Embracing the Flames (7 page)

I scrunched my eyes at him. “What is it you want to try? You always talk in circles.”

He chuckled. “That is because I have some things to figure out before I can fully explain. Just trust me.” He smiled. “We will discuss it in detail in two days’ time.” He squeezed my shoulder and then guided me to the door. My stomach growled, howling away my hunger pains. He chuckled again. “Rest now while I cook us up a feast.”

It sounded fair enough to me. But I had one more question. “As much as I would hate to, shouldn’t we respect The Fates’ wishes and return my Oraculus? Isn’t it like against the law or something?”

He paused at the door. “There’s more to it than you understand.”

“Like what?”

He sighed heavily, his eyes scanning the floor. “Aurora, some things are better —”

“Left unsaid. Yeah, I’ve heard that before. But do you really think keeping me in the dark about what you know about The Fates is going to help?”

He finally looked at me. “For right now, yes, I do believe it will help you. You would be wise to leave it at that.” The threat was just enough to keep my mouth shut.

I headed for my room without another word.

As usual, Astral followed through with his word. Fire-roasted chicken with charred potatoes and a medley of vegetables from his garden filled my belly. My stomach had been shaken up for so long, I had almost forgotten the joy of food.

Feeling fully sated and surrounded by the ones I loved made me feel homesick for Mily, my foster mother. We always ate a bountiful meal around a table full of love. The triplets always laughed at the funny faces Fenn would make and the silly sounds I created to go along.

I felt the weight of someone’s gaze on my skin. My eyes instantly met Fenn’s. The laughter and excitement between Logan and Lexi quieted as I lost myself in his smoldering eyes. For a moment, I almost believed we were back in the other realm, waiting for Mily to say a prayer so we could eat. Lexi’s laughter morphed into the triplets’ spirited cries of joy.

For a moment, I felt at home.

But then my dad lightly jabbed me in the side as he sat down next to me. “I want to speak with you later. There is something I need to show you.” He smiled and then took a bite of chicken.

“Okay.” I stuffed my mouth full of chicken. Since I’ve returned, there hasn’t been much time for us to sit down and have a real conversation. Something else always came in the way. There was still so much I didn’t know about him.

My plate was finished in record timing. Fenn and Astral started clearing the table. “I’m going to go change,” I told my dad with a warm smile. “Meet you by the front door?”

He answered with an enthusiastic nod.

I sighed heavily once inside my room and leaned my forehead against the door. “Fenn,” I said to myself, still feeling the weight of homesickness. It didn’t feel right being mad at him.

“Yes?” I heard from the other side of the door. I lifted my head and stepped back. A heart had been burned into my door. Inside the heart were our initials with an arrow shot through it.

I rolled my eyes and opened the door with a sigh. When I shut it again, the heart was gone. “I thought you were helping Astral,” I said stiffly.

“I was, but then I heard you say my name,” he answered with a cocky grin.

“How did you hear that from over there?”

He almost smiled. “I will always hear what you have to say, Rory. It’s one of the perks of you being part dragon.”

“Wait-what?” I coughed, confusion coloring my tone.

He brushed my hair behind my ears, his eyes burning with love. My mind went a bit dizzy.

“I read it in a book. Dragons take one mate for life — a soul mate of sorts.” He began to walk around me. “Whether you like it or not,” he said over my shoulder, his breath warming the skin of my neck, “you have already chosen me.” His lips brushed the edge of my ear.

I closed my eyes, pressing my lips together to try and keep my composure.

He stepped back. “We were meant to be together,” he said definitively. I could hear the smile in his voice. “We already knew we were soul mates.” Once again he was behind me, running his hands up and down my arms.

“But you’re not a dragon,” I said.

“No, but I am destined to be with you which gives me some of the perks of being mated to one.”

“What kind of perks?”

“Haven’t figured them all out yet, but I can feel you and you can feel me, in here,” he said, placing his hand against my heart.

My breath caught and I stepped away from him, trying to shake the tingling need to kiss him.

His eyes sparkled wickedly. Then he leaned in, inches away from my face, his lips daring me to kiss him. “It’s pretty cool if you ask me.”

I was going to kiss him. I could feel his desire melding with my own — another perk we could add to the list of being mated together. It’s what I wanted, but his playful tease stopped me. I rolled my eyes instead and stepped around him.

“Just what I need — to be tied to you.” I tried to sound repulsed. He snickered and shook his head. “I am still angry,” I threw in for good measure. “Eavesdropping by my door won’t earn you any brownie points.”

“Point taken.” He smiled wryly, his hands held up in defense. He turned for the door. “It won’t happen again.” Something in his tone told me that it would and that didn’t bother me one bit.

I wanted to ask him not to go, but I stopped myself. I had a date with my dad that I needed to prepare for.

He paused at the door and said, “Have fun tonight, Rory. You deserve it.” I turned back to my closet, looking for something to wear as I heard the door gently close. How was I going to rid myself of him? I needed a love exorcism.

Ten minutes later I was at the front door, leaving with my father. “Where are we going?” I asked anxiously, tucking my hair back behind my ear. The cool night breeze had swept in with the fog that always seemed to settle around the cottage at this time of night.

“It’s a surprise,” he said, his voice heightened with elation. His energy flowed out of his palms, opening a portal for us underneath the dark gray sky. His hand ushered me forward. “Ladies first.”

I stepped into the tugging force and found myself standing on the other side of the portal, still underneath the same shaded moon.

I looked around curiously, shivering from the draft that seemed to have followed me through the portal. “Where are we?” Without thought, I snapped my fingers, igniting a flame and setting it on my shoulder, revelling in the feeling as the flame rushed down my arms and warmed me through.

Wherever we were, we had to be close to the ocean. The sound of waves crashing played through the soft, swaying grass dancing along the top of a hill.

“This was where your mother and I used to come just to get away and think before everything changed.” His lavender eyes sparkled with love underneath the moon’s light.

That made me think of something I had been meaning to ask him. “I saw you before...back when I was in the other realm. You were in a vision I had where Zordon was given the prophecy.”

He turned to look at me, his face shaded with regret. “Things were different back then.”

“Different how?”

He tucked his hands behind his back as he started to lightly pace in front of me. “Before Zordon, Lev was Liege and he was the greatest Liege this realm has ever known. There was peace between all races. When he disappeared, the Pyre Magium was left with nothing but devastation. That’s when Zordon stepped in.

“Zordon was his chosen apprentice and succeeded Lev as the next Liege in line. I knew shortly after Zordon had taken over something was wrong when his cruelty started to show. Shortly after, I took the assignment to decipher the prophecy — the vision you saw me in — and that’s how I came to meet your mother.”

He stopped pacing and looked back at me. “She is the reason why I left Zordon’s leadership. She showed me the error in my judgement. With the decision being made, we met Astral and things progressed to where we are now.” His face brightened. “To having my daughter back where she belongs.”

I hugged him tightly, smiling into the fabric of his shirt. It felt good to have a better understanding of who my father was as a person.

“But that is not why I brought you here,” he continued after he let me go.  

I felt my face crinkle. He tilted his head back, his silvery hair catching glints of light. I eagerly followed his gaze and gasped.

“I brought you here to meet Eralise...your mother,” he said, an edge of laughter staining his words.

I felt a quick burst of wind as my mother flew towards us, shimmering through the night sky. She was pale blue, but underneath the moon’s light, her enchanted scales gave the illusion of thousands of tiny clouds. I felt my knees tremble with nervous excitement.

She landed with a loud thud a few feet away from us, tucking her claw-tipped wings and her spiked tail underneath her. She knelt down as a horse would, her large oval-shaped eyes level with mine.

She was more beautiful than I had ever imagined. I felt the warmth of a tear against my cheek. I wanted to thank my dad, but I couldn’t bring myself to take my eyes off her. This moment I had so longed for; to finally be in the presence of her. I didn’t want her to vanish.

I stepped forward, reaching into the air in disbelief.

Her eyes were light blue, speckled with the color of snow. Black slits centered vertically in her eyes, the same way mine were when I was shifted. “Aurora,” she crooned, her majestic voice choking with emotion.

I didn’t think twice as I ran to embrace her. It was an awkward hug, trying to decide where would be the best place to grab. I chose her leg. The scales were cold and as smooth as glass — the same as mine. Her laughter at my actions was contagious. “It wasn’t quite the hug I had imagined,” I said delicately, trying to ease the moment.

She snuffled, a plume of chilled air leaving her snout. I looked up, shivering from the sudden chill of her breath.

“I’ve missed you, my Little Flame,” she confessed, softly rubbing her snout against my side. “I’m so very sorry that we weren’t always there for you. I’m sorry that even now, I can’t be what you need.” She broke off and swung her snout away underneath the blurred starry sky.

“Don’t,” I said, reaching up to touch her again. Her eyes were filled with pain and sorrow. “Don’t blame yourself. I’m okay, really. I’m surrounded by love. It’s almost overwhelming,” I admitted, sliding my hands over her scales in a nurturing manner. I gave my best happy face, but her features didn’t change. She didn’t smile back at me.

“I’m just glad you’re alright,” I breathed. “I thought that maybe something had happened to you since dad couldn’t get in touch with you.”

Her face fell. “It’s hard for anyone who is not of Draconta blood to get in touch with us. We have been very selective with our communication, and your grandfather can be quite a pain when it comes to things he doesn’t agree with.” She sounded resentful. “He is, after all, the King, and we must abide by him.” It sounded like something she had told herself many times over.

“Things grow more dangerous as the days pass, Aurora,” she continued. “That is why we are meeting here tonight. I wanted to see you safe. To see you before —” She broke off again, this time exhaling a deeper, chilled breath that extinguished the flames smoldering along my skin.

“How did you do that?” I asked.

She laughed a little. “I am a frost dragon. Dragons are born possessing one of the four elements. Didn’t you know?” she asked, tilting her head at me.

“Aside from what I have learned in the books Astral has given me, I haven’t learned much about my dragon side.”

My father put his hand on my shoulder. “The time will come soon enough. You will have your chance to fill your mind with as much knowledge as you can stand, Little Flame.” 

My mother smiled reassuringly and then said, “As you know, we are on the brink of war. Gabe’s reporting tells us that Zordon’s army is steadily growing stronger and that he is meeting with the Dark Saar again. If whispers are true, if they agree to aid him, then our Chasm is in grave danger. I fear that he will successfully split us apart.”

I felt my dad stiffen behind me. “Other than his soul, what could Zordon possibly have that would convince them to fight with him?” I asked.

“There is more to the Dark Saar than you know. We will discuss that another time,” he quickly said.

“Maybe I should come stay—” I began, but she cut me off with a shake of her head.

“I don’t want to upset you, but your father is right. You need to be focusing on completing your training before you worry about anything else. You are my daughter, and you are of Draconta blood but, as a Mage, you must be prepared for what is to come. Training with the Draconta will come shortly after.”

Myrdinn shifted behind me. Was he in on this? Was this a way of reiterating that the Council was important? By tag-teaming me? I eyed him over my shoulder suspiciously.

My mother’s voice was the only thing that saved him from what I was about to say to him.

“If the Dark Saar agrees to aid him, I fear he will succeed in obtaining the Stone and become immortal,” she said. “If that happens, everything will change. Our world as we know it will no longer exist.” An icy breeze circled around us, and the hair on my arms rose to meet it.

I refused to believe that Zordon would win. “But how can he obtain the Stone? It thought it is protected.”

“It is protected.” She turned away again, her head hanging lower than before, skimming the tall grass. “But we have to plan for all outcomes.” She sighed heavily, her head shaking a bit as if trying to shake away her pessimism. “If he does obtain the Stone, he will be ported to the Hall of Knowledge. The Fates help us then.”

I was taken aback.

“Did you just say that he would be ported to the Hall of Knowledge?” I asked, stunned.

She nodded.

I almost didn’t want to ask. “What do you think will happen then?”

“A future that hasn’t been written can’t be read. It will all fall in Fate’s hands.”

What she really meant was, it was up to me. I felt a burning heat building within me. There was a pressure gathering in the very depth of my soul, just waiting to blow.

“Aurora?” Myrdinn said softly, resting his hand against my back. I jumped from his touch, clearly not thinking straight. “Aurora, whatever it is you are thinking, you can say it. I know you must be upset. It’s a lot to hear. Your mother just wants you to—”

“I just want you to know the truth,” she finished for him, her eyes meeting mine. “You deserve to know the truth. You deserve for me to be honest and to tell you what you need to hear versus what you want to hear. I love you, Little Flame,” she said as a tear fell.