8. Maxim
Chapter Eight
Maxim
“Is this not enough?” My roar echoes in my ears as I thump my cousin’s chest, trying to get Kaiba’s heart to beat, my desperation growing with every second he fails to breathe.
Minutes ago, I dragged him from an Ember Tower filled with toxic black smoke and I carried him to this spot, where the air is clear.
I fought to control my power the entire time, fearful I’d burn Kaiba to ash if my flames took control, but he was going to die if I didn’t act.
All along the border as far as I can see, caustic fumes billow from every Ember Tower, black smoke polluted with burning iron dust extending lazily southward into my land, carried on the persistent, hot winds.
The toxic air creeps toward us and I’m certain the spot where I’m crouching beside Kaiba will soon be black with smoke.
As I thump my fist again and again against his chest, willing him to breathe, the silence grows heavier around me.
Hundreds of my warriors have perished.
And now my loyal cousin, too.
He lies still on the sand, his eyes closed, black soot smearing his fire-resistant clothing. The horn he carries to signal the army hangs silently at his waist.
Kaiba was my general. He stood by my side when all others, save my sister, feared to come near me.
Again, I smack my fist against his chest, hitting him hard enough to break his ribs.
“Kaiba!” I shout at him. “Live!”
If he doesn’t take a breath… If he doesn’t revive…
Fuck. I’m a creature of fire and I have no tears.
All I have is rage.
My focus shifts in the direction of the Iron Towers currently concealed from my view by the insidious smoke.
The breadth of both the Iron and Ember Kingdoms means there are hundreds of towers between our two borders.
Maybe some of my towers in the east have survived.
Assuming Hadrian didn’t launch an assault on all of them.
But after this, I swear not a single Iron Tower will remain standing.
I will cross the border and burn them all.
As I should have done years ago.
Hadrian has no fucking idea how reckless he’s been, especially to attack in the middle of the day when the sun is at its hottest.
He won’t dare step across the border to come for me himself.
It won’t matter how much iron dust he can control; his weaker Iron Fae lungs would collapse in this oppressive heat. Even Ember Fae retreat into our underground cities at this time of day.
Not me. I relish this heat. It feeds me.
And as for this smoke, the fire that plagues my body, burning so hot that I fear to touch any living thing, that fire incinerates the toxins in the fumes as quickly as I inhale them.
I rise to my feet as the black smoke creeps toward me, squaring my shoulders in the heat.
Somehow, even though I’m not sure how, I will use my fire to burn this very smoke from the air, and then my revenge on the Iron Fae will come quickly.
I will cross into the Iron Kingdom as I should have done years ago. I’ll burn down their towers, turn their warriors to ash, incinerate their crops, and walk into the heart of the Constellation itself, where I’ll let my fire loose on their pearly city.
Antony is the only other fae who can withstand my fire, and if he tries to stop me, well, I won’t stop until he’s dead too.
Fuck all of them.
Every last Iron Fae will die screaming for mercy—
Whoomph.
Without warning, an invisible force knocks me across the sand.
I tumble away from Kaiba’s prone form, but I don’t hit the ground, pulled upward and suspended in a powerful ripple of energy that wrenches Kaiba into the air beside me.
Our bodies float several feet above the dunes. What the—?
Whoomph.
We thump back to the sand, rammed down onto the gritty dune as if by an invisible hand.
My focus snaps to the north, back toward the burning towers, the direction from which the force originated, my eyes wide.
What new threat is this?