Embrace the Fire Page 31

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Kinna

  Kinna's heart lodged in her throat when Ayden and the dark-haired girl landed in a burrowed area hidden from Sebastian's army camps. They slid off of Ember's back, but Cedric's auburn hair and tall, sturdy figure were nowhere to be seen.

  “Where is Cedric?” Kinna cried, rushing toward them. “What happened?”

  Ayden caught her hand as she passed by him on the way to Ember. “Kinna.” His voice stilled her feet. “I'm sorry.”

  A hole opened in Kinna's stomach. “Is he ... dead?”

  Ayden shook his head. “No, but wounded. An arrow took his shoulder as we were escaping. He used his Dragon-speak to command Ember upward or I never would have left him.”

  Ayden's face blurred behind a curtain of tears. She blinked them away, but more arrived to replace them. Ayden quietly pulled her against his chest, cupping the back of her head, and Kinna cried into his tunic.

  That night was one of the longest Kinna had ever spent. Chennuh and Luasa were overjoyed to be together again. They found a nest in a rocky area farther up the slopes of the Marron Mountains, and they lay curled together, their heads each slung across the other's back, deep huffs of satisfaction rumbling through their chests. Ember bedded down in the same area, though he remained stiffly guarded against the two Mirages.

  Lincoln paced on the slope, gazing into the valley at ClarenVale. Ashleen, Kinna, and Ayden sat in tense silence as they, too, watched the campfires of Sebastian's armies.

  “Linc!” Kinna finally snapped. “Just sit down, why don't you?”

  Linc shoved his fingers through his hair. “I can't, Kinna. I need...” He stopped and looked at her for a long time.

  Kinna grew uncomfortable. She glanced at Ayden before returning her gaze to the Pixie. “Okay, Linc, I give up. What's the matter?”

  Lincoln looked back down at the castle. The moon highlighted its glistening turrets and walls in silver. Lincoln rubbed his arm across his face, and Kinna realized with a start that he was crying.

  “Lincoln!”

  Lincoln swiped his arm over his wet cheeks. He approached Kinna, sinking into a crouch before her. “Kinna, my daughter lives in ClarenVale.”

  “Your—daughter? In—the Lismarian capital?”

  “Aye. Marigold. A more lovely Pixie has never been born.” Pride lit his voice. “She is an apprentice to the palace apothecary. She makes her home down in the lower city, though.”

  Kinna gaped at him. “I had no idea, Linc.”

  He shrugged. “It doesn't matter anyway.”

  “It doesn't matter? Of course it matters, Linc.” Kinna straightened, her hand seeking Lincoln's. “You have family, a daughter. That means everything.”

  Lincoln scratched in the dirt. “It would mean everything—if she even knew I was here, and—you know—forgave me for leaving her when she was a mere child to be raised by a silversmith and his wife.” He sighed. “Even if she could see me, she wouldn't let me in anyway.” Bitterness tinged his voice. “But I have to see her. The walls are heavily guarded with Sebastian sitting at the city gates, but I can likely catch a glimpse of the house where she lives from outside the walls.”

  “So far?” Kinna's heart cried for Lincoln.

  “So near. It's been many years since I've been close enough to see her. And my eyesight is keen.”

  Kinna was about to protest that it was far too dangerous, but the iron in Lincoln's expression silenced her. “Be careful, Linc.”

  “I will.” He stood, and then crouched once again. “Kinna, I told you that I'd explain about—Helga.”

  Ashleen and Ayden both drew closer at these words, their faces alive with interest. “Ayden gave the Amulet to Sebastian during the Tournament four months ago.” Lincoln flicked a glance at Ayden, whose taut expression made him seem dangerous. “When—you and I went to Helga's house soon after, she asked me to take back the Amulet that Ayden had given Sebastian.”

  “Where was I?” Kinna cried.

  “Recovering from your Poison-Quill wound. When we returned to The Crossings to try to free your father from Sebastian's dungeons, I found that Sebastian had entrusted Lanier with the Amulet's disposal. So,” he shrugged, “I knicked it.”

  “You—you stole the Amulet?”

  “Aye. I returned it to Helga when we next visited her home; she hid it, placing multiple safeguards around it so it would be nearly impossible, even for herself to regain, unless she wished to undergo some rather painful rigors—her best taibe went into protecting it.”

  Kinna couldn't stay seated. She rose and paced. “What—where has she been all these months, then? Why hasn't she come to help us, to find Cedric? Didn't you write to her that we needed her?”

  Lincoln stood, playing with a plucked blade of grass. “She had questions about the Amulet and it's power; she wasn't yet satisfied that it had solved Ayden's Ash-Touch, though it did seem that way—”

  Ayden approached the Pixie. “What are you saying, Linc?” His voice could have dented steel.

  Lincoln held up his hand. “Helga took the matter to the Seer Fey Council to ask for their advice, not aware at the time that the Seer Fey had begun to rift into two opposing factions around the question of the Amulet. When she spoke before the Council, telling them of her doubts about the Amulet's Touches—”

  “Her doubts?”

  “Just let me finish, would you, Ayden?” Lincoln stared at him in irritation. “The Council had her imprisoned. They hoped that she had brought the Amulet with her, but she'd already hidden it. So they kept her in captivity in their caverns until I sent her the message after we received Cedric's Dryad request informing us that he needed Seer Fey taibe to release Ashleen from the tracking spell. The Dryads were successful in infiltrating her prison, and she escaped her captivity, though she is very weak now from navigating the taibe. She is recovering until we bring her the maid—Ashleen.”

  Kinna's thoughts crammed so tightly inside her mind that she felt her head would burst. “Linc—how—do you know all of this? Why—what would—”

  “What kind of relationship do I have with Helga that I would know all of this?” Lincoln sighed. “She is my mother.”

  “But—Helga is my adopted mother's mother as well!”

  “Aye. Joanna is my sister.”

  Kinna couldn't speak; she could only stare at the orange-haired Pixie she had thought she'd known and understood.

  Lincoln nodded decisively. “I'll be back, Kinna. Later. Ayden, keep her in one spot and don't do anything too crazed until I get back.” With those words, he took off down the hill at a run and disappeared into the trees.

  Kinna stood, watching him go. “But—what was—I don't understand...”

  Ayden faced her, resting his hands on her upper arms, massaging them lightly. “Let him go, Kinna.”

  “I've never seen him like that. He's always—I mean, he's never done that before.”

  “Done what?”

  “Told me that he was going to do something—without waiting to see what I thought of it.”

  “He's always put you first.” Ayden's words were simple, but suddenly Kinna realized how selfish she'd been. He had always put her first; he'd barely left her side since she'd departed from her home in the Pixie Glades last year. He'd rarely ever mentioned any other agenda or desire, and she'd somehow assumed that he'd wanted to be there.

  She was shocked at the wave of dislike she felt for her capacity to think only of herself and what she thought needed to be done. Looking into Ayden's eyes, she realized he knew her struggle.

  “Don't blame yourself, Kinna. He takes his responsibility seriously.” His mouth twisted into a grin. “Hard to believe, I know, when it doesn't seem like there's a serious bone in his body, but he would die for you.”

  Ashleen stood and discreetly went to check on the Dragons, leaving them alone.

  “That's the thing,” Kinna said, resting her fingers lightly on Ayden's hips. “I don't want him to die for me. I do
n't want anyone to die for me.”

  Ayden brushed her cheek, bringing his hand to rest on her neck beneath her thick fall of hair. “It's not only who you are, Kinna. You represent a past that was better than the present, and the possibility of a hopeful future. And if someone believes strongly enough in that future, your future, they might conceivably die for it. Does that make sense?”

  “But I am not my father!” Kinna twisted away, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “I am not his—his policies for Lismaria, I don't have his knowledge of government or—or his ability to dissolve tensions between countries, talk treaties, whatever he did. Ayden, it's too much. I have to be me, not Liam.”

  Ayden didn't speak, and Kinna turned back to find out why. His figure was a statue, a dark silhouette against a moonlit-silver sky. “It's bigger than you, Kinna,” he whispered, and shame coursed through Kinna.

  Yet again, she'd thought only of herself. What kind of a leader thought of herself first? The kind that West Ashwynd knows only too well.

  She turned back to the valley, blinking away more tears. Ayden moved close behind her; she felt his comforting warmth, and her eyes slid shut. Shivers raced up her spine as his hands tangled in her hair, brushing it to one side where his warm lips could kiss the skin of her shoulder, the place where the tattoo had never stayed, a symbol of her exclusion from the Pixie Clan.

  Kinna turned in his embrace, and the passion that stirred within her met the fire in Ayden's touch. Heat wrapped them together as she gave her mouth to his.

  “Kinna,” he breathed, pulling her closer so Kinna could feel the heavy thud of his heart against hers. “You know I love you.”

  Kinna stilled, slowly sliding her hands away as she stepped back. Pain knifed through her, sharp as the familiar fear. “Ayden, my father—even if Sebastian were to lose this war, we still wouldn't be free to—my father would become Erlane's prisoner, and then who knows—”

  Ayden grasped her shoulders again, urgency in his grip. “Just—let me finish, okay?” His silver eyes flashed with pain. “You know I love you, Kinna, but as we were just saying, some things are bigger than us. You have a responsibility to fulfill, ties to a country that is crying for leadership and escape from Sebastian's rule. And no matter what I feel or what you feel, that is the higher purpose. And so...” he stepped back. “That's the last time this will ever happen.”

  No, Kinna cried inside, but she held herself as still as stone.

  Ayden went on as if saying the words hurt like a blade. “I will see you crowned, Kinna, queen of your inheritance. I will fight for you and perhaps even die for you.” He rubbed his hand over the rough stubble on his jawline and took a step toward her. “But where so many others will die for the idea of you and your leadership and Cedric and his, I will die for the love of my queen and the flame within her. I will embrace your fire, and all the water in the world will never snuff it out.”

  Ayden sank onto one knee, and his hand reached for hers. He drew it to his lips and pressed a lingering kiss to the back of it. The weight of Ayden's words hung over Kinna, and she pulled in a shaky breath and withdrew her hand, turning away.

  She hiked up the hill and into the Dragon's nesting area, burying her head in Chennuh's neck and crying for a long time.

  When she raised her head, Ashleen's silhouette leaned against a nearby boulder. Embarrassment spiraled through Kinna. She picked at Chennuh's scales, and the Dragon twisted his head around to nip gently on her fingers. She scratched his snout.

  “He's a good man,” Ashleen said.

  “Yes.”

  “He would make you happy.”

  Kinna swallowed the lump in her throat. “He is not for me.” She gave a watery smile to the black-haired girl and moved to the side of Chennuh that shielded her from everyone. Curling up between his two long forelegs, she laid her head on his mirrored scales and fell into a troubled sleep.

  * * *

  Lincoln shook her awake before daybreak. “Time to go rescue your brother. For the second time.”

  Kinna sat up, staring groggily at Lincoln. “What?”

  “Get up, sunshine. Cedric needs rescuing, remember?”

  Iolar's presence behind Lincoln pulled her up straight. “Iolar. When did you arrive?”

  “I arrived with the army, Your Grace,” the Elf said, bowing. “After I healed in the medic tent, I've been traveling horseback with the rest of the soldiers.”

  “He brings news, Kinna.” Lincoln helped Kinna stand.

  “What news?”

  “I've watched Sebastian closely, Your Grace. Last night, I discovered him in a tryst with the Lady Lianna, and I overheard him detail a plan for an exchange of prisoners—your brother for Commander Lanier.”

  Ayden broke in. “When is the exchange to take place, Iolar?”

  “I understood it to be today. They—were otherwise occupied for some time, but before the lady left, they had settled on meeting on the northern slopes beyond ClarenVale, out of sight of Sebastian's northern flank.”

  A plan began forming in Kinna's mind almost before the Elf had finished speaking. “Wonderful. Thank you, Iolar.”

  The Elf bowed again, and Kinna glanced through the predawn gray to the gates of the castle and then back at Lincoln. “Did you see your daughter?”

  Lincoln's gaze found the ground and his boot scuffed the dirt. “From afar. She—looks happy.” He didn't smile.

  “Oh, Linc.” Kinna squeezed his hand. “I wish things were different.”

  “I know where my loyalty lies, Your Grace,” he said, and the rare title felt strange from his lips. “You will always have it.”

  “But not at the expense of your family.”

  “Aye. Even at that.”

  Silence stretched between them. She couldn't fail now; so many people had given up so much to smooth the path she needed to take.

  She straightened and adjusted her braid. “I have a plan for rescuing Cedric.”

  All heads turned to her. “What is it, Your Grace?” Ashleen asked quietly.

  Kinna pulled in a deep breath. “If Sebastian is planning a prisoner exchange, what if he and Lianna were not the only ones present?”

  Iolar swiveled to glance at the northern mountains, squinting. “Does Your Grace mean to interrupt the exchange?”

  “Aye.” Kinna gazed into the valley. In the distance, movement crept from the trees and paths at the base of the mountain as rows upon rows of Sebastian's men marched upon the wide road that led to the expansive city walls. Rising from behind the ridges, flying creatures took to the air, soaring high, darkening the sky, blotting out the pastel sunrise as it crept over the eastern mountains.

  A shiver ran down Kinna's back. It had come: the final battle. The two countries and their rulers had been on the brink for years. At last, the sun was rising on the bloodshed and the hatred that would end it. Whoever won ClarenVale won the war. “We have three Dragons and our own skills to gain my brother back. It will be extremely dangerous and may risk all of our lives. But it seems our best bet for winning Cedric's life and his freedom. Are you with me?”

  All of them nodded.

  “Aye!” Ashleen exclaimed. “Tell us. Please.”

  * * *

  Cedric's Ember did not want to return to the castle. Cedric wasn't around to communicate to him the necessity, and while he seemed to sense that Cedric was in the castle, he thrashed his tail and rolled on the ground, throwing his version of a reptilian temper tantrum. In the end, he allowed only Ashleen anywhere close to him.

  The black-haired beauty moved her hands across the Dragon's scales, murmuring low words to him until the Ember at last relented, still grunting and huffing smoke, but accepting, for the moment, at least, Ashleen's attempts to calm him.

  Kinna pulled Iolar aside as they prepared to leave. “I have need of your Clansmen, Iolar.”

  “They will be ready when you need them.”

  “Good.” Kinna motioned to the valley. “Sebastian has begun moving his forces agains
t the front gates, but even he knows that he will not defeat Nicholas Erlane by a simple frontal attack. This attack must be for show.”

  “Aye, Your Grace,” Iolar nodded, “though that's a considerable loss of life to risk for a show.”

  “He's creating a distraction,” Kinna murmured, “from the one thing that Sebastian thinks can win this war. The Dragon-Master.”

  * * *

  As they approached the city, the noises of battle deepened, growing stronger and more encompassing. They could hear the grunts of soldiers as they hefted their armor, the calls of the Dimn as they commanded their creatures, the songs of Pixies, the howls of Direwolves, the whispers of trees and Dryads. So many sounds and so much movement struck fear in Kinna's heart, but she refused to give in to it.

  Erlane's archers lined the walls of ClarenVale and let regular waves of arrows flow into Sebastian's armies. A battering ram already thudded against the massive gates, and the Lismarian forces responded with oil poured over the battlements.

  Dragons carried their Dimn into the skies. “That's a new one,” Ayden murmured, stopping next to Kinna. “Until you and Cedric rode your Dragons in last year's Tournament, no Dimn had yet succeeded in riding their Dragons. See?” he winked at her. “Change already.”

  “Aye, a tiny one in the midst of a thousand other changes that have yet to be made.”

  “In time, Kinna, in good time.” He turned back to Luasa.

  Kinna glanced at Ashleen where she stood next to the Ember, who was resisting the forward momentum of the rest of the group.

  “Ready?” Ashleen asked Kinna. She calmed the Dragon as she climbed onto his back, holding tightly to the flaming scales. She wiped away a trickle of sweat and nodded. Kinna slid her hand along Chennuh's smooth neck as she mounted him. Luasa lowered her head for Ayden, and the three Dragons joined the hundreds of creatures who inhabited the skies, camouflaging their true intentions as they hid within Sebastian's ranks.

  Iolar and Lincoln waved from the ground as they took off at a run down the hill and farther into the trees. “Take care of her!” Lincoln shouted from the ground, and both Ashleen and Ayden waved in response.