The Chronicles of Fire and Ice (The Legend of the Archangel Book 1) (5 page)

Scarlett stared at him in disbelief
.

“
No, you must be mistaken. I can’t be the offspring of an Archangel.”

“
All the signs arether
e
 
-
your Trait appearing early… today wasn’t the first time was it?” Dyston asked.

“
No,” she admitted. “It first happened when I was fifteen.” She suddenly had a vision of fire, but this fire wasn’t from six years prior. She saw black wings and a baby crying. She met his eyes.

“
What just happened?” he asked her, concerned. “Did you remember something?”

“
Yeah, but I don’t know if it’s a memory or a dream. There was a fire when I was a baby…”

Dyston tensed and pulled her close, wrapping his arms and wings around her.

“Dyston, what’s wrong?”

“
Listen to me. I want you to keep your Trait hidden, for now. There are people out there who would do anything to get their hands on you.”

“
Who?”

“
I can’t say right now. Just please promise me, don’t stand out, be a part of the crowd.” He took her face in his hands and then stepped back, taking something out of the hem of his jeans. It was glimmering and beautiful silver dagger. It lay balanced across his palms. Scarlett gasped. “I want you to have this,” he told her. “I want you to carry it with you at all times and only use it at precisely the right moment.”

“
I promise,” she breathed, and then he kissed her. It was quite unexpected, but she went with it because she didn’t know what else to do. His lips were like ice and hers like fire. They balanced each other perfectly. Whenever she felt as if she were burning up, Dyston’s touch would cool her right back down. She smiled against his lips knowingly. She had just figured out his Trait.

Emer bounced around helplessly in the air.

“I can’t do this.”

“
You’ve been here a week and you haven’t even tried, Emerald,” Professor Anna, their instructor for Aerial Ability, told her. She was a short woman with blonde hair, petite but with good muscle development. She was built like a ballerina.

“
Why don’t you show her, Joshua? You seemed to pick this up easily on the first lesson.”

“
Okay.” Joshua climbed into his harness and the other students hoisted him up into the air. Then he stretched out his arms as if he were flying.

“
It’s fun, Emer.”

“
It’s scary.” She swallowed back hard as she watched him soar gracefully around the room, coming close to her several times.

“
Don’t do that!” she cried out, squeezing her eyes shut.

“
Take my hand, Emer. It’s okay.” She opened her eyes slowly.

“
Don’t go too fast.”

“
I won’t, promise,” he told her, reaching out for her. She reluctantly pushed off the platform she was perched on and grabbed hold of his hands. She screamed and closed her eyes.

“
Shh. It’s okay. Open your eyes, Emer.” He held her close to him, his arm wrapped around her waist. Emer opened her eyes one by one.

“
Oh, my goodness,” she gasped.

“
See, it isn’t so bad,” he told her. But she didn’t reply. She just gripped his hands tighter. When they touched the ground again, Emer let out her breath.

“
You were amazing up there,” Joshua told her as he took off his harness next to her.

“
Really? I thought I was a screeching banshee.”

“
Not quite,” he laughed. And that was when she noticed his eyes.

“
Hey, you have green eyes like me,” she smiled.

“
Um, yeah,” he replied nervously, looking down at his hands.

“
Hey. They’re nice. They’re more lime green though, while mine are em…”

“
Emerald,” he finished for her, and they both laughed.

“
Hey, do you want to watch a movie with me tonight after dinner?” he asked her, fiddling with his curls.

“
Um… will it be just us two?”

“
On the date, yes. In the cinema, no.”

“
I thought you had a thing for Kat? I saw you watching her. What happened?” she asked.

“
Didn’t you know? Kat likes someone else.”

“
She what? Okay, I thought she was my friend. And how do you know?”

“
It’s just something I’ve come to observe,” he said, as they helped Professor Anna put the equipment away.

“
Okay, you have to tell me everything tonight,” she pleaded, as they left class together.

Exactly a week had
passed since she had met Dyston, and already Scarlett felt as if fate had brought them together. All the things he had said were swirling around in her brain as she lay in bed, unable to drift into sleep. Her father might be an Archangel, and she had been born in a blaze of Heavenly Fire. Had her mother known? Scarlett looked over at her nightstand and took Dyston’s feather that was sitting there, leaning against her copy of
The Chronicle
, its golden leather cover so worn that it was almost falling apart.

She only had to think of him
, and he was right there beside her, so silent. She wondered randomly if he was a good warrior.

“
Why can’t you sleep?” he asked.

“
Just going over everything in my head.”

“
I shouldn’t have told you. It’s too much of a burden on you. I’m so sorry.” He reached out to touch her, but she pulled away and sat up.

“
What’s wrong?” he asked

“
Why do I feel like I know you, before this past week?”

“
I sent you the dreams.”

“
No. It’s more than that. I feel like we have this connection I can’t explain.”

Dyston rose from the bed
and walked over to the balcony. Scarlett followed him.

“
Dyston?” She asked. She was almost afraid to touch him, his expression scared her. Then he turned to face her.

“
It was my Task to find you,” he said.

“
This was before I came here, right? I mean, you’ve been sending me the dreams for years.”

“
Five years. I first found you five years ago, when you were sixteen.”

“
Now you’re starting to sound like a creepy stalker. How?”

“
There were reports of unexplained fires, so my father sent me to investigate.”

Scarlett buried her face in her
hands. “The school fire. How did your father find out about that?”

“
He had a source there. He marked you down as ‘one to watch,’” he told her.

“
So your father knows about me?”

“
He doesn’t know what you are, just that you’re connected to the fires.”

“
But he’ll figure it out, right?”

“
Maybe, if we don’t keep your Trait hidden,” he told her, as a warning. Scarlett went back to her bed and sat down, pulling her legs up under her.

“
What are you thinking about?” he asked, watching her.

“
I was thinking about…” She turned to face him. His wings weren’t showing, so he looked like a twenty-five year old human. “About why you always smell like rain.” This made him smile.

“
It’s my thing, my Trait. I can make it rain anytime I want,” he said, moving to sit beside her.

“
That’s better than setting things on fire. Can you show me?”

“
Not right now, later. Now I want you to sleep.”

“
But my brain is so active at the moment, I just can’t.”

“
Would this help?” He leaned close and pressed his lips against hers, then trailed kisses up to her forehead. It immediately cooled her heart and her soul. His kiss had the most amazing calming effect on her that in no time she was asleep.

He couldn
’t bear to leave her, not with how sacred she was. He kissed her head one more time and leapt out the French doors, unfurling his wings mid-air.

He didn
’t expect to have anyone waiting for him on the Dome as he landed. Lakyn was there, sitting and waiting, looking out over the city.

“
You called?” Dyston asked, annoyed.

“
Have you found the Legend yet? Rumours are that she’s a Legacy, as well.”

“
No. I haven’t,” he lied.

“
I have a feeling you’re lying to me, to us.” Lakyn was now on his feet.

“
I’m not. I haven’t found her.”

“
Are you sure, little brother? Because I know when you lie, your eyes flare up.” His face was now really close to Dyston’s. “Which one is she, hmm?”

“
I told you, I don’t know.” Dyston quickly turned away and faced the city.

“
I bet it’s your flame-haired girlfriend,” added Lakyn. Dyston spun back around to face his brother.

“
You leave Scarlett out of this!” Dyston replied in defence.

Lakyn chuckled.
“How sweet. You’ve fallen for your assignment.”

“
Scarlett’s not my assignment,” Dyston growled.

“
I don’t want to fight you, little brother, because it will be an easy fight. Plus, Dad won’t agree with spilt blood on his pretty glass dome.”

“
You can spill my blood, but you will never spill Scarlett’s!” spat Dyston.

“
Whatever. This is the reason you will never be welcome into the Realm of Fire again,” Lakyn replied, as he pushed his enormous wings back and took to the air. “I will find her, Dyston. You can’t keep her locked away forever.” With another flap of his marbled-black and silver wings, he blended in with the night sky.