AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Finn went straight to the head of the magic council with my father. They had taken over the castle by this point, and Finn marched in there as though he owned the place. He was armed to the teeth, both with weapons and his newfound identity, and he demanded justice… and the council just laughed at him. They laughed and laughed until Finn ran their leader through with his sword right there in the lobby.
“He killed them all within minutes. Father had tried to stop him, but he had gone crazy with blood lust. It wasn’t until he turned his sword on father that he realised what he had done. Father picked him up, bathed him clean of their blood, and made sure he was safe while he vomited all over them. When he came round, he sent Father on a mission to find all the noble people still living, which was not easy. Most of them had emigrated to Fire, or Air, and I believe a handful even fled as far as Water.
“When father returned, Finn had called a mass culling of magic wielders. It was carnage. People were hung in the streets, and the uprising had taken out entire cities. Non-magic wielders had taken Finn as their leader withoutthought nor question, and they had taken back their Kingdom. Your grandfather only allowed my father and grandmother to live due to the help they had given him, but even though they were to be shunned to the forest, a tunnel to the castle made it for them to enter without being seen if he ever needed them.
“Father went travelling when he was nearing his fifties, and that is when he met my mother. A Fae woman from Fire that stole his heart and his soul, and nearly a year after he came home, I was magicked into his cabin. The Fae population in Earth is not none, however it is dwindling. There is less than ten-thousand Fae left in Earth’s lands.”
My eyes pricked with tears as Leo’s story ended, and Cyrus’s hand on my shoulder was a welcome distraction. Leo looked at me then, his face sad as he stood from his chair and crossed to the biggest bookcase in the room. Cyrus squeezed my shoulder, and I looked up at him through the tears that had now fallen onto my cheeks. He smiled softly at me, reaching up to swipe one away with his thumb.
Leo returned with a leather-bound book thicker than any I had ever seen. I sat it on my lap, blinking a few times to clear my vision, and took in the thick, brown book in front of me.
“This is the birth ledger of every single person in Earth, right up until the night of the raids. If you look through it, anyone born with a cross is fully human, and anyone marked with a star has the potential to carry magic. Someof them were gifted magic after their births, by loved ones or by the gods, or…”
I paused, looking up at Leo again. His face suddenly seemed older, loaded with more emotion than I had seen on him so far, and he held my gaze as he reached forward and took one of my hands, turning it over in his own and crouching down in front of me.
Frowning, I tried to pull my hand away, but he held tightly to it. A small spark came from the tip of one of his fingers, and I jolted backwards as he pressed it to the palm of my hand, hissing in pain.
“Some, were gifted magic by my father at the request of their parents.”
Leo’s voice was thick as he crouched in front of me, his eyes on the hand I now cradled to my chest. He nodded at it, a small smile on his face.
Pulling my hand away from my chest, I looked down. The glowing, eight-pointed star standing out against the pale skin of my palm. Gasping loudly, I curled my fingers into a fist, my eyes flitting between Cyrus and Leo again and again. Cyrus was staring at Leo with a look I could only describe as shock, the colour draining from his cheeks as he turned his attention to me finally.
His blue eyes caught mine and widened almost comically.
Leo stood from his squatted position, only to drop to oneknee in front of me as soon as he did.
“Congratulations, Your Majesty.” He said, his voice thick, “Her Royal Highness Kira Dagon, Queen of Fire and Earth, Waker of Dragons… Magic Wielder.”
8
Maeteo
Emily stared at me as though I had three heads.
We were in the war rooms of the barracks, the heavy rain battering the windows as it fell from the heavens. My hair was pushed back off my forehead to stop the drops of rain falling onto my face as we spoke, and Hollis sat at the small table in front of us ringing water out of her braid. Tarian stood by the door, his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face as he dripped water onto the floor. The three of us had been spending time with the dragons outside when the rain had started, and the run from their castle cave to the barracks was enough for us all to now resemble drowned rats.
Emily had already been in the barracks when we arrived,trying to keep herself busy by cleaning the war rooms. She had been a shell of herself since we came back without Kira, and every minute of her days were now filled with odd jobs as though she could not sit still with her own thoughts. We had let her read Kira’s letter the day after we returned, and she had screamed until her throat was hoarse.
Now, she stood, looking frail and with bags under her eyes. She had barely been eating, only taking myself and the twins up on our dinner invitations a few times.
“You’re all going?” she asked, her eyes wide and voice thick with emotion. I nodded my head, my hair flopping annoyingly back onto my forehead.
“Yes, the three of us.”
“On one dragon?”
Tarian and Hollis nodded this time, their movements matching each other even though they were the rooms width apart. Emily looked between the three of us, as though the cogs were turning in her head at our newly unfurled plan.
“Why can I not come?” Her voice cracked, and my heart strings pulled slightly at the emotion there.
“It’s going to be a hard enough squeeze with three of us on Aepein as it is, Em.” I said softly, reaching one hand out and putting my hand on her bicep. She glared at me, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.
“So we take Gavrun as well.”
“That would draw too much attention.” Tarian spoke up this time, his tone just as gentle as mine had been. “Taking just Aepein is risky enough, we don’t know yet how they will behave when they’re parted for so long.”
Emily closed her eyes, taking a breath through her nose and squaring her shoulders in the same way I had seen Kira do so many times before now. The similarities between the two in that movement made me smile lightly, and I wondered if she knew how much of an impact she had had on Kira’s life, right down to the way she carried and settled herself.
