The Flame of Wrath (21 page)

“You can feel Our successor,” the Vessel rasped knowingly.

Serenity could only nod. In the clear reflections of Her icy eyes, she could see Lucienne struggling beneath a thick sheet of ice.

“
How odd that you should feel Her before We can,” the Vessel said with an arch of Her brow.

Fear caused the final remnants of color to drain from Serenity’s beautiful face.

“Retrieve them,” Vessel commanded. “It is clear the Dragon wills it.”

No other words were needed. Serenity could hear the second heartbeat beginning to slow alongside the first. She summoned her magic and dispersed into the air as thousands of black butterflies before vanishing completely.

When Serenity appeared at the beach, the Lady of the Sea revealed that Serenity was precisely where the Dragon desired.

The sea took the form of loving hands. Those hands carefully carried the precious burden of Lucienne’s unconscious body forward until they tenderly deposited her into Serenity’s arms.

Serenity gazed down at the woman with a mixture of adoration and protectiveness alive inside her eyes. She extended a trembling hand to gently smooth the water-laden tresses from a peaceful expression. Lucienne was still, achingly still.

Concentrating her
magic, Serenity called upon her element the Sea. She summoned the waters from Lucienne’s lungs, commanding them to take their place moistening the sea-air.

With a gentleness they had not shown her in their arrival, the waters left Lucienne’s blue lips.

Serenity slid her hands over Lucienne’s body in an attempt to warm her. She gathered Lucienne to her, sheltering her within her flowing cloak.

Bodies tangled within the warmth of her cape, Serenity’s eyes scoured the horizon. The sea refused to move. Never in all her life, had she witnessed water so still.

Then almost timidly the sands of the beach began to beat with the pulse of a heart waking. As Lucienne’s gasped to life, the ocean drew close then rolled away from the shore.

Lucienne’s eyes slowly opened. She stared up at the beautiful dark-haired woman watching over her. Weakly, she smiled. It was a smile laced by sleep and dreams.

A laugh huffed past Serenity’s lips. Blinking away tears of relief, she lifted her head to once again take in the sea, which sparkled like a thousand stars in an attempt to bless the woman who had survived gazing into the eyes of what cannot be seen.

The Vessel had followed the trail of Serenity’s magic. She stood at the far side of the beach, watching everything from the vantage of the dunes. The golden reeds around her knees swayed in the breeze
, attempting to release the Vessel’s long hair from its rigid restraints. Her eyes paled to something far cooler than they had been before. Pulling her cloak closer to her body, she turned away from the picture of the child who would replace her, the child who in her very existence threatened to challenge everything the Vessel knew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night had swept over the land, bringing with it a certain still tranquility. But a Queen with a heavy mind could not join those sleeping peacefully. Aurea was the ghost which haunted the halls. She could not sleep in her bed. It was inhabited by what she feared most: being alone.

             
Why wouldn't Autumn wake? Why couldn't she simply return to her? All these questions and more, played throughout Aurea’s mind with unfailing persistence.

             
Sighing, Aurea lingered near the chamber doors. Her fingertips traced over its cool surface. She ached to join Autumn, to hold her in her arms and drift to the sleep which had claimed Autumn if only to be with her again, but as she thought of that, of sleeping forevermore, she was overcome by fear. She could not follow Autumn into that abyss.

             
She turned her back on the room. With a lowered head, she walked down the hall. Soon, the shadows of the night swallowed her up.

********

              She had had little sleep. It was clearly written within the dark circles scribed beneath her eyes. Her scathing gaze voiced the body's plea for sleep. She grouched over everything, but nothing more so than her bitterness toward the doctors who had no answers for her.

             
“How long has it been? How long?” she grumped.

             
Her voice was a chastising flog to whip across their backs. She was livid. She stalked about the hall in a violent pace. Her arms waved with impassioned rage while her eyes dazzled in seething fury.

             
Behind the gargantuan doors, the doctors were once again searching for a means of curing the incurable. It had become the mystery of the royal court. Why did Autumn continue to sleep? Was it poison? Was it dark magic? Would she ever return? And as these questions became more like hushed concerns, others began to look to Aurea with pity inside their eyes. Aurea hated that look. It infuriated her.

             
The Empress stopped brutally as the doors cracked open. She narrowed sharp blue eyes upon the befuddled doctors leaving Autumn's room.

             
“Well?” she snapped.

             
The doctors lurched upright with such force that it racked their spines. Their fear was read easily within their desperate eyes.

             
“Still you have no answers for me,” Aurea growled. She motioned them away with a disgusted wave of her hand.

             
The Empress looked to Angelos IV who glared after the doctors. “And I suppose you have no answers for me either,” she grumbled. “She is your sister. Surely you must know something.” She searched over him with angry eyes. “Has this ever happened before? Could your father have used a poison we don't know about? A rare poison known only to your clan?”

             
Angelos IV shifted beneath the intensity of her gaze. “Autumn's health has always been impeccable. This... this has never happened before.” He frowned as his thoughts called him away from the moment.

             
Aurea closed the distance between them, observing him all the more. He knew something, she thought. “What aren't you telling me?”

             
He woke from his thoughts in a rude sort of awakening. He found dangerous eyes locked upon him. “Yes, Empress?” he stumbled.

             
“You're keeping something from me. What is it?”

             
“The women of our bloodline hold many mysteries,” Angelos IV stuttered. “There is so much about them that the outside world does not know.”

             
“But you aren't a part of the outside world, you share the same bloodline!”

             
Angelos IV nodded emphatically, feeling as though that blood was all that kept him alive at these times when Aurea was at her most angry. “Yes, but even so I don't know the knowledge passed from mother to daughter. I especially don't know the secrets passed among the Guardians. They foster their legacies diligently.” His eyes brightened slightly. “You could seek out a Guardian,” he suggested hopefully.

             
“And be arrested immediately for having stepped foot on Angels' soil,” Aurea retorted angrily.

             
“Or perhaps you could---” He stopped.

             
“What?”

             
He winced painfully, dreading her reaction to what he would say. “A druid would know.”

             
“No!”

             
“But, Empress, they have a close bond to the women of our clan and----”

             
“I said 'no'!” Aurea shoved Angelos roughly causing his elbow to send a vase crashing to the hall floor. Her finger pointed in warning to the prince. “No druids. Ever!”

             
“I only thought---”

             
“Well don't!”

             
Aurea's head snapped to the side. She spoke heatedly over her shoulder. “How are we in our efforts to contain the druids?” She could not proceed with her plans to take Logos if there were druids to stop her. As it was, Logos might very well be the only thing which could restore Autumn to her.

             
The Shadow Reign siblings were never far from Aurea's presence. They loomed wordlessly amidst the chaos, awaiting their orders.

             
It was Donovan who answered the Empress. “We have begun to arrest druids throughout the empire, but---” His voice trailed away.

             
“But?” Aurea did not approve of excuses and it seemed that whenever Angelos was present they became contagious.

             
“But,” Donovan continued. He, as the eldest sibling, was used to the tantrums of others younger than himself. He calmly took it all in stride. “Our progress is slow. It is to be expected considering that our orders to arrest the druids were only given within the last few days. I don't expect much resistance with the exception of
certain
provinces, namely Angels, Illusion and Black Flame.”

             
Aurea nodded knowingly. “I had anticipated those provinces giving us the most trouble.” She crossed her arms. She separated herself all the more from those around her with her tense body-language. “Still, there is no excuse for the delays within the other provinces. I want the druids seized immediately.”

             
“Yes, of course, Empress,” he promised.

             
Aurea met Donovan's eyes in an even exchange of blue on blue. She liked Donovan. He and his siblings were diligent, intelligent and loyal. It was her good fortune that they were instilled with a sense of loyalty to whomever was in power regardless of their own personal views as to how that power was used. She knew for a fact that neither Donovan, Leigh nor Olivia could stand the concept of hurting the druids. The siblings troubled by Aurea's orders could often live within the raptures of denial. However there was something inside of Olivia in particular which gave Aurea the impression that if she nurtured her blind devotion, she might become one of her most faithful champions.

             
The Empress knew that if Donovan gave his word, his promise would be realized. He had yet to learn the reality of failure.

             
Aurea turned her head turned once again. She allowed her eyes to meet with Angelos. He on the other-hand, she thought, was entirely different.

             
She walked toward him. She moved as though she were about to pounce upon her prey. She leaned forward, closing the distance between their faces. “I want the druids, Angelos,” she reiterated. “All of them, from the druid just taking his vows to Soren, himself. And if you wish to continue reaping the rewards as 'Leader of the Knights' as you have so brazenly boasted to others-----”

             
The Knights present stared heavily in his direction. The unified might of their blue eyes was terrifyingly unnerving. They too had heard of his boasting. 

             
“Then I suggest that you lead your team and get it done.” Aurea's last few words were enunciated with a barrage-like sting which had Angelos' insides quivering.

             
Angelos IV cleared his throat with a nervous nod. He realized then that like the Knights were watching so many others, they were clearly watching him as well. He straightened his stance then awkwardly donned the mask of confidence. “It will be done,” he said. “I will see to it personally.”

             
“See that you do.”

             
Aurea stepped toward the bedroom doors. She delicately placed her hand against the cool golden handle. She paused. She wondered if she possessed the strength to go into the room which she had come to avoid at all costs.

             
“In the meantime,” the Empress said, “I am arranging for Autumn to be moved. She will be cared for while away from the transitional chaos which will be happening here.” She flinched inwardly, fearing that on some level Autumn could hear the things happening around her. It frightened her because if there was one person who might have the ability to sway her thoughts now, it was Autumn. What had started out as a means of helping Autumn had grown into something far beyond that. This was about so much more now and Aurea could not back down. Not even for Autumn.

             
“Do you really think that it's safe for her to be away from us?” Olivia asked protectively.

             
By the moment, Angelos was growing steady within himself. He realized how celebrating his recent rise in status had left him lacking in his duties. He also realized that Aurea was not the type of person who would accept anything short of his best. And where Aurea was concerned, ones best had better be exceptional. He had to act. He had to show her that he was competent. Autumn might never wake and if that were the case, he would need more than his sister to garner Aurea's good graces. He would need to earn her good favor without Autumn. “Before you leave, I will see to it that a security detail is ready to guard my sister at all times. They will be discreet so as not to garner attention, but they will be formidable, I assure you.”