Soul Blaze (30 page)

Seff’s eyes met mine as Ryman barked a crazy man’s
laugh. She tried to mouth something to me, but before she
could finish, Ryman had snapped back to attention.

“This is how I’m going to get my throne back,” he
snarled, all traces of laughter now gone from his lined
face. “Once the public hears that there is a descendant of
their beloved last queen, do you think you’ll last a second?
They’ll tear you off your throne and burn your palace to
ash. The crazed mobs will rip you to shreds. They loved
Queen Fleur. They hardly know you.”

“You’re not leaving this palace alive, Ryman,” I had two
handfuls of white fire, ready to fire them off at any
second.

“Yes, I rather think I will. With my little prize, as well.
You’ll let us pass, or I’ll slit her throat right here in your
hallowed halls.”

“And let your meal ticket bleed out in front of you?” I
narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t think you’ll do that,
Ryman. If you do, you’re even stupider than you look.”

He ground his teeth. He obviously hadn’t allowed for
running into me, or any of my staff; everyone in the
palace now was a mage.

“Who is your informant?” I asked. My blood boiled at
the idea of someone in my own palace selling secrets.

Seff was trying to tell me something with her eyes, and
it was then that I noticed the blood on the knife and
Ryman’s hands.

“Someone you’d never guess in a thousand years,”
Ryman said, his eyes wide. “They are loyal. And they have
orders to hunt her down if something happens to me.”

“I can deal with your informant… trust me. Hand her
over now, Ryman, and don’t make things worse for
yourself.”

His trembling had increased. Seff had screwed up her
little face in pain as the knife dug in further.

“No!” he screamed suddenly. “You’ll not deprive me of
this
again
. I’m sorry, Seffina, dear, but it seems as though
Her High-and-Mightyness won’t let you pass intact,” he
drew back and held the knife poised for the killing blow. I
started forward with my fire in hand, but before I could
do anything else, two solid ‘thunks’ echoed down the
hallway.

Ryman paused, his expression almost puzzled. Suddenly
he sagged and then fell to the floor, two long arrow shafts
protruding from his back. Further down the hall, Eleanora
lowered her bow.

“Eleanora,” I breathed, relief flooding through my
veins. “Thank you.”
Seff ran at me and I scooped her up as the other woman
started towards us.

“It’s ok, you’re safe now,” I told her, stroking her hair.
She kept trying to say something, but I was shaking too
much to hear it. “We’ll get the informant.”

“No,” she said, and burst into tears. “He killed Ispin.”
The world spun as her words sank in.
“Where?” I heard myself ask stupidly.
“The library, please, go to him, you have to, you’re the
queen, you can bring him back.”
“Eleanora. Take Seff to my quarters and bar yourself in.
Kill anyone who approaches.”
She nodded and put her hand on my shoulder.
“Hurry.” Was all she said.

As she and Seff hurried to my quarters, I sprinted in the
other direction, shedding the green overdress of my gown
as I went. It was made of heavy embroidery and therefore
slowed me down.

My heart was thudding furiously as I entered the grand
library. The muffled stillness was almost suffocating as I
searched for my friend. The library was empty, hence
Ryman’s opportunity.

“Ispin!” I cried, my voice echoing amongst the
bookshelves. “Ispin, where are you?”

There was someone lying in one of the study areas. I
didn’t remember running to their side and dropping my
knees, but suddenly my hands were on his chest, trying
desperately to stop the bleeding from multiple stab
wounds.

“Your Majesty,” he groaned, his glasses askew. “Seff-”

“Don’t talk,” I commanded. “Eleanora has her, she’s
safe, Ryman’s dead. I’m going to stitch you up, Ispin.
You’re going to be fine.”

I blinked into my secondary vision. I could see his
magic crowding around the wounds, trying desperately to
knit them back together. I began to weave my healing
magic, nowhere near the calibre of Dena’s, but it would
stop the bleeding until I could summon her.

I worked steadily, my hands covered in my friend’s
blood. I could see my own magic lacing the wounds
together, and one by one I did them up until his torso
shone with threads of my magic. I leant back on my heels
and breathed out a sigh of relief. I was just about to revert
to my normal vision when suddenly all of my healing
unwound and the bleeding began anew.

“No,” I whispered. I summoned my healing again and
started over, but something was stopping my magic from
holding the wounds together.

The knife. Tears flooded down my cheeks. Ryman, the
bastard, had cursed his knife before he stabbed him. No
healing magic would work on these wounds.

Crying, beginning to lose control, I started over
anyway. Ispin’s breathing was shallow and uneven. I was
suddenly aware of someone falling beside me, and Rain’s
hands joined mine in the frantic battle against the stab
wounds.

“Why won’t they stay closed?” she asked, hysteria
beginning to creep into her voice.
“The knife was cursed,” I sobbed. “I can’t… there’s
nothing we can do, Rain.”
“You’re the queen,” she whispered, horrified. “Do
something. Save him, Sky.”

I clenched my fists together, Ispin’s blood squeezing
from between my fingers. I summoned the lightning and
stitched the wounds with that, the heat singing Ispin’s
clothes. That held them together just long enough for our
hopes to rise momentarily before they unravelled and the
wounds re-opened.

Rain called desperately for Dena, for help, as I took one
of Ispin’s cold hands in mine. His soul mate took the
other.

“You’re not to be lonely,” he told Rain. “Petre loves
you. You’re to be with him. Stop being so damn stubborn.”
She rested her forehead against his fingers, shaking. She
nodded as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“And, Sky,” he turned his eyes onto me, and I looked
into their bronze depths. “There’s going to be another war.
Fight with integrity, but don’t forget who you are. You
will win, but there will be costs. I know you can do it.”

I nodded, fighting the urge to burst into hysterics and
beg him not to go.
“Rain,” he turned back to the other girl. “I’ll always
love you. You know that.”
“I love you too.” She whispered.

Ispin’s eyes closed slowly, and suddenly Rain let out a
cry as half of her soul was torn away. I dropped Ispin’s
hand onto the rug as she cried, unable to process what had
just happened.

I stood as the others entered. Dena fell to Ispin’s side
immediately, but I knew what her diagnosis would be. I
walked past them all, past Petre who had turned away
with his hands over his face, past Yasmin who was
weeping already, her hands on her mouth, past Theresa
who watched silently, her expression unreadable.

My feet carried me towards the throne room, and
without even processing it, I sat upon my throne in my
bloodstained dress.

Ispin from Gowar, of house Sempton, who liked ships
but lived too far inland to love them, who read until his
eyes were bleary, who had had his hair plaited by Yasmin
and stole looks at her when he thought we all weren’t
looking. Rain’s soul mate, one of my closest friends, was
dead.

I sat on that throne for hours, not feeling the cold
seeping into my bones, not seeing the blood dry on my
dress. My hands were sticky with it, and when I touched
them to my face, found it there as well.

Dawn was breaking when I heard the throne room
door open and close, and for one crazy second, I thought
that Phoenix had returned, that this tragedy would stop
the war. But when I looked up, I saw Jett waiting for me
to acknowledge him.

“Rain means to sail back to the Tsalski Islands,” he
began. “She would like to leave with your blessing.”
“I mean to sail with her,” I said, my voice hoarse. I
didn’t know when I’d decided this.
Jett frowned.
“You can’t run away from this, Sky. You have to face-”

“I’m not running away,” I said sharply. I left my throne
and stood on the dais. “If we’re to win this conflict, we
will need the support of another country. The Tsalski
Empire will stand to serve that purpose. When does Rain
mean to leave?”

“Immediately,” his tone made it clear he disapproved.
“Her soul mate’s body is being transferred back to his
estate in Gowar, which is now in the North. Rain refuses
to accompany it.”

I understood the implications of Ispin’s body being
returned home, and Rain’s reluctance to go there. She
might not be able to get back, and Castor was the only
place ships sailed to the Islands.

“I’d best get my things together,” I murmured, and
went to move past him, but he stopped me and put his
hands on my shoulders.

“I’m so sorry, love.”
My father held me as I began to weep anew into his
shoulder. I clutched at his robes with bloodstained hands

as I felt the raw hurt of Ispin’s death and knew it wouldn’t
be the last.
Epilogue

The ship was small and fast. Rain, my ladies in waiting
and Seffina had been aboard for an hour by the time I
arrived at the dock.

After Eleanora had taken Seff back to my chambers as I
rushed to the library, she had barricaded them both in for
hours. No one had come after the girl, and thus Ryman’s
informer stayed hidden. I figured the only way to keep
Seffina safe was to have her by me at all times.

I started up the gangway and then turned back,
looking over the city I was leaving behind and my parents.
They and the council would monitor the country and
capital while I was gone. I didn’t know how long
negotiations with the Emperor would take.

Far in the North, I could see the haze of a thousand
fires. Those that opposed the King were running for the
border that sliced my country in half, desperate to reach
the safety of the capital.

As we were given the order to cast off, I could see
desperation in the faces of those who’d come to see us off.
If I failed to secure the Tsalski Empire’s support, we
started off this tumult on the wrong foot.

The fresh air beckoned as we left the harbour, sweeping
away the smoke of new war.
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