CHAPTER 31
“The embers are a lifespan of the descendants. This holds them close and bonded to the Gods of the Realms. But, they do not protect the Fallen Embers from the darkness.” - Book of Azure
“OH, BUT YOUR HEART DID want this,” the creature hisses. “Don’t you remember, dark one?”
I carefully shift my body, turning towards where the voice is coming from.
My eyes widen as the flames consume the darkling's body. Its raven, leathery skin cracks around its chest and arms, revealing scorching flames that flicker out of it. As if its body underneath its charred skin is nothing but fire that is ready to combust. Its face is similar to a man’s, but with crimson eyes and cracks with fire around its cheekbones.
“How we have waited centuries for you, Serene.” Its long, pointy fingers curl for me to come its way. “She is waiting for you.”
“Who!”
“Do not engage with it,” Koen growls. “Run. Damn it, Serene, run!”
“Oh, so protective now, are we?” the fire darkling teases, its voice a violent, sinister rumble. “I doubt you will be able to save your mother like that.”
My head snaps towards him, catching the sight of his eyes closing. “Your mother?”
He exhales my name. “Serene.”
“What the hell is this!” I bellow out, tears burning the edges of my eyes. “This has been nothing but you trying to save your mother all along… hasn’t it? Who the hell were you speaking to earlier!”
“You have no idea what is going on.” His head tilts, pulling his bottom lip in. “You need to leave!” His voice cracks, coughs and painful winces escaping his lips.
“No, she needs to stay…” It screeches, the flames cracking in the wind. “She needs to see what you are. Who you are, dark one.”
“What is it talking about?!” My eyes widen, catching sight of Koen gripping his chest. He rushes out of the water, tripping over the steps as he climbs out. “Koen!”
He falls to his knees.
As he hunches, gripping the ground as his veins swell against his skin, his soaked curls fall over his face. Water drips off of his chin, and I can hear the painful grunts gurgling in his throat.
I rush through the water, the lights that dance in the vibrations fading away as I steady my balance on the rocks around us.
His back, slashed with healed claw marks and the fresh wound, is raw and red from the sword.
But it's the inked black claw marks that make my eyes burn with how wide they are.
The scar, with a texture of charred flesh and the scorched aftermath of molten lava, viciously cuts across his back.
It begins at the very edge of his pants line, carving a jagged path all the way up to his neck.
This is the marking I always see when the strands of his hair blow.
My eyes blur as I glare at his scar… this is a marking of a curse.
“You told me you weren’t cursed?” My eyes scan his bruised body.
“Get away!” Koen screams, grabbing his shoulder. “You need to leave!”
“What have you been hiding!” My eyes burn, watching him in pain. “If you would have told me, I could have helped!”
I hear the darkling grumbling a low, wicked laugh that echoes around us. The hair on my arms rises from the sound.
Koen clenches the gravel as his back arches, and when he snaps his gaze over his shoulder, his eyes burn a bright, crimson red.
I gasp, stumbling backwards. A gust of strong wind whips my damp hair, but the smell of burnt char tingles my nostrils.
Heat beats against my back, yet my skin doesn’t burn as I can hear the fire crackle and pop right next to my ear.
I can hear the creature inhale, breathing deeply as it exhales a scorching breath against my head. “You even smell like her.”
My lip rises. “Smell like who.” My voice drops to a violent whisper and my palms spark, feeling the heat begin to radiate off of them.
“Tileatha.”
I snap my body towards him, feeling the fire flicker in my palm but once I notice the fire darkling isn’t behind me, the fire blows out.
“Where are you!” I scream, my voice bouncing off the stones that try and pulse with life but can’t. The fire darkling shouldn’t be here.
“Where do you want me to be?” it teases.
I clench my teeth, feeling a wicked shiver rush down my spine.
“Where is my sister!”
“Stop… talking to it.” I can hear the bones in Koen’s back crack, reminding me of Florian when he shifted.
I scramble towards him, falling to my knees as my trembling hands shake around him. My eyes are burning, but fear consumes me.
All I want more than anything is just to… touch him. Be there for him. But I’ll never be able to.
As a tear slips over my cheek, his crimson eyes meet mine and he sucks in a shaky breath. “Please leave,” he exhales, holding in the tears that want to fall from his eyes. “For your protection.”
“What did it mean by your duty!” Another tear trickles down my cheek as I hastily swipe it away. His eyes soften with the sight of it.
“If you don’t leave, I could kill you. If she wants that.”
“I need you!” My voice cracks, and my palms dig into the rocks. “I cannot leave you here with it.”
“You have never needed me.” A tear cascades down his cheek. My body aches to reach out and brush it away.
“This is torture.” The fire darkling lets out a sinful cackle, making my teeth grind by the screeching sound. “What is this Koen I see before me? Tileatha would be so disappointed.”
I rise to my feet, steadying my rapid heart beat and controlling my breathing. My fingers stretch wide, allowing my body to be in full control of the rage that is running rampant inside me. The stones against my arms pulse their light, the dragons are ready if need be.
I don’t know how to unleash them.
Shit, I don’t know how to control them. Or the fire that left my skin earlier, but I will try. If it comes down to it.
“Where is my sister?” I hiss. “I need to see her.”
The fire darkling’s eyes burn brighter, its lips pulling into an amused smirk. “She’s already here.”
My breath hitches, eyes burning. “What do you mean!” I bellow from the pit of my stomach. “I don’t believe you!”
“She has watched you this whole time, she has been waiting years for you to finally find her.” The fire from its back whips by the gust of the wind. Thunder roars in the sky, lightning rippling and flashing hues of yellow against the stones of the wall.
“Leave!” Koen grips the rocks in his hand, veins swelling against his arm and back. The sounds of the bone cracking in his shoulder as he falls to the ground gut me. “Serene, get out!”
“I am not leaving you!”
The fire darkling scuffs. “Of course you two would find each other again and be so protective, it sickens me. She should be dead by now. She isn’t going to like this.”
Koen's bones snap, each break echoing ominously in the howling wind.
The sharp, jarring sounds of his painful screams pierce the air, yet are swallowed by the relentless roar of the raging storm.
My chest rises and falls rapidly, the torturing reality that I cannot even hold him, help him, and I must just stand here, listening to his cries.
“What is that supposed to mean!” My fingers stretch wide as my skin prickles with fire.
“You have the stones, yet you still don’t remember?” Its yellow teeth peeks through with the tug of its lip. “You are taking too long. I suppose she’ll make you remember, and it’ll hurt.”
My eyes burn, the knot in my throat growing by the second. “Remember what!”
The darkling goes to speak but pauses, its charred lips pulling into a sinister smile from the sounds of large teeth snapping in the breeze.
The rocks from the cave rumble and fall to the ground as the whole mountain trembles around us.
Wind gusts and the whistling of enormous wings whip and slap in the air, creating a strong scent of a burnt aroma as I inhale.
“There you are, dark one.” Its eyes lock onto something massive behind me as its eyes rise upward. I know it isn’t Koen. “How we have missed you.”
Hot, singeing air beats at my back while my damp hair flickers by the strong gust. My eyes close, holding in my breath as I turn and see… it. Not him.
An enormous dragon hovers above me, its onyx-black scales rippling with a scorching fire underneath. The similarity of this dragon before me and the dragon of the Darklands is almost identical. Its eyes are a crimson red, with a scar slashed over its mouth. Koen. He hid this from us.
He lied to us.
He lied to me.
His wings stretch wide, revealing lines of what look like lava for veins coursing through them. A deep, rippling roar escapes his mouth before it violently ripples in the cave around us. I fall to my knees, covering my ears yet knowing the fire won’t burn me.
Fire can’t burn me.
It won’t kill me.
But if Koen isn’t in control of himself when he is shifted, those enormous teeth could.
“Now you see who you have fallen for, dear sister.” A soft, gentle voice echoes in the wind. “Haven’t you learned?”
My eyes widen, staring at the rocks underneath me as ash falls over us. My breathing becomes unsteady as my heart runs rampant in my chest. Could it be? Could it truly be her?
I hesitantly let my gaze lift, scanning the area where the darkling stands next to the Vitaei. Its fire reflects a scarlet red against the stones and water. But that’s when I see a figure in a hooded cloak, walking towards us around the ledge of rocks.
The dark, raven cloak, adorned with red tassels. I remembered this exact one at the pit when Skydance tried to kill me.
“Tilly?” My voice cracks. “Is that you?”
“You may call her Queen Tileatha,” the darkling growls. “The true Queen of Azure.”
The dark hood slowly is removed, and I catch sight of the icy strands I remember.
Her soft sun-kissed skin and sharp, sky-blue eyes meet mine.
But the markings of the flame scarred along her left neck and jaw, are what make my heart plummet.
My brows cave in, heat consuming me as I lose balance and catch myself before falling into the rocks.
“What…” I can’t breathe. “I’ve been looking for you!”