“Fine. Do it!” I bellow.
“You’ll fail out there without us. You’ll die alone!” my father roars.
“One, I have real friends, something you don’t understand,” I retort. “Two, I have no qualms with dying alone as afreeAmphiran! It is better than dying alone as acagedone.” I turn and stalk toward my ship.
“Aura,” Vybron calls after me.
“I am sorry.” I pause and glance back at Vybron, hoping he reads the sincerity in my eyes. No jokes today, not this time. “I never wanted to let you down.”
My father scoffs. But he should not expect me to love or respect him just because of what he is. I guess I am like Thorians in that I feel actions speak loudest.
I choose freedom, tradition, my Storm, and my people’s right to their Storms over servitude. No one can convince me that my father or any of the other kings have in mind the best interests of their people.
It’s all a ruse to keep the ones in power in power. It’s time someone stood up for our people. And as infuriating as it is, choosing isolation over mutiny is the best I can come up with.
A civil war will only lead to unnecessary death. I want the people to have freedom. I am a symbol of power that’s trying to model choosing another path, a path of peace.
“You will destroy Amphir with this,” my father angrily calls after me.
I turn around and hold my arms out. “Then kill me, father. But this is not Amphir. We had elected councils ofpeers,not self-appointed royals.”
“I will have you hunted so you live in fear for the rest of your life.”
“Or maybeI’lljust climb up your mountainous ego and jump to your heart, which hides in the deepest valley of Helfor. That fall will surely kill me.”
Wytsor gasps.
“Kings do not have the luxury of hearts,” my father says.
“Then change that!” I bellow. “But you won’t because you like power more than the bonds between Storms, between people!”
I fume as I turn away and mutter, “You love yourself so much, then go fuck yourself.”
6: Aurelius
I return to my ship, past my waiting crew of Blaize, Eluni, and Jorusk, wondering why Eluni is with them.
Fieri runs down the hallway toward us, tapping off his earcom. Blaize ends a call, and I think they’ve been talking.
“None of you have to stay and implicate yourselves,” I tell them.
My father and Vybron call to them. Blaize looks at me and shrugs.
“Your choice.”
I call Allele as I walk toward the ramp. I am burning up with fury and need to blow off some steam before I hurt someone.Please open the discharge chamber.
Inside my ship, a door to my right slides open.
“Aurelius?” A sweet, gentle voice makes me stop and look back.
A plump, older female hustles up to me from a back alley. Her black hair is threaded with the first hints of silver and is drawn up in a thick bun. Her apron is dusted with maltrum flour, and she smells as sweet as her voice sounds.
“Ephinium, why are you following me?” I encourage her into a side alley, protecting her from my father’s view. “He will torture and interrogate you for coming up to me. I’m not a guard anymore. I cannot make civilian security rounds.”
She holds a brown paper sack that smells of buttery desserts. “I overheard the conversation from my bakery. Many of us cannot believe what your father has done. Can any of us give you anything before you go?”
I shake my head. “Do not risk yourselves for me. I would rather you be safe. I will find a way to make ends meet. I always have.”
