Curse of Stolen Flame (Firebird, #1)

CHAPTER 58

Kindra’s fire acted upon instinct at the sight of the Shadowmaster.

It shot from her like an arrow, soaring through the air straight for Vylie’s heart.

“Oh, godsdammit,” somebody shouted, and she heard other people rushing to the door, felt Tess’s power reaching for hers—

Water, cold as ice, splashed over her, and the shock of it shattered her concentration long enough for Tess to successfully squash her blast.

Shivering and furious, Kindra stumbled back, falling against the stairs. Vylie had, of course, vanished the second Kindra attacked, though she could see the assassin hovering in the back of the room, more shadow than person. Emeline had replaced her in the doorway, her hands hovering over her head, a mass of water stretched out above her.

“Wh-what the fuck?” Kindra sputtered, her magic fighting to warm her against the cold.

“Are you going to do that again?” Emeline asked. “Because we have barrels of water in here, specifically for you. I can keep you drenched so you can’t even light a spark, but I really don’t want to have to.”

“S-she—what the fuck is she doing here?”

“I told you that you would be confused,” Tess said calmly, but there was a tension in her stance that betrayed her nerves. “And I was right to assume you would be angry. But we can’t answer your questions if you’re busy attacking us.”

Confusion and fury rippled through Kindra at the same time, and though every part of her screamed to fight, to attack, her hands remained at her sides as she climbed to her feet. “Are you forgetting what she has done? She killed Terryn! She almost killed me . She—she almost killed Jasper.” Some nasty, hungry part of her reached for Scaldor, begging her to call for him. She shoved it down.

“We aren’t forgetting,” Emeline said quickly, “but it’s far more complicated than you think it is. You were never in any real danger—”

“I wasn’t aware getting my stomach sliced open didn’t count as real danger, Emeline,” Kindra snapped, then shot Vylie a burning glare. “Besides, her lover definitely intended to kill me. Luckily, I incinerated him before he got the chance.”

Vylie bared her teeth, her fists clenching. But she didn’t move, though the shadows around her rippled.

“Mattias shouldn’t have done that,” Tess admitted. When Vylie growled, she shot the Shadowmaster a stern look. “He disobeyed orders, and that kind of recklessness endangers what we’re trying to accomplish here. It’s his own fault he got killed. He should’ve known better than to let his personal vendetta cloud his judgement.”

“And what, exactly, are you trying to accomplish here?” Kindra breathed, seething, body shaking with the effort to contain her emotions.

“We will tell you if you fucking cool it,” Emeline shot back.

“Fine,” Kindra snarled, not bothering to hide her anger. “But you keep that bitch as far away from me as possible. And you’d better have a damn good reason for why she’s here.”

Emeline nodded, and stepped aside to let her enter, lowering her hands and allowing the water to float back into an open barrel as Kindra stalked into the room.

Sure enough, there were at least a dozen barrels spread through the space, open and ready to go. Kindra bristled at the thought of these people preparing to contain her. She scanned the low-lit room, taking in the people scattered throughout, including Vylie, who had half-melted into the shadows of a dark corner—indeed, as far away from her as possible. The woman’s black eyes glinted as she glared at Kindra. Kindra returned the glare with equal vitriol. All she could picture was Terryn’s face as Vylie dragged her sword through his neck—

“Watch it, Kindra,” Emeline snapped, and Kindra wrenched her gaze away from the Shadowmaster. Slowly, she surveyed the others.

Most she didn’t recognize, but there was a handful from the Royal Guard present. A couple she’d even sparred with, once or twice, and they gave her tight nods of acknowledgment. But there were three new faces she’d never seen before. All crammed into what really wasn’t that big of a space. It would be extremely hard to wield here, unless she accepted the fact that she might hurt somebody accidentally.

The point, most likely.

“So, is somebody going to start talking?” she breathed, getting a grip on her rage.

Tess glanced at Emeline, who gave her a nod. The Firefury seemed to steady herself, then said, as though she were just trying to get it over with:

“We are going to oust the Annalindis family and place a new bloodline on the throne.”

Silence, thick and crackling, surrounded them.

Then, when Kindra could find her voice, she replied, “Is this a joke?”

“Not at all.”

“It’s the only way to break the curse, Kindra,” Emeline added, and Kindra’s blood chilled.

“So that’s your grand plan,” she said softly, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. “Your plan is to overthrow the fucking Annalindis family?” My family , some small part of her cried. “The family that birthed this kingdom, that grew it from the ground up over centuries? Revolution—that’s your big idea?” She shook her head. “That’s—”

“Impossible?” Tess finished for her. She nodded, her orange eyes bright, borderline fanatical. “Yes, it is. And that’s why it’s the only way.”

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going to get support for this?” Kindra spat, feeling like the ground was tilting underneath her. “You stand on the same side as the monster who killed Terryn and bombed children ! And,” she continued, panic swelling in her at the thought, “what do you plan to do with everyone—with the king? With—with Jasper? With your wife ?” She shot at Emeline, who remained unmoved. “How do you think these revolutions go for the people deposed, Emeline? Have you fucking thought about that? Because typically, the people in power get executed —” The Wavebreaker did flinch at that, even as somebody interrupted Kindra’s tirade.

“We plan to give them the choice,” an older woman said, her watery gray eyes hard. “They either peacefully abdicate, or we execute them. Helena and your Jasper will choose to abdicate, we are sure. ”

“Peacefully abdicate,” Kindra repeated slowly, and actually laughed. “You think the Annalindis family is capable of peacefully abdicating the throne they created—”

“For the good of their people, we hope so,” the woman retorted.

She felt like she was going crazy. “Am I the only one who realizes this is insane? And Helena, she doesn’t know, does she, that you’re plotting to overthrow her family— our family, Emeline!”

“I didn’t realize you’d become so attached to that,” Emeline snapped back, blue eyes like chips of ice. “I thought you’d be all for it! After all, this saves you, doesn’t it? Absolves you of your cursebreaker duty. You don’t have worry about bearing children anymore, about being Jasper’s wife, you can be free—” She paused, taking in the expression on Kindra’s face, what was so plainly written there. “Unless you don’t want that anymore.”

Kindra swallowed. “I do want to be free of my-my duty,” she said, hating how her voice shook, how it felt, somehow, not entirely true. “But Jasper—I…” She squared her shoulders. “He is my husband, and I love him,” she declared, and someone in the room gasped. “I will not see him harmed. Not even by those who claim to have the best of intentions.” She stepped back, towards the door. “Do what you want with this—this revolution. I won’t say a word, I won’t stand in your way—but I cannot—I just can’t be part of this, Emeline.” I am so tired, she finished in her head. The still-fresh scar on her torso pulsed dully with pain from the exertion it took to come down here. Her head ached from lack of sleep. She wished, desperately, that she hadn’t come.

It was so foolish of her to believe that this was even worth learning. It only made everything worse. “I already have a target on my back—from the king, from the war… I will not place additional ones on those I love by being involved with this. Not Jasper. And certainly,” she choked, “not my mother. So I will pretend this never happened, I swear on my life, but please, leave me out of it.”

Tess went to reach for her but snapped her hand back at the look on Kindra’s face. “Think about it,” she said, pleadingly. “The bloodline is cursed , Kindra. There is no fucking loophole—no potion or true love’s kiss that can undo it. The way to break it is so simple: a new bloodline. A new family on the throne. But the Annalindis family would never do it. Their arrogance, their God-blessed right , would not let them. And Eija Cursebringer knew that—”

“And she still got herself killed. All the rebels did. They still failed,” Kindra shot back. It was a childish response. It all made sense, honestly, as insane as it was. Of course it would be something so simple. The royal family would never step down. They’d walk headfirst into their kingdom’s doom as long as it meant they got to lead the charge.

“I didn’t expect her to have such weak morals,” one of the newcomers remarked, his green eyes glinting. Kindra went still. Emeline winced.

“You dare insult my morals?” she said with lethal quiet. “You dare call me weak, when you have killed innocent civilians and children ?” She swept a dark glare around the room. “I have dedicated my life to protecting innocent people. I have risked myself again and again for them, I have sacrificed my childhood to keep those I love safe—and yet you, who slaughtered dozens at the Harvest Festival, and dozens in Dewport—possibly hundreds, if you count those that starved when you bombed their food supply, and dozens at my wedding —you act as though you are better than me?” She leveled her scorching gaze at Tess and Emeline. “You assumed I would be willing to get myself killed for this notion you have—an idea you cannot even prove will work. And I am weak for wanting to survive?” Again, she shook her head and made for the door.

“We are going to war,” the same man snapped.

“Yeah, I fucking know, thanks,” Kindra snarled. “The king has made me well aware of what I am to do about it.”

“So, you will fight for him? For that monster?”

“I will do what I have to do to keep my mother and Jasper safe. He has made it very clear what is to happen to me and the people I love—people you love,” a glare at Emeline and Tess, “if I disobey him. I do not want to fight,” she confessed, “and I plan to do my best to get out of it, but I will not risk their lives. Nor will I risk mine for this foolish, impossible idea.”

“You are blessed with the power of a god—”

“ Do not speak to me about that. ” Flames sparked in palms. The man stepped back, eyes turning wary. And she realized then that they, too, wanted to use her, just as the king did. They wanted her to fight with them, to spill blood and take lives for their cause.

Did they even know her at all ?

Her eyes filled with tears from the hurt and frustration that they had so blindly misunderstood her. I thought you understood me , she wanted to scream at Emeline, at Tess. But she felt like she’d been played for a fool, used as a pawn.

“I am leaving,” she declared, leaving no room for argument. She reached the doorway. Nobody moved to stop her. “I will not tell a soul,” she vowed, “but I am no revolutionary. I have only—” Her voice cracked; she cleared her throat before continuing. “I have only ever done what I needed to do to protect my home and my family and myself. That’s all. You should have never—you should have never believed otherwise.” Coward , some part of her whispered, but she was so tired.

She wrenched open the door, ready to escape the suffocating room, only to find the space beyond it occupied.

Her soul knew who the man standing before her was before the rest of her did. Her soul only had to take in the broadness of his shoulders; the freckles dusting his face; the dark curls atop his head, not yet quite faded to gray.

“Do you mind staying for just a bit longer, firebird?” the man before her asked. And she only had to hear his voice—the voice that still floated through her dreams sometimes—for her once-clouded memory to clear.

And as he looked at her with burning, golden eyes lined with silver—identical to her own—Kindra fell to her knees before her father.

END OF BOOK ONE