Chapter 16 #2
“Yes, his special project. Generations of Flamehearts have worked tirelessly to map the Emperium, as it is ever-evolving. This is just your grandfather’s portion.
” Leo walked to the table, dark eyes bounding over the celestial sea of spheres.
“Think of it like two dimensions: reality, which holds Earth and our universe as we know it, and imagination, which holds the various spheres birthed from stories, organized into realms—just as a library’s books are shelved by genre.
Your papa was hoping to finish mapping all the realms, or at least most of it.
It’s easiest to access in dreams—that’s where everyone can reach it—but Flamehearts can actually go to spheres first-hand.
We can navigate between spheres while normal humans can only go to ones they have made themselves, though they are not conscious of it. Yet, there are billions of humans—”
“—so there are billions of spheres,” Lia finished.
“One would stand to reason.”
Lia wished Marcus was here, learning about this too. He would no doubt be itching for his telescope to witness the swirling stars above, even though she guessed it would be a weak comparison. Her throat tightened. He would have to be told.
“No one person has ever visited them all,” Leo continued. “Julian aspired to be the first. One person can create hundreds of spheres, surviving beyond their death and involving different worlds and stories. Making it so every story ever told spawned a world as real as our own.”
“Like Norenth,” Kayce said, thumbing the sketch that Lia had set down.
“Papa spent his whole life exploring this plane, the other realms, where all stories exist, in order to map it out?” Lia leveled her stare at Leo, seeking confirmation for the thought that had needled her since that morning. “He knew Norenth wasn’t just in my head, but an actual place?”
Leo simply stared at her.
Papa, he’d known. All this time, he knew her fantasy stories were real.
Real people, in a real place. While Norenth had always been hers, her papa helped write it.
A stab of pain pulsed inside her. How could Papa not tell her?
All they did, creating this world. All the pain Lia went through in her childhood, and he’d said nothing. Keeping the Emperium secret. His job.
The awe and wonder she had begun to allow herself to feel winked out under the shadow of doubt. “He knew what I had made and never told me?” she choked.
“Because it wasn’t his place,” Leo said softly, sadness reflected on his face. “You must know that he wanted to tell you. Several times, in fact, he came close. But he respected your mother’s wishes.”
Her head snapped up. “Mom’s wishes?”
Leo paused, staring at the wall in front of him with eyes darting like he could find the right words there.
“There is much more going on, so many elements in this. I was your papa’s best friend, his confidant.
We often shared our frustrations with each other.
But I respect your family too much to divulge what isn’t mine to share.
You need to speak with your mother. Only she can provide the answers.
” His gaze returned to Lia’s. “All I will say is this: she did what she thought was best for you and Marcus.”
More questions popped into Lia’s head like popcorn in the microwave. Only, her head was the bag, and it was ready to burst. She opened her mouth to inquire further, yet the resolve on Leo’s face made it clear that particular subject was no longer open for discussion.
Forcing her shoulders to relax, she did her best to push those questions off. “Why is all this happening now? Why—how is Kayce here?”
“Well…” Leo now looked uncertain. “He was brought through. Likely, by you.”
“It’s my fault?” Her voice jumped an octave.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Kayce soured.
“No, no, it’s not,” Lia reassured in a rush. “But that means that I’m—”
Regaining his composure, Leo nodded. “You and your brother are Flamehearts. Like your mother, like her father. The ember, given to the first Order, passes down through families.”
A family tale, indeed. Give me Kayce. She hadn’t been serious. But the piece of her that mattered had been.
The world rocked.
Knees buckling, Lia would have dropped to the threadbare rug were it not for Kayce’s firm grip on her elbow. The burning she had felt in her chest, the pounding headaches, the increasing realism of her dreams. All because she had this inherent ability to walk between worlds.
The sting of betrayal clawed at her. It would be so easy to grab it, lash out with it.
What gave her mom the right to dictate what she could and couldn’t know?
Lia clenched her teeth. She couldn’t go there, not when her conversation with Lioness Silva was so fresh in her mind.
The warmth of the dream returned to her then, like the sun breaking through clouds.
She allowed it to melt away the sting, though it needled at her.
Wringing her hands, Lia fought to keep her voice controlled. “How did I not know I could do this?”
“Your ember has just Sparked, as we call it. Powerful emotions can Spark the ember once you come of age, awakening your Flameheart abilities.” Leo pulled a chair out from the table. Sighing, he sat. “Grief included.”
The word rang in the hollowness carved into Lia’s heart. The echo of it clogged her throat. Kayce helped her take a seat. He had zeroed in on her, his features slightly pinched, worry that one could easily miss. But she knew him as well as she knew herself.
Though apparently, she didn’t even know herself that well.
“Flamehearts cannot bring creations here.” Leo rubbed his face, clearly uncomfortable with Lia’s silence.
“The barriers between the Emperium and Earth were mended to a degree after the First Rift. New creations occasionally come through, but…it’s possible the veil is more tenuous than any of us believed. ”
“Clearly that’s true,” Kayce said, pulling over the last chair. “I’m not over the lack of horseflesh here.”
The group shared a chuckle at Kayce’s meager attempt at lifting their spirits. Kayce, though, didn’t let his gaze stray from Lia’s face. Not until she rolled her eyes with a small smirk that he mirrored.
Leo watched the prince. “Aurelia—”
“It’s Lia,” she grumbled softly.
“So, it’s not just me,” Kayce quipped, earning a soft blow to the stomach.
Leo cleared his throat, calling their attention.
“The passing of your grandfather—who always used your full name—caused this emotional power surge. None can blame you for that. Now, with Kayce coming through to Earth…” The older man trailed off, considering Kayce.
Analyzing him as though something about him was not quite what Leo expected.
“Have you seen anything else peculiar or out of place lately?”
Lia slumped, relieved to hear his words.
She already felt so lost and responsible, somehow.
Like she should have been able to keep it all together.
It took some of the burden off her shoulders.
Time to ’fess up about the little demon friend.
But could she? Already she’d done something other Flamehearts—at least to Leo’s knowledge—hadn’t, by dragging Kayce here.
And the matter of Papa’s death haunted her choices. Who to trust? For all she knew, the gremlin could have slipped detection since the First Rift centuries ago. No, that didn’t make sense. Especially if the fiend was digging around Seattle’s garbage.
“No,” she lied. “I’ve been sick the last few days, then I woke up to Kayce this morning.”
With a heavy sigh, Leo gazed at them for a moment.
“There is so much beauty and wonder in creation, but darkness exists in all the spheres. Nightmares work through a person’s fears, anger, and other such emotions.
They are necessary. But the Emperium is now shifting in a way that was never intended.
If Kayce was brought through, I fear more monstrous creatures could appear behind him.
There are some who would use it to their advantage. ”
Lia sucked on her lip. Kayce stared at her, a small frown marring his brow. He knew she’d lied, but he’d never call her out. Not until he knew why. She didn’t know if she deserved that trust, given everything he was learning about her. Granted, she hadn’t known about half of it herself.
But if the gremlin was somehow brought here on purpose, who could possibly benefit from it?
It’d attacked her, right as she was Sparking.
And the waters around her papa—his life and his death—were so murky.
He never believed in coincidences. Neither did she.
Like the fact that Mirel, another member of the bingo league, had found her right after it’d disappeared.
She was likely a Flameheart. But if she was coming to send the gremlin back to the spheres, Leo would have known about it. Based on his question, he had no idea.
Lia wrung her hands. For an ancient order, they seemed to keep a lot of secrets from each other. It wasn’t exactly a comforting realization.
“So what does that mean for us?” she asked.
“These are extraordinary times,” Leo heaved into the silence, examining the corkboard. “If these unstable barriers are left unaddressed, it could be disastrous for both the Emperium and our world. It’s why we were given these gifts to begin with.”
Lia fisted her hands where they pressed into the tops of her thighs. Who was she, really, in all of this? A Flameheart, one who saved the realms?
Kayce reached over and gripped her fist. His gaze held her own as she looked up, like he saw exactly who she was. Not the little girl hiding in the rose bushes. Not the young woman curled up in a secret study. But something more. Something Lia possibly began to see, too. Even here.
Leo noticed the silent exchange, bracing his knees to lean toward Lia in earnest. “This is not your fault. You brought Kayce here when you needed him most,” he said gently. “You have this miraculous gift, Aurelia. To be a Flameheart has its hazards and unknowns but…it’s a gift, nonetheless.”
“A gift?” she echoed, training overly bright eyes to Leo.
Deep emotion gripped her, smothering her senses.
“I have no idea what to feel. This is the best and the worst moment of my life—Norenth is real, Kayce is here, but Papa is gone. Everything I knew about the way this world works has been a lie! And to top it all off, it sounds like the apocalypse could be coming.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Leo rubbed his temple before taking her hand. “Please, trust me when I say none of this was intentional. New Flamehearts are brought in far more gently. On the Order’s behalf, I apologize for the crash-course entry.”
The unexpected apology knocked her off-kilter. “You don’t have to,” Lia stuttered, her composure fraying. The sting of betrayal flared. “I can’t believe my mom kept all of this from me.”
Leo squeezed her hand and for a brief second, she could almost believe it was her papa comforting her.
“I know you feel overwhelmed and hurt, Aurelia—you have every right to be. It’s confusing and hard.
But I do know your mother only did what she thought was best for you and Marcus.
You must talk to her. Tell her everything. ”
Lia’s attention wandered about the table, absorbing what Leo had to say.
Her gaze drifted to one of her papa’s drawings.
She spied the serenity of Norenth—the seas floating above Fealtek and the castle she navigated throughout her youth.
A home she knew as well as the one left behind in Ohio.
And just as real. A gift she’d longed for since she was a little girl, alone in the garden on her birthday.
Glancing up, she caught Kayce watching her. The small smirk he gave encouraged Lia to relax a fraction and return it. She tore her gaze away from him to the hand Leo still held. Stared until the moisture dried in her eyes.
“I want to know more. Everything about this gift. How to use it. How to help keep the dangers at bay.” Lia swallowed. “But, you’re right—I need to talk to my mom.”
Kayce whistled low. “Someone mark the day and time. Aurelia Corvine just admitted someone else was right.”