03] ES) Firestorm (22 page)

“Larkspur . . . are you . . . crying?” The sound of chains rattling and the shuffling of his feet filled the space around us. I kept my head turned away, it shouldn’t hurt so much, but there had been a part of me that so badly wanted to prove to Ash that I could do this on my own. That I could get him out of here; that I could get us all out of here.

My pride had sunk that particular ship.

“Lark, I was trying to make you angry. I don’t really mean what I said,” Ash said. “I thought that was what you were asking of me, when you started talking about being in here together.”

I wiped my cheeks as best I could with the side of my arm and turned to him but got no further than opening my mouth.

The main doors clanged open and in swept Belladonna, her pale red and yellow skirts swirling in the steam. She came to a stop in front of us, her hands clasped behind her back. “Larkspur, I see you’re in trouble again.”

I managed a smile, but even I knew it was weak at best. “Yeah, looks like I could use some help.”

“I can get you out on a technicality, but not Ash.” She raised a hand, stopping me from interrupting. “We won’t leave him, I promise. But for now, let me get you out of here. It may be all I can do before I leave.”

“Leave, what’s going on?” My first thought was of home, of the Rim and all that could have happened in the short time since I’d been gone. Bella shook her head.

“I am the interim ruler of the Rim. Father has gone . . .away for a time.”

I jerked at my chains. “Away. What do you mean?”

She shook her head. “Now is not the time. We can discuss it when you are home. But I must go back swiftly, things are unsettled there. Our siblings are causing problems. Of all, can you believe Keeda is being the worst?”

I could. Our younger sister was a great deal like their mother, Cassava.

I nodded and she snapped her fingers. Brand came forward out of the gloom and unlocked my manacles and Peta’s. He didn’t apologize for swinging his crossbow at me, and I didn’t apologize for sinking Fiametta into the ground. His movements were jerky and more than once he banged the manacles against my wrists as he removed them.

“Bella,” I said, “what was the technicality?”

“You are still assigned to me as a bodyguard. And since I am here, I need you at my side.” She smiled, though there was a distant pain in her eyes. “I’m glad you called for my help, because I could not have come unless you asked for it. As per my instructions.”

“You . . . you wanted to come on your own?” We walked out of the dungeon and into the throne room where Fiametta waited. She didn’t have a chance to answer me.

Bella’s whole demeanor changed, from the way she walked to the tilt of her head. Regal was the first thought that hit the front of my brain. Of course, none of that mattered in the moments that followed.

Fiametta smiled. “Lark, I will take your confession now. You will be tried for the death of the four Enders, and Ash’s life will be held in trust as if it were your own.”

“Shit,” Bella whispered under her breath and I had to agree. This was what I wanted, but if I understood Fiametta correctly, Ash would still be killed if I were found guilty.

Belladonna stepped forward. “No trial is needed.”

“What?” Shock flickered through me like lightning through a summer sky—a sharp flash followed by the certainty I hadn’t seen what I’d thought I’d seen. Or in this case, heard.

My sister held her hand out to Fiametta and those few around us—mostly Enders and one old man who held a pen over a piece of parchment—fell silent. “There does not need to be a trial. It is a waste of time. The law states for an Ender to kill another Ender is death.”

Fiametta nodded, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. “This is true.”

Belladonna smiled. “Larkspur has confessed to killing four of your Enders. You accept this as truth?”

I made a choking sound and Bella glared at me. “Be quiet, I’m about to save you.”

The queen’s eyes narrowed farther. “I do accept that as truth.” What the hell was my sister up to? She was making my sentence of death a certainty.

She snapped her fingers at the old man and he scuttled forward. I didn’t recognize him but he was a Terraling by his deep brown eyes and tanned skin. “My lady.” He bowed as he held out the parchment. Bella took it and handed it to Fiametta.

“Would you read it out loud please?” Bella asked, her voice dripping with sweetness. “I ask only because another person might be accused of lying, and speaking only what they wish to be heard. As the queen, you will be above such reproach. Just read the outlined section please.”

Fiametta snapped the paper and then began to read. “If any Ender should kill another Ender, they shall be sentenced to death. As Enders are trained to the highest skill level with weapons and magic they shall be held to a higher standard.” Fiametta blew out a breath. “This is nothing new, Belladonna.”

“Please, the next few lines are the most important.” She clasped her hands together, holding them at her waist.

Fiametta shrugged. “But should an Ender be killed by someone not with that title, their death shall be considered just. If those trained to the highest standard fall, it is to be their time to return to the mother goddess.”

Bella held her hand out to Fiametta, taking the paper back. “This is truth?”

“Yes, of course it is,” Fiametta snapped and then her eyes widened. The net Belladonna had carefully laid seemed to visibly settle over her. “Damn, you are your mother’s daughter. Clever girl.”

“In this case, I will thank you, and take that as a compliment.” Belladonna lifted one hand, palm upward. “Your Enders were killed before Larkspur took her final testing to
become
an Ender in full. Therefore she is within her rights, and they were meant to return to the mother goddess. You may not execute her, or Ash in her stead.”

Bella swept toward me, but Fiametta stopped her. “Belladonna, read the next line on that paper . . .
if
you will.”

My sister closed her eyes and I knew that whatever happened next on the sheet was going to be bad. Her hand trembled so I took the paper from her, unfolding it so I could read the remainder of the section.

The words were about as shitty as I could have imagined. “Those who kill an Ender shall yet be punished, for death is not to be taken lightly. And the one who shall mete out that punishment will be the ruler of the house the Enders were taken from.” I lowered the paper and looked straight at Fiametta. “I assume you have something in mind?”

Her smile was not nice, the edges of her lips hard with cruelty. “I have just the thing for a spoiled royal who thinks she can come into my home and do whatever she pleases without facing a single consequence.” She walked up to me and leaned in close, her words only for my ears. “A royal who will not willingly help another ruler.” She clapped her hands together and Brand strode forward, handing her a coil of rope.

Fiametta pointed the coil at me—leather, not rope—“Strip her.”

Belladonna gasped. “You can’t truly mean to do to this.”

“Cassava has obviously misled you, little Terraling. We are not friends, and neither are our families.” Fiametta uncoiled the rope and her hands lit up as she called on the fire. Like a living snake it wrapped around the leather, lighting it.

My sister spun to me. “Lark, fight her!”

Peta trembled beside me, her fear bleeding into my heart. “Lark, this is not a punishment you can survive, the lava whip is deadly to any who don’t carry fire in their veins.”

Fiametta shrugged. “You won’t do as I ask. Unless you have changed your mind?”

All I had to do was agree to help her hunt the traitors, the two that on my own I would have gone after.

Pride had gotten me into this mess. Perhaps humility would allow me to find a way out. “I will do . . . as you ask.”

There was a heavy pause in the air and she patted me on the head. “Well done. I will only give you half the lashes.” She smirked and my jaw dropped.

Maggie stepped forward. “How I have waited for this. Better even than the Pit, your death will be slow.” Along with two other Enders she grabbed me and they stripped the clothes from my body, leaving me as bare as the day I was born.

“On your knees,” Fiametta commanded and I dropped, a slow steady fury building in my guts. How could she do this in front of her people, and they allow it? The answer was simple. The same way the people of the Deep had bowed to Requiem. The same way my own family had bowed to Cassava.

Child, do not fight her. This is part of your training, this is part of your journey. Hold tightly to the earth, hold tightly to me and I will see you through this.
The mother goddess spoke softly and I reached for the power underneath my knees. The mountain’s essence filled me, like a cup overflowing with water and I squeezed it, wrapping it around me.

The whip sailed through the air, cracking at the last second before it touched my back. At first I thought I would be spared the pain as the lash left my back, for a split second I felt nothing.

I was so very wrong.

A blaze of pain roared up my spine, tracing the lines of the whip as if a serpent made of pure fire had lain across my skin. I couldn’t stop the cry that escaped and I heard it echoed from Bella, as she sobbed. Echoed in Peta as she cried out with me.

The lash fell again and I collapsed to my hands and knees, the pain cutting through me, feeling as though it would truly divide my body wherever it touched. I lost count how many times the whip burned over my body, time receded and I floated in a place where my body and spirit seemed to have disconnected from my mind.

In that haze, an intense hatred blossomed. Fiametta, and Requiem. Leaders of two families of elementals and neither deserved the position, nor the power. Yet they were given it. Even my own father was a complete mess, his mind and spirit twisted by Cassava to the point he was unable to trust past the fear. The mother goddess had allowed it to happen, and had allowed this to happen.

I was the one being punished for deaths I hadn’t caused.

The world was not fair. I knew that and was not fool enough to think otherwise. But this was too far. The anger powered through me and I clung to it, riding it like a wild horse that would carry me into battle. The whip was coming, the sound of it in the air cut through every other noise around me. I pushed myself up so I was on my knees.

Looking over my shoulder at Fiametta as she wielded the whip, I saw something I didn’t expect. Her face was a mask of sorrow, and even . . . grief. As if she didn’t want to hurt me.

“Enough, you’ll kill her!” a voice cut through the pain, and the whip didn’t make contact with me, but fell to the ground, twisting and writhing with the flame that licked along its length.

Cactus stepped between me and Fiametta, his hands in front of him, lines of power running up his arms in green and red; he was ready to fight for me against his own queen and the thought stunned me. I could count on one hand the number of people who’d stood for me in my life, placing my life above theirs.

My body burned, every breath I drew into my lungs stretched the skin over my back and I wished I didn’t have to breathe at all. Yet I stayed where I was, swaying, but upright.

Fiametta’s blue eyes held mine. “The punishment is done.”

The anger didn’t leave me, but my strength finally did and I slid to the floor, flat on my belly.

My cheek pressed into the cold stone below me and a shiver coursed through me, which cracked open the burns on my back, the crispy skin cracking. Belladonna dropped beside me, her hands on my face.

I didn’t know what she said, the words blurred by the waves of pain rippling through me, wiping out anything that made sense. I closed my eyes and held tightly to the only thing I knew would get me through.

Rage.

actus knelt beside me, his words breaking through the buzzing in my ears. “You can’t Travel with her like this. She has to heal first.” His hands were gentle, touching me only where the lash hadn’t fallen. My face, front of my neck and palms were the only safe zones I could feel.