Page 133 of Crown of Wrath

I hold the Burning Brand in my left hand, and joy courses through me, burning away the despair that’s threatened to well up inside me almost constantly since that terrible day.

I feel like I can move without pain. Flames flicker around me, and I can’t help but smile. “Is this what it felt like?” I whisper. For the first time since Cole burned, I put the piece of charred wood down where the Burning Brand had been. It’s like a weightis taken from my shoulders, and yet I don’t feel any further away from Cole than I did. A smile crosses my lips for a moment. Shadows pool at my feet, and I slip into the void only to appear in the House of Flame’s training grounds a second later.

No one’s here. Too many House of Flames soldiers had died before we got here. It’s gone from being the second largest House to being almost the same size as the House of Shadows. Those thoughts are mere flickers that pass almost immediately as I stand in the place that built Cole and my relationship. I let the joy of holding the Burning Brand and the strength of pride that resonates from the Steel Gauntlet fill me.

Minutes pass, and there’s no pain making my body stiffen. I move in front of a training dummy made of wood. A blood-red crystal spear appears in my right hand. I’ve never tried to fight one-handed with a spear before, and I consider if it’s even possible.

As a human, trying to wield a spear this long and this heavy one-handed would be a waste of time, but I’m not a human. I’m the only Immortal currently capable of using all four of the Great Houses’ powers simultaneously. Well, theoretically, I should be able to.

Earth gives me the strength to move the spear effectively with a single hand, but the balance is strange. I make a few sweeps and don’t like it. If I only stabbed with it, it’d be one thing, but I slice and sweep just as much as I stab, especially when fighting more than one person at a time.

I pause, and shadows move from my feet to behind me, quickly forming a chair for me to sit on. There has to be a way. If I were using a sword, it’d be simple enough, but spears need a fulcrum for their movements.

Then it comes to me. A grin crosses my face, and flames sputter to life at my fingertips as I stand up. I don’t only have the power of Earth anymore. I think about how we won the warwith Gethin. I think about how I organized all of it. I was strong enough to survive how many fights with Gethin and Rhion? I think of every moment that the girl that nearly died to three harpies would have been proud of.

Nothing happens.

There’s no swelling of pride inside me. I’m not that girl anymore. I’m not a Wyrdling living in the forest anymore. I’m a Queen now, and surviving and winning battles and wars isn’t something to be proud of. It’s expected.

The only thing I’m actually proud of is that I haven’t answered the call of the void like I so desperately want to. I close my eyes and see Cole’s face when he made me promise not to break, not to give up. “I’ve done what you asked,” I whisper, and I feel it inside me as pride flows through me, a…flexibility.

It’s like I could be anything or do anything. I think of flying, and that flexibility flows to my back. A rip in the silk dress breaks the silence of the training grounds as my body shifts and becomes different.

I try to whirl around, but even the Queen of the world can’t see her back. Until my neck changes to accommodate my needs and wants. My neck twists, allowing me to look directly behind me at the massive eagle wings folded against my back.

Fear ripples through me at the changes to my body, and everything shifts. Instead of wings growing, they shrink. It’s the reverse. I remember the night that Cole hesitated while walking on a tree branch and nearly fell. He’d been afraid. His pixie wings had disappeared when that fear had moved past his pride.

My head is pulled back to a normal position, and flames explode around me as I giggle.I told you this is what you needed. It’s Cole’s voice in my head, and I don’t feel any of the sadness I’ve been feeling. Joy fills me completely. This is exactly what I’d have been doing if Cole were here with me. I’d belearning to use the new tools I had access to. I’d be learning to be strong enough to protect the world we’re rebuilding.

Pride wells up inside me at the thought of Cole standing across from me. I figured out how Steel powers work on my first try, with no help. Cole would be proud, so I am too. “I did it.” I exclaim.

Now do it with purpose.

I snarl. Of course. What good is being able to use Steel powers if I don’t know how to use them in a fight? Even Darian and Lee know how to do that, and they’ve stayed far from any actual fights for most of their lives.

The first way is to hold the Burning Brand. I visualize myself fighting with the spear in two hands while holding the Brand in a third hand. That strange feeling of flexibility moves inside me, and a third arm grows from my side, ripping another hole in my dress. It’s the most bizarre feeling I’ve ever had. I try to pass the Brand from my normal left hand to the new one, and it’s awkward. I don’t understand the angles, and the new hand doesn’t want to move how I tell it to.

All I can do is smile. I can do this. I can learn to fight like no one else in the world ever has. All the powers of the Great Houses at the same time.

This is going to hurt. You know that, don’t you?

I smile at the voice in my head. “If it didn’t hurt, would you have even considered it training?”

I get back into position, and new muscles already ache just from holding the Brand. I guess Steel powers need training as well. Good.

Now, see me at the end of your spear…

Chapter 66

Bonded souls do not break evenly. There is not a fine line where one person’s soul ends and the other begins. It’s jagged, and pieces of each are lost to the other. That’s the most terrible part of it all—you can’t move on because that person is still there. The man you wanted to live your life with is still on the edge of your vision. His voice is still in your ear. He is everywhere, and you can’t run from your soul. You can’t close your eyes to the way he kissed you when it’s all you see in your dreams.

~Maeve Arden, personal journals

Maeve

Flames explode around me as I laugh out loud. The laughter is false, completely fabricated, but it’s enough to make the magicflow. My spear thrusts are natural in a way that flames never will be. My body twists as I leap ten feet in the air. Wings sprout from my back, but when I try to flap them, the rest of my body loses its momentum. The wings don’t hold me up, and I stare straight at the sand as I fall onto my face.

I told you it was going to hurt.

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