Finding Fire -Book 1 of the Finding the Element Series

Chapter Fourteen

I woke up screaming. I had had another nightmare of Rile being stabbed, but this time, Cal was there and he was murdered too. Xavier was on the bed holding my head against his chest and petting my hair soothingly.

“He’s gone,” I choked out.

He nodded but kept rocking me back and forth. He began to hum a tune and slowly eased into mumbling lyrics.

I lifted my head to look at him. I couldn’t understand the lyrics but they were soft and comforting. I let him rock me until eventually the rest of the boys had begun to get up. When Tobiah woke he blinked a couple times allowing time for his eyes to adjust before smiling.

“Alright?” Xavier asked struggling to look at me.

I nodded and he released. He patted my back once and went to another corner of the room. I pulled the blanket over my head and slumped my shoulders. If invisibility was a possible power I wanted it. I felt like such a baby for crying, for sobbing endlessly and waking up hysterical. Tobiah crawled over to my bed and pulled me into a hug. I think he could see that I was beginning to break. That mentally and emotionally I was falling apart.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered into my hair. “Soon…very soon.”

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3 Days Before the Wedding

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The servants closest to the royal family- what we called the nursemaids, the ones that took care of Kade and Levi like little children, were running around, charging through rooms and setting up for the wedding. Tobiah and I were even called to the above to help. Tobiah was leashed up and taken with when Levi went for her dress fitting. I was left alone with Kade and Nathaniel, the rest of the maids and Hanna. She was mostly in the way, pacing in front of running maids and tapping her foot non-stop.

I sunk back into the shadows. An empty feeling was beginning to gnaw at my stomach. I wanted Tobiah to be on the other side of those thrones, or wanted Cal next to me, even Camellia would’ve made me happier.

Kade mostly observed from the throne, occasionally pointing out something that needed to be changed. At one point he fell asleep so I relaxed, slipping down and resting my head on my arms.

I dreamt of freedom, but I was in chains. I dreamt of Cal, but he was in the cellar. I dreamt of lots of things that just had to wait.

“What am I supposed to do?” Hanna yelled. I opened one eye and looked at her. Her white hair was wild and knotted, and her eyes were homing dark circles. She looked like I had when I first arrived, helpless and confused. I looked up at Kade half way only to see he was still sleeping.

“Well, you could stop annoying me.” I said sarcastically. I inched upwards and stretched like a cat.

“Why don’t you just shut up!”

I snorted. “Because I have been here longer and know more than you. So I am pretty sure I have imunity from having to keep my mouth shut.”

She rolled her eyes.

“You’re so clueless about everything,” I said shortly. “You don’t know what’s going on, you don’t know where you are and you really don’t know who you are.”

“I know who I am,” she bit back. The venom in her words was fighting hard to puncture me but I wouldn’t allow it.

“Yeah, I thought I did too…until I found out I’m not a girl from the normal world, I’m a fairy Queen, kidnapped and raised as a human.”

She stared at me.

“Yeah you heard me, and did I mention I can wield Fire?”

She still looked at me, hardly blinking.

“Let me ask you Hanna… have you ever done something that messed up your life, and this something have to do with ice?” Her eyes grew bigger and she crossed her arms. That’s right, at least let me get on even playing ground.

“How’d you-“

“How’d I know?” I asked. “Simple, because I made a mistake too, except my mistake was playing with Fire.”

She bit her lip. She looked around before stepping closer to me. She dropped to a whisper. “I saw an area- covered in Fire, with people in it.”

I nodded. She found Fire. “I know, that is my home.”

She dropped to her knees and came closer. “Could I be…a queen too?”

I looked around the room. I leaned closer, dropping my voice as well. “Maybe. I advise you though to not make it a public announcement- some people don’t exactly want us back.”

“Us?” her eyebrows shot up.

“There are five of us, if you are…” I lowered my voice even further. “A queen, then three of us are here, two though are still missing.”

She nodded and stood quickly. “It’ll be kept quiet.”

I smiled. I couldn’t believe you could hate someone so much and then have one conversation and ‘boom’ they trust you. Seriously, what’s with that?

I leaned with my back against the throne. My eyes shutting couldn’t have made me more happier. When I rested it was almost like I was cooling down. I could describe myself as an over-heated exhaust system that just needed to sit for a minute and cool. Because, who knew if I would ever get to after what I was about to do.