and I can’t help but smile. “Is this what it felt like?” I whisper. For the first time since Cole burned, I put the piece of charred wood down where the Burning Brand had been. It’s like a weight is taken from my shoulders, and yet I don’t feel any further away from Cole than I did. A smile crosses my lips for a moment. Shadows pool at my feet, and I slip into the void only to appear in the House of Flame’s training grounds a second later.
No one’s here. Too many House of Flames soldiers had died before we got here. It’s gone from being the second largest House to being almost the same size as the House of Shadows. Those thoughts are mere flickers that pass almost immediately as I stand in the place that built Cole and my relationship. I let the joy of holding the Burning Brand and the strength of pride that resonates from the Steel Gauntlet fill me.
Minutes pass, and there’s no pain making my body stiffen. I move in front of a training dummy made of wood. A blood-red crystal spear appears in my right hand. I’ve never tried to fight one-handed with a spear before, and I consider if it’s even possible.
As a human, trying to wield a spear this long and this heavy one-handed would be a waste of time, but I’m not a human. I’m the only Immortal currently capable of using all four of the Great Houses’ powers simultaneously. Well, theoretically, I should be able to.
Earth gives me the strength to move the spear effectively with a single hand, but the balance is strange. I make a few sweeps and don’t like it. If I only stabbed with it, it’d be one thing, but I slice and sweep just as much as I stab, especially when fighting more than one person at a time.
I pause, and shadows move from my feet to behind me, quickly forming a chair for me to sit on. There has to be a way. If I were using a sword, it’d be simple enough, but spears need a fulcrum for their movements.
Then it comes to me. A grin crosses my face, and flames sputter to life at my fingertips as I stand up. I don’t only have the power of Earth anymore. I think about how we won the war with Gethin. I think about how I organized all of it. I was strong enough to survive how many fights with Gethin and Rhion? I think of every moment that the girl that nearly died to three harpies would have been proud of.
Nothing happens.
There’s no swelling of pride inside me. I’m not that girl anymore. I’m not a Wyrdling living in the forest anymore. I’m a Queen now, and surviving and winning battles and wars isn’t something to be proud of. It’s expected.
The only thing I’m actually proud of is that I haven’t answered the call of the void like I so desperately want to. I close my eyes and see Cole’s face when he made me promise not to break, not to give up. “I’ve done what you asked,” I whisper, and I feel it inside me as pride flows through me, a… flexibility.
It’s like I could be anything or do anything. I think of flying, and that flexibility flows to my back. A rip in the silk dress breaks the silence of the training grounds as my body shifts and becomes different.
I try to whirl around, but even the Queen of the world can’t see her back. Until my neck changes to accommodate my needs and wants. My neck twists, allowing me to look directly behind me at the massive eagle wings folded against my back.
Fear ripples through me at the changes to my body, and everything shifts. Instead of wings growing, they shrink. It’s the reverse. I remember the night that Cole hesitated while walking on a tree branch and nearly fell. He’d been afraid. His pixie wings had disappeared when that fear had moved past his pride.
My head is pulled back to a normal position, and flames explode around me as I giggle. I told you this is what you needed . It’s Cole’s voice in my head, and I don’t feel any of the sadness I’ve been feeling. Joy fills me completely. This is exactly what I’d have been doing if Cole were here with me. I’d be learning to use the new tools I had access to. I’d be learning to be strong enough to protect the world we’re rebuilding.
Pride wells up inside me at the thought of Cole standing across from me. I figured out how Steel powers work on my first try, with no help. Cole would be proud, so I am too. “I did it.” I exclaim.
Now do it with purpose.
I snarl. Of course. What good is being able to use Steel powers if I don’t know how to use them in a fight? Even Darian and Lee know how to do that, and they’ve stayed far from any actual fights for most of their lives.
The first way is to hold the Burning Brand. I visualize myself fighting with the spear in two hands while holding the Brand in a third hand. That strange feeling of flexibility moves inside me, and a third arm grows from my side, ripping another hole in my dress. It’s the most bizarre feeling I’ve ever had. I try to pass the Brand from my normal left hand to the new one, and it’s awkward. I don’t understand the angles, and the new hand doesn’t want to move how I tell it to.
All I can do is smile. I can do this. I can learn to fight like no one else in the world ever has. All the powers of the Great Houses at the same time.
This is going to hurt. You know that, don’t you?
I smile at the voice in my head. “If it didn’t hurt, would you have even considered it training?”
I get back into position, and new muscles already ache just from holding the Brand. I guess Steel powers need training as well. Good.
Now, see me at the end of your spear…