AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Why does it feel like failure instead?
I’m beginning to feel the heat of the fireball I’ve created in my chest. This will kill practically with a touch. All I have to do is let it go. All I have to do is not hesitate for once.
There’s a sound out in the hallway. I need to make this decision. Before it’s too late.
It’s at that moment that the door crashes open. Slyth is standing there, staring at me, his face as full of love as it is of shock and anger.
So I have to do it in front of him now?Just as well,I think.
“Lorelai, no!” he cries as I bring my hands back and aim the fireball right at the Prince’s chest.
25
SLYTH
It’s one thing to know what she’s planning. It’s another to stand there, seeing her hold the fireball in her hand, ready to launch it at Prince Zalith.
“Lorelai, no!” I cry. The words are more of an instinct than anything else. My mind is screaming at me. This can’t be happening. It can’t have gone this far. No.
The woman I love and the man I have sworn my loyalty to from birth are facing off, one about to kill the other. And somehow, I have to make it come out alright. She can’t kill him. I won’t let her.
I have to believe that there’s a part of Lorelai that doesn’t want to do this. I’ve seen that gentle part of her, and even when she’s standing here, ready to kill him, that other piece of her has to be there somewhere.
If it isn’t… I don’t know what I’ll do. I simply don’t know.
“Slyth, I’m sorry,” she says, trying to meet my eyes for a moment but then looking down at the ground. “I didn’t want you to have to watch this.”
I can’t let her do this. I won’t.
There’s no time for me to get in between her and the Prince. If I take a step towards them, she might release the fireball twisting and burning in her hand before my foot has even touched the floor again. I’m going to have to do this with words.
That’s possible, isn’t it? She said that she didn’t want to do this in front of me. And she hasn’t done it yet. There must be some hesitation somewhere in her. Is that enough? Can I grow that hesitation, or is the best I can hope for delaying the inevitable?
“I won’t let you get away with this,” I declare, drawing myself up to my full height. “I love you, but if you hurt my Prince, I will see that you are punished fully for it. You will be making an enemy of the entire Kingdom of Lodra and of me, and you will suffer all the consequences of that choice.”
“Slyth…” Zalith begins, but Lorelai cuts him off.
“Do you think I can’t handle that?” she snaps. “Do you think I’d let my fear of you get in the way of doing my duty?”
No. I don’t think that. She’s right that this is entirely the wrong approach. I’ll never scare her into submission, even if I were as sure as I’m pretending to be that I could defeat her in combat. But she’s still not releasing the fireball.
It’s almost as if she wants me to stop her.
That’s it. She wants to believe that there is a reason she doesn’t have to do this. She just needs me to come up with it for her.
“You’re right,” I admit. “You might be able to escape. Between your fire magic, your agility, and how well you know the woods, I’m not sure whether I would be able to stop you or not. I don’t think you are, either. But that’s not really the point, is it?”
“You think you know what the point is?” she snarls. Her voice is full of confused emotions. That means I have to be even more careful. In a state like this, all it would take is one strong impulse. “You’re a naga! You don’t know anything about what I’ve been through! What other humans are still going through out there!”
I certainly don’t. I can see in her all the pain that she’s had to bear over the years. When that much pain has been ignored for that long, how hard must it be to listen to someone else telling you not to do something about it?“If not this, what?”I can almost hear her thinking.“If not this, what?”
“You’re right. I don’t know what you’ve been through,” I answer. “I don’t know what it’s like to be a human slave, and I don’t pretend to. But I do know you. I know you better than you think I do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean that I know how talented and strong and beautiful you are. I’ve seen how much you care about people and what you’re willing to do to help them. I’ve seen you smile and play and have fun. I know that you are a whole and wonderful woman and that you deserve better than to sacrifice yourself out of obligation to the suffering of people whom you won’t even be saving.”
She stares at me. For a moment, her hands loosen, and the fireball between them starts to weaken. Just as quickly, she catches herself, and it roars back to its full force.
