Ashes (Very Slow Updates)

Prologue

It’s just after sun down; the smoke has begun to blur the mountains from sight and the molten rock houses are just about all dark.

A few camp fires are still glowing in houses, but only a few are in my view. I’m used to the over bearing heat and the smoke smell that waters my eyes and burns my throat. I’m used to looking like I rubbed my face in ash- it’s a usual thing for me now. Camellia never returned; when knights went to deliver a notice to all the kingdoms that the Queen of Fire- me- had been found, they made it their duty to also do a clean search of the palace in Water. They reported back, they had found her below ground next to the furnace that they burned any bodies in.

They said it looked that she had been impaled by a sword. Levi.

The balcony is my new place to be, every night I watch the sun set and the sky turn to ink. The silence of the night helps me think.

It’s been months since I got to Fire and I’ve already become the center of attention. For weeks after my arrival people were coming and bringing gifts, important dignitaries that lived in the mountains or what they call Magana were inviting me for banquets and balls. I tried my best to look like I knew what I was doing, but in all honesty, I sucked at being Queen.

My mother told me I should just sit there, not smile because it was not usual for people from Fire to smile. I don’t know what’s wrong with smiling; it shows one of your many emotions, which is something I do often.

I wipe my hands on my skirt. I had to sit in on a resolution being made and approve of what it stated and all the other boring nonsense that went along with it.

I didn’t have to dress too much up, so I went with simple, or what was the simplest looking outfit in my closet. I chose a gold dress that had little sparkle on the bodice and gold heels. After the resolution was passed I came here and have been standing here for the past thirty minutes.

The smoke is now drifting over the houses, blurring them also from my view.

“I don’t see how you find watching the same sun go down, every night for the past four months fascinating,” someone says from behind me.

I smile as Miles comes up next to me with his arms crossed.

“It’s not the same.” I look at him. “Sometimes the sun is more orange and other nights it’s redder, and if you’re really lucky and you catch it on a good night it looks almost gold,” I say.

His lips go into a line as he nods.

“I’ve gotten used to seeing the sun so many times I don’t care anymore.”

I can’t imagine how he couldn’t care if he saw the sun. Maybe it’s just me, but I could watch the sun for hours, watching how the beams cut through the shadows and the colors change.

“I know you probably don’t feel that way, but then again you haven’t been here for fourteen years,” he shrugs and looks at me.

“You’re probably right.”

He leans against the door frame with his shoulder. “Going to bed anytime soon?”

“Maybe,” I say lifting a shoulder, “If I could ever stop thinking.”

I bite my tongue. The only thing I think about now is Cal and whatever had him trapped. Miles looks at me.

“About what?” God, I should have known this was coming. The one thing that I cannot stand about my brother is his curiosity.

“Nothing, just things,” I say reluctantly.

He narrows his eyes and just stares at me for a minute. “I didn’t know the water prince was a thing, because last time I checked he was the enemy.”

Well there that goes.

I roll my eyes and scowl. “I don’t like Kade.”

“I didn’t say King, I said “prince.” Until Calder sits on that throne he is still a prince.”

I comb through my hair with my fingers. Hearing his name again is just heart wrenching but at the same time breath taking.

“Cal is not the enemy. If anybody is the enemy it would be Kade’s girlfriend, or wife or whoever she is now.”

“Water and Fire don’t mix Aria,” he says calmly. I snap my head to look at him.

“I love Calder, there is nothing you or anybody else can do to stop it!” I yell at him. He pinches the bridge of his nose.

“You don’t have to get all temperamental,” he says looking at me from behind his hand.

I set my jaw. “I apologize, but in case you’ve forgotten, it’s in my blood!” I pick up the skirt of my dress and stalk away from the balcony doors.

“Aria!” Miles continues to yell from behind. “Wait! Can’t we just talk about this?”

“We tried,” I say before leaving the room.

When I am almost to my bedroom I slow down. My legs are aching from my speed walking through the entire palace. Do Fire and Water truly not mix? I mean sometimes water can try to extinguish an open flame but if it’s true strong the water fails to serve its purpose. It could work together… I think.

In a couple weeks I will be turning seventeen and as part of rules of Fire, there will be no party, we do not support the day of a new age. I don’t mind that much, I never liked parties anyways.

When I get into my room my bed is already open and my night gown hung on the gold hook by the closet. I slip into it and walk to the balcony. It’s much smaller than the one in the hallways but it still has a good view. This view I love just for the sake of remembering Cal. There’s a clear sight of the Water palace from my room.

“I’ll keep my promise,” I whisper. I will.