Prologue #3
“Valos is going to take the crown and Ember for himself.”
“What? Why? You saw this!?” She shook her head in disbelief as I told her about what I’d seen.
The calm morning we were having quickly changed into an evacuation plan.
Marlena made haste, tearing through the house, gathering all our necessities for a long trip.
I didn't know where she thought we would go, but I let her lead, my vision guiding my next moves.
I grabbed my bag, throwing it over my shoulders, and Marlena did the same.
We were both still in our dresses with thin cloaks over us.
Marlena said she didn't want us to draw attention to ourselves and with today being the coronation, everyone would be dressed in their finest. She went on and on about how we could make it out of the Imperial District before the coronation began if we left now. We wouldn’t, but I learned long ago that you don’t mess with fate.
I ushered Marlena out the door, and as we walked down the three front steps and off the porch, she turned back and admired our small house. The longest place we had ever called home. Tears lined her eyes, and I pulled her into me.
“Hey, we'll make it out of this. We'll find somewhere new,” I assured her, even though I knew it was a lie.
All she could muster was a nod as she tossed the hood of her cloak over her head, and I did the same.
We walked through the back woods along the small, well-used path.
Overgrowth nipped at my ankles as I took the lead on our journey.
If we continued at this pace, we'd be at the edge of the Imperial District within the hour.
Marlena and I sat behind a fallen tree and peered over it at the row of Ember soldiers barricading the border of the Imperial District in the distance. No one could leave. Valos had planned everything. It had been calculated. He wanted people to watch. He wanted his citizens to submit to his power.
“Maybe if we stick to the thicker woods, we can make it past them unnoticed,” Marlena whispered to me, grabbing my wrist and tugging me along behind her, doing her best to keep quiet.
Vines and tree limbs whipped at my ankles and face.
My breathing grew heavier with anticipation and fear by the minute.
We were almost there. Just a little farther and we'd be free.
But then I remembered feeling this hopefulness in my vision, right before it had been plucked from me.
Marlena’s hand jerked out of mine so hard it sent me to my back. I glanced up, ignoring the pain throbbing through my head. An Ember soldier had Marlena wrapped in his arms, a dagger to her throat.
“Well, would you look at that? Where are you two off too on such a special day?” he asked, not releasing her.
“We got lost in the woods on our way to the coronation, of course, sir,” I said, giving a slight smile.
“I don't like liars.” He dug his knife a little deeper into Marlena's neck, causing a line of blood to dribble from the wound. And then the dreaded words left her mouth. Marlena would always be one to save her own ass. I’d hoped that was something I could change in her fate over the next few years.
“We’re soothsayers,” Marlena shouted, scared of losing her life.
I internally cursed. Because I knew what the soon-to-be most powerful man in all of Ember would do with that bit of information and I didn’t like it. But I also didn’t want to change it. I needed this to work.
“Hmm,” the soldier contemplated. “I would say I don't believe you, but why else would you flee?” he asked, more to himself than to us.
He was eyeing both of us. “You're rarities, and I'm sure Valos will appreciate your abilities.” He shoved Marlena into my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her. More Fire Fae soldiers circled us.
“Are you alright?” I whispered. Moving her hair to the side, I pulled water from the ground to heal her wound. My hand glowed a faint blue before dissipating to nothing.
“I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told them,” she murmured, stumbling over her words. She was shaking. From fear, adrenaline, or both, I couldn't be certain
“It's alright.” I wrapped my arms around her to comfort her.
“Take them to the coronation, and don't let them out of your sight.
When it's over, deliver them to Valos,” the man who had captured Marlena commanded before he yanked Marlena from my arms and cuffed her in irons.
She fell to the ground as he turned to walk away.
I went to grab her, but one of the soldiers cuffed me too.
Pain thrummed through me as my power drained away, leaving behind a hollow hole in my chest. The silence of the water that had called to me made me feel disconnected from my very soul.
Four soldiers ushered us back into the Imperial District on the main road. Marlena and I could easily take them out, even without our bending. I was sure of it. But we wanted to survive. We could take on a few soldiers, but we couldn't take on Valos and his army. And he had a massive one.
Marlena and I walked side by side as the soldiers marched us back to the coronation. It had already started. The sight in front of me was from my vision. The crowd was a blur of creatures and faces.
Devdin and Taegan stood there with bright smiles as the crown bearer walked out, preparing to hand over power.
Valos stood a few feet away on the stage, smug victory already painted on his features.
And then the iron arrow flew and hit its mark.
Taegan gasped as he fell to his knees, his hands wrapped around the arrow that had penetrated his heart.
He glanced over at his brother with hurt eyes before he collapsed. He was gone.
The current empress, Lenna, cried out at the loss of her youngest son as Devdin dropped to his knees, cradling his son in his lap as he wept.
“Seize Valos!” Devdin wielded the command with such heavy emotion, he almost choked over his words. Soldiers rushed the stage. The crowd panicked and people began running, crying, screaming—chaos.
Valos didn't move. He kept the look of victory plastered on his features as one by one, every soldier that came for him hit the ground. Different soldiers emerged as if from thin air from the crowd, killing their fellow comrades.
Valos had won. From the inside out, he had gained control slowly over the years. He had waited his whole life for this. From the moment he’d found out his father was going to hand the crown to his younger brother rather than to him.
Devdin and his wife peered around, their eyes widening with shock and surprise, but it was too late.
In the next moment, Valos walked up to them on their knees next to their fallen prince, ripped the arrow from his brother, and shoved it through his father’s chest. Valos's mother screamed out in agony at the loss before Valos yanked the arrow from his father’s body at fae speed and then speared his mother.
He'd killed his whole family on display—for power. As his mother fell, he turned toward the crowd.
“I am your emperor now,” he shouted over the screams of the crowd.
Slowly, people went quiet to hear what he had to say.
“I am the eldest son of Devdin. This throne is rightfully mine. My father believed I wasn’t fit to rule.
That I wasn’t good enough for him or his crown.
But regardless of his decisions, I wedded and had children.
I did all the things required to rule, and my father betrayed me by choosing my little brother.
” He tried to justify his actions, but in reality the man was only hungry for authority—sovereignty.
Which was why his father had refused to give him the crown, but he didn’t view it that way.
Now, he would rule mercilessly, all to prove to himself and his dead father that he was capable, that he was powerful.
Valos's eldest child, his daughter, Valla, walked up onto the stage with a bow in hand.
It had been her. She had killed her uncle for her father.
I could see the tears growing in her eyes.
She was just a girl who wanted to make her father proud.
And Valos would corrupt her for it. I pitied her for what was going to happen to her.
“This is the new royal family of Ember,” he said as his wife and two younger boys walked onto the stage.
The woman kept her head down, never looking up from her feet, keeping her boys tucked into her sides.
She had decorative iron cuffs on her wrists that looked like bracelets.
That poor woman had been arranged into a marriage with a monster all those years ago, forced to bear his children, to live a life of submission, caged by the irons on her wrists.
She couldn't fight back even if she wanted to, not without her bending.
She didn't stand a chance against Valos.
I was disgusted. But I knew she would rise against him, and the image of seeing that in my vision made a small seed of pride fill my chest. Marlena gripped my hand, and we shared a look before Valos spoke again.
“Meet your new princess, Valla Corvus, my namesake and firstborn.” Valla smiled, fighting back tears while taking a small bow.
“My sons, your princes, Kade and Everhet Corvus.” Their mother ushered them to take a few steps forward, as they were just kids, but Kade was the eldest of the two.
They both peered around, seeing their dead grandparents on the ground along with all the other dead soldiers in the crowd.
Those poor children shouldn't be seeing that.
But they didn't cry, didn't shed a single tear. They remained stoic and unafraid as they stood in front of the havoc their father had created. I couldn’t imagine the things they’d seen in their short lives.
“As for my wife, your empress, who she is holds no importance,” he said as he walked to her and gripped her chin before murmuring something in her ear.
Afterwards, she knelt in front of him, bowing before him.
“You all should learn a thing or two about loyalty to me from my wife.
Anyone who disagrees is free to leave, but there will be certain .
. . Oh, what's the word,” he teased. “ Consequences for your betrayal.” A moment passed, and a few small groups took the opportunity to run.
Little did they know, they would meet death from the soldiers at the border.
Finally, Valos nodded to the crown bearer, who was trembling in his boots, commanding him with a single look to come to him.
The bearer stumbled over to Valos and bowed, holding the crown out for him to take.
Valos snatched it with a smile before placing it upon his head.
He dismissed his family, and they all left the stage before two soldiers dragged his dead parents and brother to the center.
Valos's arms engulfed in flames, his eyes going dark.
He looked like a living nightmare as he rained fire down upon their corpses, leaving nothing but ash behind.
He made everyone watch as he destroyed the beloved royal family of before. That was only the beginning of the end.