Page 32 of Queen of Fire

“What?” She asked, sighing as she moved across the room. Her hair had been let loose from her usual braids, and my hands itched to run through the raven locks that made their way down her back to the middle of her shoulder blades.

“They aren’t spying on us, Hol.” Tarian said around a mouthful of pastry, “Please, sit. Eat.”

Hollis rolled her eyes at him, and I laughed at the look on her face. She was adamant that the rooms we had been given were trapped in some way, that Cyrus and Kira were somewhere in the castle listening to what we were saying, and that we were going to wake up tomorrow morning on our way to a guillotine.

Tarian and I had tried our hardest to convince her that was not going to happen, but she had ignored us. It had taken her almost an hour to finish checking the three rooms, and now as she flopped down onto the couch across from Tarian and I, she looked exhausted. Her eyes were shadowed by dark purple bags, and her usually pink complexion had turned grey.

I scooted down the sofa in such a way that it appeared I was stretching my legs across the small space, but really, I was letting my foot find the back of her calf, reassuring her without her brother noticing too much. She jumped at the sudden contact, her head snapping up from where it rested on the plush couch cushions, and her eyes found mine. I offered her a small smile, and after a second, it was returned.

“So,” I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest and looking between my two best friends. “What do we do now? We’re here, Kira is here…”

“We cannot just take her from under their noses, Maeteo.” Tarian sighed, shaking his head as though it was the dumbest thing he had ever heard.

I rolled my eyes.

“Obviously not, Tarian.” I snorted, letting my head roll back against the back of the sofa, the exhaustion of the last few weeks settling deep into my bones. “I didn’t mean we just take her from her bed. I meant…” I cut myself off, unsure of what I was going to say now.

My whole plan arriving here was to storm the castle, rescue an emotionally struggling Kira, and take her home. Glory and welcome home parties included. What I had not been anticipating was for Kira to be fine. She did not seem cut up about leaving her Kingdom behind at all, nor did she seem all too fussed about her people thinking she was a traitor.

I frowned, my eyebrows furrowing as I turned my head away from my friends, staring at the lit fireplace. Even though it was coming into the colder months, the heat of Fire was still stifling, so the lit fireplace in front of us was an unwelcome annoyance. Sweat was running down my back just sitting here.

Hollis let out a sigh, stretching her arms above her head before turning herself onto her side, curling her legs up towards her chest and closing her eyes. I watched her closely, my eyes focused on her face. I knew by now that when she was falling asleep, her hands twitched. She rubbed her feet together until she felt settled. Her breathing would slow, and not long after, gentle, quiet snores would fall from her lips.

Tarian and I sat in silence until Hollis’s snores began to fill the room.

Smiling lightly, I nudged Tarian with my shoulder, nodding my head towards where Hollis slept. He grinned, the relief of her finally sleeping coming over his face instantly. He had told me that while I had been gone, she had barely slept a wink in the bunker. The guilt thatsettled in my stomach at that was sickening, and as I stood from the sofa, I tried not to think about it.

“Shall we let her sleep here?” I asked Tarian quietly, stretching my arms outwards and hearing the satisfying pop of my shoulder.

“No, she’ll get a stiff neck.” Tarian sighed, his arms still crossed over his chest. The exhaustion on his own face was more prominent now, as if the thought of sleeping in a proper bed had him ready to collapse on the spot.

I nodded my head, dipping down and curling my arms underneath Hollis slowly, pulling her up to my chest. Her small frame curled into me, but she did not wake.

“You take this room.” I said to Tarian as I adjusted the small body in my arms. “I’ll take her to her bed, and then I’ll go next door. Lock the door as soon as I leave.”

“Yes, General.” Tarian laughed lightly, and I glared at him, my own laugh bubbling its way out of my throat despite myself.

Tarian opened the door for me to move through with Hollis, the heat from the room somehow worsening as I stepped out into the marble tiled hallway. The halls were dark, the sconces on the walls unlit and the moonlight spilling in through the large windows the only light in the space.

My boots squeaked on the floor, and I winced at how loud it seemed in the quiet space. Tarian closed his door behind us without another word and thankfully the soundof the locks clicking into place followed soon after. I nodded my head, a small piece of my anxiety subsiding knowing he was safe.

I nudged Hollis’s bedroom door open with my shoulder, thankful that she had not closed the door all the way when she had finished her hunt for traps. It looked no different here than it did in Tarian’s room, so I could only assume my room would be the same. The bed was made with crisp, white linens and the fire was lit. I wondered if they had been enchanted to remain so.

Placing Hollis down onto the soft mattress, I unlaced her boots and slid them off her feet, leaving them in a pair beside the door. Looking around the room, I spotted a blanket draped over the edge of one of the sofas, and decided she would be more comfortable under that for now than under the heavy duvet on the bed. Draping it over her small body, I tucked it in at her sides, my heart fluttering at the soft sigh she released.

Tiptoeing across the room again, I let myself out. It took every inch of my self-control not to look back at her sleeping body, and even more not to go and climb into the bed next to her.

I had expected to feel elated when I saw Kira again. I had waited for that feeling I got the first time I saw her, the stomach churning, heart hammering obsession. But it never came. And it still had not. It had hurt me when I saw her and Cyrus holding hands, looking at each other in a way I could only assume was infatuation, but I could not find myself being jealous.

But the thought of Hollis alone in that bed had my chest clenching uncomfortably as I forced my feet to keep moving into my own room. The click of the locks loud in the suddenly deafeningsilence.

20

Kira

If I kept pacing the way I was doing, I was going to wear the carpet in the study thin.

I had yet to ever use my own study that was hidden away in the farthest part of the West Wing. It did not feel like a place I needed, or wanted, to be, since most of my duties so far had included only wedding planning and trying to tap into my magic.

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