Guards dressed in white and gold lined the corridor; they bowed as she passed. As she entered the courtyard, servants showered petals upon her. They smiled and sang blessings, raising their hands to welcome the new dawn, but she sensed a quiet unease beneath the joviality.
Torches flickered along the path to the landing dock. Hovercams flashed as Elena stepped out, her long train dragging petals behind her. Her image would be all over Ravence, all over the world. She was the Burning Queen. The heir of a land of blood and prophecy. May they all bow to her fury.
Her father waited at the end of the dock. He looked regal in his gold-and-red achkan, with a handspun silk scarf draped sharply down his shoulders. Behind him, his Spear and his Astra were dressed in their ceremonial ivory robes; they bowed as she approached.
The king held out his hand, but all Elena could see was his crown and the red Featherstone glimmering in the morning light.
Today, he would lose his throne to her.
“She would be proud,” Leo whispered, and Elena did not know whether he was referring to Ferma or her mother.
The guards and Samson wrapped the velvet tapestry around her shoulders.
“So we the blessed few,” they said.
“So we the blessed few,” she returned.
Samson bowed and kissed her hand. He was dressed in a gold silk sherwani that shone against his dark skin. Intricate strings of pearls adorned his neck, while a white embroidered scarf hung over his shoulder and looped across to his other arm. He looked like a Ravani, like a king. Beautiful and mighty, and yet… Elena found that she could not return the sincerity of his kiss. That her eyes did not search for his across a room. She gave him a small parting smile and squeezed his hand.
“You’re an inferno, my darling,” he whispered.
“See you soon,” she said.
Leo led her into the hoverpod, and she turned back as the ramp slowly lifted. The servants and palace guards stood along the dock, waving. Samson winked at her. He would meet them at the temple, for the heir and ruling monarch must travel alone. Yassen gave a slight, imperceptible nod.
Ferma was not among them.
Elena looked to the desert beyond, felt the wind stir her robes. She blinked, nose burning.
I miss you, she told the desert.
The hoverpod rose into the blossoming sky and Palace Hill fell away. They flew west, and Elena looked over the dunes sprawling in the sun to the mountains ridging the kingdom. Her kingdom. The one she would swear to protect, even from the madness of her family.
Leo came up beside her. They stood silently for a moment, watching as the desert unrolled beneath them.
“The Eternal Fire will ask for a sacrifice,” he said finally. His voice was quiet, pained. “And when you won’t give one, it will try to harm you. I know this to be true, Elena.”
“You’re not going to jump, are you?” she asked, trying to keep her voice light. “If so, I’ll make Samson and Yassen hold you back.”
At this, he smiled. Partially.
“I think they’re too distracted byyouto pay me any mind,” he said. She blushed, and her father took her hand, turning her to him.
“Jokes aside, Elena, I need you to understand,” he said. “I’ve asked for extra guards and medics to be present at the temple. If you think—if you even feel the fire swell, I need you to promise me that you’ll stop. That you’ll run down that dais and leave.” He squeezed her hands. “Please, promise me.”
Worry lined his face, made him older. His eyes glimmered, and Elena felt a pang as she raised his hand and kissed his ring.
“I promise, Father,” she said.
He nodded, his shoulders visibly sagging in relief. She wanted to ask him so much else. About Aahnah, the Prophet, the priests; wanted to tell him about Yassen, what she felt, now that they finally talked to each other openly. But the look on his face stopped her.
Leo smiled on her, looking—for once—lighter. She did not want to weigh him down.
After, she thought.
He brought his hand to his chest and clutched her mother’s necklace. The jade glimmered in the light of the waking sun.
“Your mother once told me that the only thing that distinguishes a Ravani from others is our ability to sacrifice,” he said softly. “Not to fire, but to our kingdom. This is what it truly means to lead. ‘To give yourself to the kingdom that has already claimed you.’”
