Page 5 of War Of Fire and Fortune
“It's alright.” I wrapped my arms around her to comfort her.
“Take them to the coronation, and don't let them out of your sight. When it's over, deliver them to Valos,” the man who had captured Marlena commanded before he yanked Marlena from my arms and cuffed her in irons. She fell to the ground as he turned to walk away. I went to grab her, but one of the soldiers cuffed me too. Pain thrummed through me as my power drained away, leaving behind a hollow hole in my chest. The silence of the water that had called to me made me feel disconnected from my very soul.
Four soldiers ushered us back into the Imperial District on the main road. Marlena and I could easily take them out, even without our bending. I was sure of it. But we wanted to survive. We could take on a few soldiers, but we couldn't take on Valos and his army. And he had a massive one.
Marlena and I walked side by side as the soldiers marched us back to the coronation. It had already started. The sight in front of me was from my vision. The crowd was a blur of creatures and faces.
Devdin and Taegan stood there with bright smiles as the crown bearer walked out, preparing to hand over power. Valos stood a few feet away on the stage, smug victory already painted on his features. And then the iron arrow flew and hit its mark. Taegan gasped as he fell to his knees, his hands wrapped around the arrow that had penetrated his heart. He glanced over at his brother with hurt eyes before he collapsed. He was gone.
The current empress, Lenna, cried out at the loss of her youngest son as Devdin dropped to his knees, cradling his son in his lap as he wept.
“Seize Valos!” Devdin wielded the command with such heavy emotion, he almost choked over his words. Soldiers rushed the stage. The crowd panicked and people began running, crying, screaming—chaos.
Valos didn't move. He kept the look of victory plastered on his features as one by one, every soldier that came for him hit the ground. Different soldiers emerged as if from thin air from the crowd, killing their fellow comrades.
Valos had won. From the inside out, he had gained control slowly over the years. He had waited his whole life for this. From the moment he’d found out his father was going to hand the crown to his younger brother rather than to him.
Devdin and his wife peered around, their eyes widening with shock and surprise, but it was too late. In the next moment, Valos walked up to them on their knees next to their fallen prince, ripped the arrow from his brother, and shoved it through his father’s chest. Valos's mother screamed out in agony at the loss before Valos yanked the arrow from his father’s body at fae speed and then speared his mother.
He'd killed his whole family on display—for power. As his mother fell, he turned toward the crowd.
“I am your emperor now,” he shouted over the screams of the crowd. Slowly, people went quiet to hear what he had to say. “I am the eldest son of Devdin. This throne is rightfully mine. My father believed I wasn’t fit to rule. That I wasn’t good enough for him or his crown. But regardless of his decisions, I wedded and had children. I did all the things required to rule, and my father betrayed me by choosing my little brother.” He tried to justify his actions, but in reality the man was only hungry for authority—sovereignty. Which was why his father had refused to give him the crown, but he didn’t view it that way. Now, he would rule mercilessly, all to prove to himself and his dead father that he was capable, that he was powerful.
Valos's eldest child, his daughter, Valla, walked up onto the stage with a bow in hand. It had been her. She had killed her uncle for her father. I could see the tears growing in her eyes. She was just a girl who wanted to make her father proud. And Valos would corrupt her for it. I pitied her for what was going to happen to her.
“This is the new royal family of Ember,” he said as his wife and two younger boys walked onto the stage. The woman kept her head down, never looking up from her feet, keeping her boys tucked into her sides. She had decorative iron cuffs on her wrists that looked like bracelets. That poor woman had been arranged into a marriage with a monster all those years ago, forced to bear his children, to live a life of submission, caged by the irons on her wrists. She couldn't fight back even if she wanted to, not without her bending. She didn't stand a chance against Valos. I was disgusted. But I knew she would rise against him, and the image of seeing that in my vision made a small seed of pride fill my chest. Marlena gripped my hand, and we shared a look before Valos spoke again.
“Meet your new princess, Valla Corvus, my namesake and firstborn.” Valla smiled, fighting back tears while taking a small bow. “My sons, your princes, Kade and Everhet Corvus.” Their mother ushered them to take a few steps forward, as they were just kids, but Kade was the eldest of the two. They both peered around, seeing their dead grandparents on the ground along with all the other dead soldiers in the crowd. Those poor children shouldn't be seeing that. But they didn't cry, didn't shed a single tear. They remained stoic and unafraid as they stood in front of the havoc their father had created. I couldn’t imagine the things they’d seen in their short lives.
“As for my wife, your empress, who she is holds no importance,” he said as he walked to her and gripped her chin before murmuring something in her ear. Afterwards, she knelt in front of him, bowing before him. “You all should learn a thing or two about loyalty to me from my wife. Anyone who disagrees is free to leave, but there will be certain . . . Oh, what's the word,” he teased. “Consequencesfor your betrayal.” A moment passed, and a few small groups took the opportunity to run. Little did they know, they would meet death from the soldiers at the border.
Finally, Valos nodded to the crown bearer, who was trembling in his boots, commanding him with a single look to come to him. The bearer stumbled over to Valos and bowed, holding the crown out for him to take. Valos snatched it with a smile before placing it upon his head. He dismissed his family, and they all left the stage before two soldiers dragged his dead parents and brother to the center. Valos's arms engulfed in flames, his eyes going dark. He looked like a living nightmare as he rained fire down upon their corpses, leaving nothing but ash behind. He made everyone watch as he destroyed the beloved royal family of before. That was only the beginning of the end.
Chapter One
Emelyn
Istruggled to orient myself. My chest tightened, a sharp pain flaring with each heartbeat as the realization hit me—I couldn't breathe. I was underwater, suffocating in its embrace.
I fought against the panic, my mind racing as much as my heart. Desperately, I tried to bend the water around me, willing it to propel me toward the surface, toward air. But it was like moving through liquid stone.
Just when I thought I might find the strength to break through the haze, something slick brushed against my leg. Leathery scales sent a jolt of terror coursing through me. I twisted, trying to see through the murky depths.
Then, movement swayed and a creature of considerable size loomed before me. My thoughts spiraled. I was convinced thiswas how I would meet my end: not on a battlefield or by bending, but in the jaws of some sea beast.
As it drew closer, the details of its form became clearer. It possessed feline-like features. The creature was easily the size of three large men. Jagged fins adorned its body, stretching from the crown of its head down to the very tip of its tail.
The colors of the beast shifted before my eyes, transitioning from a deep blue to a vibrant, warning red. It was a hue that screamed danger, one that nature often used to ward off those foolish enough to approach.
My body screamed for air and my mind cried out for mercy. But then when it didn’t do anything, there was a strange sense of recognition, an understanding that this creature wasn’t a threat.
It was a water lynx, and not just any lynx, I realized, but the one I had saved before.
He circled me once before he disappeared into the depths below me and then shot back up between my legs.
I clung to the creature's leathery hide as it twisted and turned beneath me, muscles coiling like serpents under its scales. Water rushed past us in torrents, a cacophony of bubbles and currents vying to pull me away into the void.
My lungs screamed in silent agony. Just as darkness started to close in at the edges of my consciousness, I felt the lynx surge upward. A powerful thrust from its tail propelled us through the water, faster and faster until we burst through the surface.
