Page 76 of Chained to the Devil's Daughter

There it was, that flaming patronizing tone of his. In a moment of weakness, I shrank inside myself. A little black flame filled my empty glass, and I glanced up to see Ash’ren, steady, my rock. His gaze reminded me of our purpose. Reminded me that I was worthy.

“This is your last chance, Devil.” I stood and deposited my empty glass on the drink cart, coming to lean on the table in front of Devil. “Tell me of the portal, of my family, or I’ll have my king dispose of your life as he wishes.” Ash’ren perked up. “And trust me, he has wanted this for a long time. I’m the only thing holding him back.”

Knuckles cracked at the table. When Devil’s silence continued, the chair creaked. I kept my attention rapt on Devil, who scrutinized me right back. There was a huge crash as Ash’ren’s wooden chair collided with the far wall. It splintered into bits, then went up in flames, which turned to ash before reaching the ground.

“Is that fear in your eyes, father?” I narrowed my own into taunting slits.

“I fear no one.” Something flickered in his stony stare. “Except you.”

I flinched, hurrying to hide my surprise by retrieving my glass. “Is that why you stole me?”

“No,” he said with a bitter laugh. “My fear lies inlosingyou, daughter.”

“Then why?”

“There you were, a baby with ocean blue eyes and skin like watercolors, sitting in carnage, not a tear in sight. You smiled at me like you knew me, like you trusted me, and. . .”

I hardened myself against his pandering. I’d heard this story, though the carnage had been left out before. “And?”

“This conversation is best left unsaid. Or, at the very least, said only between family.”

I slammed my glass on the table and filled it to the brim with wine. “Continue.”

Devil sighed. “Might I at least be tied to a chair, so that I can look you in your eyes whilst I break your heart?”

“No.”

Devil ground his teeth. “Fine, then. A sip of volcanic panic?”

I hesitated, then stood to retrieve it. Ash’ren was there in a flash, putting a hand over the cup and guiding it back to the tray.

“He’ll only use it to fuel more flames.” He turned to address the tyrant. “Answer the queen’s questions. I’ve had it with your games.”

“You were a fucking mistake!” Devil shouted. I startled at the sound, too reminiscent of childhood. “A moment of weakness. A brash decision I rationalized as I looked into your manipulative blue eyes.”

“Why?” I demanded, finally swinging to face him. “Why did you bring me through the portal?”

“Because, Little Torch.” His fatherly mask was gone completely. He was almost unrecognizable but for the voice dripping with tyranny that I’d heard countless hours of in the throne room. “You’re the key to my empire. Fuck those Fyre pricks! They can’t have my bone-blessed land.”

“The succession laws,” Ash’ren breathed.

My attention snapped to him. I was completely in the dark. “You know of this?”

He gave a stiff nod and poured a shot of volcanic panic, extending it to me. “They’re insanely old Fyre laws from before it was even called Fyre. A thing of the archives. Useless in the elemental age, but no one changed them.”

I gulped down the lava extract and puckered, rolling my finger for him to continue.

“Before the territories were formed and balance was restored, there were kings every few feet. You couldn’t throw one king without hitting another. War was a constant.”

“Sounds like chaos. What does this have to do with me?”

“Because,” Devil interrupted. “I am the first king in this era. You, little one, are not just any heir.”

“You’re a decoy heir.” Ash’ren looked at me, a weight to his words that I didn’t understand. “You would inherit the people, the land, and the magical power within it all.”

“Mypower,” Devil said, his dark tone imploring me to understand, but I did not. “Freely given.”

“No. Stolen. Sapped from the land itself.” Ash’ren roughly ran a hand through his hair to briefly linger on the stump of his horn. Then…he shrugged. “But things are different now. Those laws didn’t account for the sentience of the land. Fyre wouldn’t give its power up to anyone.”

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