The Ocean's Heart (The Dragons of Flareia Book 2)

Chapter 11 - Flae

The House of Lava, Ferno, Ignisia

26th Year of the Ocean

Fifth Moon

"First and foremost," Lady Ameira said, her voice bouncing off the walls of the Military Hall, "we must gather our forces and make sure they are all adequately trained. The soldiers stationed at the military base in Larvae are at their limit. They can guard, they can watch the seas, but if Ivenya was to send an army, the Larvae militia would not be able to stop them."

Further down the table – grand, mahogany, typical of the House of Lava – one of the lords scoffed, and Flae had to stop herself from incinerating him on the spot. In her opinion, having money barely gave the lords a seat on the council, let alone the right to be rude to Lady Ameira.

"The state of Avalona is not out concern. Why call for conscription for a war that isn't even our own?" The lord – Lord Anesh, Flae remembered – asked. When he glanced around the room, he received a few grunts of agreement.

Flae's eyes followed his, and she was just as disappointed as she had been at every other council meeting. Ten lords, five monks, three priestesses – including Lady Ameira – and herself. Four women to fifteen men, yet they insisted this was equality. Every council meeting, Flae reminded herself this was something within Ignisia that she would need to improve.

Another thing she would need to improve was the Military Hall itself. Just sitting in it made Flae's stomach turn. Its walls weren't the charcoal grey or off-white of the rest of the House of Lava, but a very dark, glossy red. She could never be in there for long without thinking of how the walls seemed to be dripping with blood. The blood of previous wars. The blood she may have to spill to protect her country, her friends.

"Do you mean to say, Lord Anesh," she asked, "that it would not be our problem if Tommél Ivenya was to come to our shores?" She made sure to sit up straight as she asked, made sure to meet his eyes, repeating Lady Ameira's advice over and over in her head. Even if you are not confident, act as if you are. If they see weakness, they will exploit it – particularly if it is a woman showing weakness.

The man rolled his deep-set eyes as if it would help him check his receding hairline. Perhaps if he wasn't insufferable, Flae would pity him for balding at twenty-seven.

"I mean to say," he began, turning to Lady Ameira, "that, if we were to fight Ivenya, it would be the fault of our naïve, inexperienced Dragonheir. Had her feelings for the Ivenya girl not influenced her actions, we would have been able to avoid this war altogether."

Lady Ameira opened her mouth to answer, but Flae wasn't paying attention. Her gaze fell on the gold chain around the lord's neck. She called on Ignotus' power and pulled.

Across the table, Anesh shrieked, pulling the chain as it glowed yellow, then red. By the time he pulled it from around his throat, his neck and both hands were covered in raw burns. These were the only chains Flae could put him in, unless he committed a serious crime.

He dropped the smoking chain onto the table and pointed a finger at Flae, his pale complexion turning purple in anger. "You—!"

Flae merely straightened the pile of parchment in from of her, each sheet covered with proof of the soldiers they didn't have. The soldiers Anesh was trying to prevent them from gaining. "I do not appreciate being talked down to, Lord Anesh," she murmured dangerously, "nor do I appreciate being spoken to as if I am not present. But, even more than that, I do not appreciate the implication that I am both irrelevant to Ignisia, and to blame for the coming war."