Curse of Stolen Flame (Firebird, #1)

CHAPTER 18

The doors to King Leofric’s chambers were down a long, heavily guarded and windowless hallway.

The silence around them was thick with tension. The guards regarded Kindra and Jasper stonily as they walked by, and she met each one of their gazes, returning the cold stares with one of her own.

“Jasper!” A man’s voice sounded behind them. It was similar to Jasper’s, but harder. More stern.

They turned to find Antone, the eldest son, striding towards them, his wife Celeste trailing slightly behind. Now that they were under less duress than they’d been this morning, Kindra was finally able to get a good look at them.

Antone was, as she’d noticed earlier, almost Leofric’s mirror, and she imagined this is what the king had looked like twenty years ago. The only difference was his eyes; they were gray like Queen Cordilya’s. And they were hard, like the very stone this castle was built out of.

Celeste was lithe and slender, her black braided hair pulled up into a bun. Her ebony skin shimmered in the light; she’d dusted her cheekbones and exposed shoulders with gold powder, much like they’d done to Kindra that morning. Her off-the-shoulder gown, too, was gold, though it was a deeper, metallic shade, cut from silk.

“Ah, Antone, Celeste,” Jasper greeted them with a tight smile. “How are you this evening?”

“Well, thank you,” Antone replied, barely bothering to look at his little brother before turning to Kindra. “Quite the performance this morning, Lady Kindra. I wanted to introduce myself after but Helena and Emeline rushed you out before I could.” He reached out his hand for hers .

“Thank you, Your Highness.” Kindra allowed him to press a quick kiss to the back of her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, finally.” She turned to Celeste, and flashed what she hoped was a friendly grin. “It’s wonderful to meet you as well, Princess Celeste.”

Celeste returned the smile, though it was thin. Her dark silver eyes flashed as she dipped her head in a nod. “A pleasure.”

Jasper gave what Kindra was beginning to identify as his nervous smile and gestured to the doors. “Let’s go in, shall we? Don’t want to keep Mother and Father waiting.”

“Absolutely not. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sebastian and Myala have already arrived.” Antone frowned, disapproval coloring his features. “Though I doubt Helena and Emeline have made an appearance yet, knowing them.”

“They’ll be here,” Jasper shot back, rather aggressively. Antone raised an eyebrow, his lip curling, and Celeste looked anywhere but the two of them. Jasper coughed awkwardly, then tugged Kindra forward.

The guards opened the doors, and the four of them entered a massive foyer. It was like Helena’s and Emeline’s chambers, the arches on either side leading to grander versions of a study and dining room. Through the center arch, Kindra could see a large meeting space with a huge oak table covered in maps and papers and beyond that, more doorways that led to what she assumed was the sitting room and the king’s bed chambers.

The floor was black, the walls a dark gray stone. Statues, tapestries and paintings depicting Alverin’s bloody history decorated every inch of the foyer and the rooms beyond, as well as large portraits of Alverin’s past kings and queens. It was dark, lit with numerous sconces along the walls and dangling chandeliers but no natural light coming from any windows. Kindra squinted slightly, adjusting to the change in brightness.

“We are in the very center of the castle,” Jasper murmured in her ear as they walked through the foyer, headed for the sitting room. “No walls of windows here. Safety reasons.”

Kindra nodded but didn’t respond. They were walking through the meeting room now, and here the ceilings stretched to over twenty feet tall. A few small windows, barely big enough to fit a child, were scattered around the top section of the walls. A large iron chandelier dangled over the table, lines of wax trailing down the metal from the thick candles .

She began to feel slightly suffocated, as though she were trapped underground.

Beside her, Jasper was stiff, his steps uneven.

“Breathe,” she hissed softly, making sure Antone and Celeste couldn’t overhear.

He squeezed her arm and inhaled deeply, then exhaled, then repeated the process again. His body began to relax, and by the time they reached the door to the sitting room, he had eased back into his casual, easy stride. “Thank you,” he whispered, and then he opened the door.

Sebastian and Myala were, indeed, already there, seated on a couch together. Sebastian looked as though somebody had taken a still-wet portrait of young Leofric and smudged it with a rag; his features weren’t as hard, softened from Queen Cordilya’s bloodline. His eyes though—they were the same as Leofric’s: a sharp, glaring brown. Myala was beautiful, her chestnut hair pinned back from her face by a few small braids and flower pins, gentle curls falling past her shoulders. She wore a short-sleeved, off-white gown that was decorated with delicate gold beading. She was short and curvy, Kindra observed as she got up from the couch to greet them; her head came no higher than Kindra’s shoulder. And, she realized with a start, Myala was pregnant, her belly ever so slightly swelling beneath her dress.

“It’s so lovely to finally meet you, Lady Kindra,” Myala said, her voice high and tinkling like bells. “You were so remarkable this morning, one of the best Novon’s Trials we’ve ever witnessed!”

“You’ve only seen one other,” came a low, dry feminine voice, and Kindra relaxed substantially as Emeline strode into view, Helena on her tail.

Myala’s face flushed and the sickeningly sweet smile she’d donned slid away. “Well, it was far better than yours, so I’m not lying.” Her bell-like voice began to sound more like metal scraping against metal.

“I didn’t say you were, My-my,” Emeline retorted, rolling her eyes, already exasperated with the whole exchange.

“I told you not to call me that,” Myala snapped, but Emeline did not deign to give a response, turning instead to a table cluttered with liquor bottles and pouring herself a generous glass. Kindra bit back a grin. Jasper, however, looked pained .

“Darling, you know better than to engage with her.” Sebastian came up behind his wife and gently guided her back to the couch. His eyes were soft—they only went soft when looking at her, Kindra noted as she watched them sharpen back into daggers as he glared at Emeline’s back. He rubbed his hand soothingly down Myala’s spine, his other coming to rest fondly on her swollen belly.

“You’re late,” Antone shot at his younger sister, who had settled into one of the armchairs. Emeline came to perch on the arm.

“No later than you,” Helena responded, indignant, “We walked in right behind you. Besides,” she gestured to the room, “they aren’t even here yet, so why does it matter? They’re the ones who are late.”

Antone did not have anything to say to that, and he and Celeste went to sit on the couch with Sebastian and Myala. Helena smirked, satisfied. She turned her attention to Jasper and Kindra. “Welcome to the family, Kindra!” She tried to give one of her signature beaming grins, but it lacked its usual sunny glow.

“Yes, aren’t we just delightful?” Emeline added under her breath, taking a sip of her drink.

Kindra laughed then, which earned her a spiteful look from Myala and a disappointed one from Celeste. Well, fine. They were never going to be her friends, anyway. “Where are the king and queen?” she asked, walking over to sit in the armchair across from them. Jasper followed, seeming smaller by the second. He was shrinking in on himself, like he wished the shadows lurking in the corners of the room would reach out and swallow him.

So very different from the arrogant prince she’d first met in her cottage.

He hates them, she thought sadly as she watched him feebly fend off a teasing remark from Sebastian. What must it have been like to grow up here, if he was so deeply affected by their presence?

“Father is in another Council meeting, but he should be out soon. And Mother won’t arrive until she has to, as always,” Antone replied, butting into their conversation.

“Another meeting?” Jasper responded, looking alarmed. “Has there been an update? ”

“Perhaps if you had chosen the military route instead of wasting your time with your books, you would be privy to such information,” Antone jeered, and Jasper huffed, wounded.

“If this concerns Pryllia, I would like to know,” Kindra interrupted, not bothering to be particularly polite, already sick of Antone’s pompousness and stupid games. “My village is very close to the border. The lives of many I care about are at stake, so I’d appreciate it if you could set aside petty sibling squabbles and tell me.”

A thick silence fell across the room. Pure shock flitted across the crown prince’s face at her tone, and she saw Jasper’s face pale. A thrill ran through her . Look at me, the dumb village girl, stunning Alverin’s future king into silence. Perhaps if she were smarter, she would feel fear.

“Um, there is no update, necessarily, they’re just… trying to get ahead of it,” Antone stammered. Kindra wondered if anybody had ever called him on his shit before. Nobody, except his father.

Kindra nodded, then looked up at Jasper. “I’d like to be kept in the know about any new information you might receive about this, if possible. I worry for my mother and Harthwin’s safety. I’m sure you can understand.”

Jasper gave her a soft smile, his expression flitting between shock, terror and a fierce pride. “Of course, Kindra. You have my word.” The two of them looked over to Antone, whose eyes were narrowed as he studied them, face slightly red with embarrassment and mouth drawn taut with frustration. Then he nodded stiffly, and turned back to his brother and their wives, loudly resuming their conversation. He did not glance their way or speak to them again, not even to poke fun at Jasper or shoot snide remarks at Emeline and Helena.

Kindra had a feeling she’d just made a new enemy.

But if it gave Jasper a reprieve, she didn’t mind it all that much.

The king and queen swept into the room just shy of a half hour later. Kindra was sipping on some wine, courtesy of Jasper, when they did, and as the royal pair entered, she felt the urge to down her glass in one gulp. They all rose to greet them, bowing .

King Leofric swept his stern gaze over them, pausing momentarily on Kindra. Her skin crawled, and she was grateful when his eyes left her.

Queen Cordilya did not look at any of them, her distant stare settling somewhere on the wall above them. Nobody else seemed to find this unusual, though Helena did look particularly sad when she greeted her mother and barely got a nod in return.

The queen sat down in a plush chair near a fireplace on the other side of the room, staring into the flames. She did not notice when Helena brought her a glass of wine, nor did she so much as look at her daughter when Helena knelt to speak with her. Kindra felt a pinch of longing for her own mother. How many times had she wished she would have been left alone or given some peace when she’d been growing up? It felt strange to miss her mother’s nagging and worrying, but she would have far preferred it to the heartbreaking abyss between Helena and Queen Cordilya.

“She wasn’t always like that, you know,” Jasper murmured softly in her ear. Distantly, Kindra could hear the voices of his brothers, talking with the king. She looked over at him.

“She wasn’t?”

He shrugged, gaze trained on his sister, still desperately trying to get a response out of Cordilya. “She has always been shy, yes, but she used to talk to us… laugh with us, see us. Then one day a few years ago, she just…” He trailed off, lost for words. “It was like the light inside her was snuffed out.” Grief flashed across his face.

“Do you know why?”

Jasper shook his head. “No. We have suspicions, though. It was obviously something with her magic. She must have received a vision, and it was so horrible it tore through her mind. We have no idea what that could have been, though.” Kindra followed the direction of his gaze. He was staring directly at his father.

A chill ran down her spine. She took another sip of her drink. “Do you think he...”

“No, oddly enough,” he replied. “My father is a lot of things, but he really loves my mother. Even now.”

Indeed, she noticed the moments of tenderness King Leofric seemed to only have for his wife throughout the rest of the evening. As dinner was announced and they made their way into the dining room, he came over to her seat to escort her, one hand clutching hers and the other resting gently on the small of her back. In that moment, as Cordilya’s eyes met his, there was a flash of something: Life? Recognition? Love? Kindra couldn’t exactly tell, but it was something that contrasted with the usual blankness.

What did she see that was so horrible it did this to her?

Once they were all seated, the servants brought out steaming plates of food. Jasper piled his plate high with roast vegetables, seared pork, and rolls so fresh from the oven, they were still steaming. Kindra, though too nervous to have much of an appetite, helped herself to a good amount of food as well.

Nobody dared take a bite before the king began to eat. Jasper focused so intently on his dinner that it would’ve been comical if it weren’t so sad, while the rest of the table resumed their previous conversations. She was seated between Jasper and Celeste, Antone on Celeste’s other side. Across from them sat Sebastian and Myala, and Emeline and Helena. The king sat at one end, next to his two eldest sons, and the queen sat at the other end, next to Helena and Jasper.

Celeste peppered her with questions about her upbringing in Harthwin, wanting to know everything. What was it like to grow up in a small village? What was her education like? Did she really have no formal training? Did she ever starve? Kindra gave all the proper answers: It was fine; she had been educated by her mother and the elderly woman who operated as a teacher for the kids; no, she’d had no formal training; and no, she never truly starved, though sometimes they did go hungry for a meal or two. She searched for somebody to get her out of this interrogation, but Helena and Emeline were lost in their own conversation, and Jasper was too busy shoveling food in his mouth to be of any help.

“I saw you, once,” a soft, silken voice said suddenly, and the room went utterly silent.

Kindra turned to face Queen Cordilya. Judging by the looks on everyone’s faces, it had been a long time since she had spoken. Even the king looked shocked.

Kindra blinked. “I-I’m sorry, Your Majesty?”

The queen regarded her silently, and for a second Kindra thought she wouldn’t speak again .

“You wore a crown of fire upon your head,” Cordilya said cryptically. The whole room seemed to hold its breath. But she merely returned to picking at her food and did not speak again.