Page 14 of Prince of Blaze and Embers (Emberveil Empire #1)

O cean waves took me.

They covered every inch of my bare skin.

There was salt at the corners of my mouth, and my hair swirled under the violent waves.

The storm intensified, and dark clouds hung ominously, flickering with deep lightning.

I was taken. The sea had her tight grip on me and wouldn’t let go. But my eyes were wide, and there was no tension in my body. In the storm, I felt like I was as free as I was upon the dragon. Nothing could touch me. Nothing could hurt me. I was free.

The world shuddered in golden light like I was buried deep in the sun.

My hands erupted with golden magic, swirling around my forearms like divine bracelets.

The magic radiated through me as the waves lapped at my skin.

I felt powerful. Powerful enough to explode in radiating light.

I was more than a slave. I was a force of nature.

I was a weapon. I was a sword wielded by the world itself, ready to strike against those that would harm everything I cared about .

But my dreams were often like that. False. Fleeting. And I always woke up at the end to my miserable life.

That night, however, there was something entirely different about waking.

I shot up in bed, feeling something rustling around my legs. There was someone in the room with me. Someone in the dark. Someone in bed with me, weighing down the soft mattress. My hands clenched to fists, ready to punch, scratch, and claw.

In the dim light, however, as I adjusted in the gloom, a pair of huge yellow eyes were staring straight into mine. They sparkled with the dazzling streaks of oranges and reds, and their age calmed me quickly.

“Cornelius? How… how did you get up here?” My breaths were quick, calming slowly from the panic of being awoken by something in my bed.

The tortoise had his tree trunk legs straddling my thin waist and hips. He was looking down at me with a certain… curiosity… as if thinking of his words carefully.

It did not completely escape me that I might actually be going insane.

Animals don’t talk, let alone huge tortoises that can somehow get up onto my bed without me noticing.

“You have much to learn, young one.” Cornelius’ beak barely moved as he spoke, angling his head down toward me, still flat on my back.

“I think you’re right about that. Everything has changed since I did whatever I did on that beach. Do you know anything about Prince Cade? Do you know what he’s planning to do with me? I’m worried he’s going to take me to his mother, the queen. But he won’t tell me anything.”

The tortoise’s eyes narrowed, and he groaned from deep within. His breath smelled strongly of barnacles and seaweed. It smelled like home to me.

“We don’t have much time…” He stepped to the side, turning hi s long neck, but his foot missed the edge of the bed, and as his huge body tumbled off the side of the bed, I jolted, throwing my arms out to grab his legs and keep him from falling onto the floorboards.

My fingers rushed through the air, desperate to help, but they found only air as his body vanished before my eyes, leaving behind only thin wisps of a translucent, rainbow-colored glow.

“There’s much that I must teach you.” His voice was beside me, and I threw my legs under me, sitting on my knees, glaring at him as he stood on the floor beside me.

“You—you disappeared earlier, didn’t you? When I tried to show Bella where you were, you were gone, and you made me look like a mad woman.”

“I can do many things.” He slowly turned and made slow strides toward the side wall. “But I’m not here about me. I am here because of you, Gold-Marked.”

“You know about the magic that I used? And the rune that glowed on my neck?”

“Yes, young one. And I hope to teach you to control that magic, for when the time comes, you’re going to need to be able to wield it. There are things that will come for you—things far worse than the Blaze Prince.”

“Things? What things? And how do you know about this magic? And how did you get off the fucking bed like that?” I stood from the bed; hair strewn all over, barefoot and aching from the long dragon rides.

“The Gold-Marked are rare, and once they are born and revealed to the world, many will seek to control that power you have within you. It seems the prince is taking you to the queen. We cannot let that happen. She is the one who wishes most to use what’s in you for her own devices. You cannot go to Emberveil.”

“What choice do I have? He bought me. He has dragons. He could do whatever he wants with me. I can’t match his strength or speed.”

“You have the Spirit in you. The Rune Spirit. When you learn how to control that which stirs deep inside you, you’ll be able to defeat ten Blaze Princes.

But until then, yes—we are somewhat trapped in our current predicament.

” Cornelius’ beak was nearly flush against the wall.

“But we cannot speak here. We need to get out into the forest. Only there can I begin to train you.”

“Train me?” I scratched my cheek. “Who… what are you?”

“I’m your guide,” Cornelius said with a raised chin and a gleam in his eye.

I thought for a long moment.

So many questions sparked inside me, and my mouth didn’t hold back. “What is the Gold-Marked? What am I? What does that mean? And a Rune Spirit? How did I get it? From birth? Or did the dragons do it to me?”

Cornelius just glared back at me, seemingly ignoring all of my ramblings. “All will be revealed. I have come to teach you about what is inside of you. We go to the forest, child.”

The woods? The Faewood? But the prince told me not to leave this place. If he catches me, I don’t want to guess what he might do to me. I don’t ever want those shackles around my ankles, and Odiun knows I’ve tried my fair share of times to run, but I got caught every single time.

“I don’t know if I can…”

“You must,” Cornelius barked. “You won’t survive without learning how to use your magic. And we need the essence of the forest. I can’t teach you within these walls.

“How would we even get out of here? Rosa is surely out there…”

“Just touch my shell. I’ll show you.”

I didn’t know what to do. My fingers fumbled behind my back, and my toe tapped on the ground.

I’d tried escaping from my imprisonment before—many times actually.

And each time I was returned to my masters, the lashes deepened, and the shackles tightened.

I’d even been sold off for nights to grown men. But this was different .

“Come, Ash Mist. There’s so much to learn, and we have no time.”

I watched my foot patter and scratched my forearm.

If I got caught, I’d surely get the shackles back, or worse. But if the prince was going to send me to the queen, to be tortured or whatever she’d do to try to get to this magic, then I guess I didn’t have any option. Learn to use whatever was inside of me to save what life I had left, or…

Stepping forward, I placed the tips of my fingers on his scratchy shell, which reached halfway up my thigh.

“Ready?”

I nodded.

“Just don’t lose contact with me; don’t want you becoming part of the wall now…”

A gulp fell down my throat. Become the wall? Are we… walking through it?

“Walk beside me,” Cornelius lifted his heavy legs, moving us toward the wall, and as his head slipped into the solid stone, I swallowed hard, closing my eyes, not fully knowing if I was awake or if this was all a crazy dream.

My fingers gripped the dome of his shell as we walked together. After a few strides, the cool winds tickled my cheeks and lashes. My hair flipped over my shoulder, rustling at the bottom of my neck. My eyes opened, and I found Cornelius beside me, gazing out at the encircling trees.

The insects chirped loudly from the dense forest, and the moonlight lit the patchy grass area around the house built into the ancient tree.

Before us, though, the forest loomed ominously.

I had the strange feeling there was something in there, watching us as we peered into the shadows.

Under the thick canopy, little moonlight needled through, leaving a vast expanse of deep shadow.

“Come,” Cornelius said, moving with surprising speed, and my fingers left the top of his shell .

I followed, and then paused, shaking my head and scratching my brow.

“Hurry.” His long neck caused his green head to turn all the way back to look at me. “We don’t have much time, and there’s much to learn.”

Doubt lingered within my chest. It tugged at me, using logic to pull me back toward the house. Self-preservation held me from entering the forest, and a battle broke out in my mind. Escape or stay?

Bella was still in there, sleeping on the nicest, softest bed I could’ve hoped for her, but we were still prisoners. If I went into the forest, and if it wasn’t a trap, and if this tortoise wasn’t some evil spirit coming to collect my magic for its own, then this might actually help me.

Stay or go with him?

But there was one aspect to all this that pushed me forward, making my legs move under me and compelling me to walk beside the tortoise out of the clearing and into the trees.

I had magic. Nearly no one had magic in all of Allovan, but I did.

And if I could use that, then my life might actually end up being worth a damn.

I was about to be taken to the capital and the Blaze Queen.

So, I had no idea how much time I had left.

Every day counted. Every hour mattered. And I had to take a chance.

The prince firmly warned me not to try to escape, but this wasn’t really escape, was it?

I was coming back. I just needed to find out what this creature had planned for me.

I had to do it for my only shot to live any kind of real life.

So we entered the forest, and shadow accepted us. Leaving everything safe behind and hoping what lay ahead wouldn’t kill me as quickly as the queen might.