Chapter 13
We stood there for a while afterward. I didn’t really knew what to do, what to say, and it seemed like no one else did either. I held Incendis, and he rested his chin on top of my head. Being here now felt like a funeral, but none of us had been ready for that.
Finally, it was Incendis’s servants and guards who kind of took over.
They put up the tents and cleared an area for a fire, placing bricks that looked like dried grass in the center.
I didn’t see who lit it, but soon we had a crackling fire we could sit around as several people cooked.
Had this been any other day, that would’ve been a lovely way to end it.
As a chilly spring evening descended, we sat two-by-two on small rugs and ate a venison soup.
I had to wonder if all the courts would get back to growing food like they had before the curse.
Trading, traveling, hunting, and whatever else they’d done back then could begin again.
But though I hadn’t lived this life for that long, I had a feeling things might not go back completely.
These people would remember and might even make sure they wouldn’t be caught out a second time.
It was while I was watching the sun set that I really looked at Incendis as compared to his brothers. He had wings and pointed ears and a prettiness about him that seemed a bit otherworldly, but he didn’t have antlers or flowers or look like a snowstorm. I had to ask about that.
“I take after…” Incendis cleared his throat. “I took after Father more than they did in that regard.”
“Well,” Solaris said, “I didn’t look like this until recently.”
“What do you mean?” Incendis asked. “You’ve always—”
“No, I lost my powers entirely and, with them, my looks.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Like he’d turned into a troll or some—
“Boring white guy with blond hair,” Wally said.
“Excuse me.” Solaris smacked Wally’s arm. “I seem to remember you rather enjoyed me like that.”
Even from across the fire, I could see Wally blushing now. He smiled like he regretted what he’d said. “I just…like this version much better.”
Solaris wasn’t the only one who snorted a disbelieving laugh.
“Was it the same for the rest of you?” I asked, super curious. “Did you lose your powers and your appearance changed as they disappeared?”
“Not me.” Flurry shook his head, making the baubles and thin shafts of ice tinkle together. “I kept my powers and I’ve looked the same this whole time.”
“My powers,” Hydris said, “were really limited. I could grow things, but they wouldn’t last if I stopped touching them.”
“Oh, but that makes sense then,” I said with some enthusiasm. “The two of you have powers to make things grow. Cutting you off from the other courts might not have done much if you could sustain yourselves indefinitely.”
And then I regretted saying all that because it made the curse sound a little more cruel.
Solaris sighed heavily. “I changed my appearance myself.”
“You did?” Wally asked.
“I lost hope.” Solaris shrugged. “No powers, no purpose. So I stopped being me.”
I couldn’t hear what Wally said to him then, but I could see the way they kissed and leaned on each other afterward. It was a beautiful thing to see how much each of my friends supported their princes. I looked to mine.
Incendis reached out to the fire and seemed to snatch a little flame from it to dance in the palm of his hand.
“My powers are more practical. I can use fire defensively but I can also light every hearth in the realm if needed, no fuel required. Muting that made us rely on other means,” he said with a nod to the fire pit as the little flame raced back into it.
“The grassy brick things?”
“Dried peat moss.”
“Oh,” Hydris said, “we did the same thing.”
The others nodded, and it was kind of cool that they’d all found the same solution to a problem. I wasn’t sure if they could see it yet, but they were very alike.
“Most of my power is focused on the human realm.”
I cocked my head at Incendis. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, well,” he said, “like Father before me, I’m able to influence the weather in the human realm. Unconsciously,” he added when I gasped, “and automatically, my very existence helps to regulate the seasons and weather patterns.”
I took his hand. “Not that I don’t trust you and think you’d be benevolent but—”
“I would never use my influence for something nefarious!”
“Of course not.” I patted his hand. “I just needed to make sure.”
“I mean, I could.” He looked around with worried eyes when it wasn’t me who gasped. “But I wouldn’t! I’ve seen the devastation such things can cause. I wouldn’t.”
“We know.” I glared around the fire until my friends all nodded and agreed with me. “And the human realm probably needs all the help it can get, so thank you for your efforts.”
“They do need to do their part. It’s not all me.”
I smiled at him because he looked so nervous. “And I’m sure your help will give them hope and they’ll do even more to help themselves.”
He smiled back, looking relieved.
Whispering just to him, I said, “I think you’re a hero, Incendis.”
He sighed and kissed my temple. “Thank you.”
Suddenly, from across the fire, Solaris said, “I can’t leave it like this.”
I looked over to see him wave for Flurry and Hydris to come with him, Incendis already on his feet. The four of them walked closer to the amber, while me and my friends followed at a bit of a distance. I went right over to Wally.
“What’d I miss? What’s happening?
Wally looped his arm around my shoulders, sharing his blanket. “He didn’t want to leave without making this place look more intentional.”
“More intentional?” How could it be more intentional than the gravesite that it was?
“Like a real memorial.”
“Oh.” That made sense. Right now, it looked kind of like a warning more than anything else.
The fact that the princes were over there waving their hands, nodding at each other, and getting along had me smiling. I really did feel like they would be okay. They might’ve hesitated earlier, but they trusted each other now.
When Solaris moved away from the group, I found myself holding my breath, waiting to see what was about to happen.
He raised his arms and, all of a sudden, four huge oak trees sprang up out of the ground, two on either side of the amber. Just fully grown, covered in green leaves, and at least three stories high. Bam! Trees.
Flurry walked closer and seemed to be constructing a gazebo made of ice around the amber.
It was delicate yet intricate and glittered in the moonlight.
When he added several short towers that looked like a great place to put a fire, poof!
Incendis filled each one with flames. That lit the entire area and could probably be seen for miles around.
Then there went Hydris clearing a strip of grass up to and around the gazebo, smooth rocks seeming to wiggle right up out of the dirt all on their own to make a path. Amber-colored flowers soon edged that path, some winding up the sides of the gazebo.
And then the oak trees gave a collective shudder and turned into willows!
I was absolutely speechless.
Milo wasn’t. “Holy fucking fuck.”
All I could do was nod agreement.
Part of me did want to question why the ice wasn’t melting, but the rest of me told that part to shut up and just accept the magic.
The princes were leaving something of themselves around their father as a personalized memorial.
I wasn’t going to doubt that it would last forever simply because they wanted it to.