Ashes (Very Slow Updates)

Chapter 3- Confusion

“Tell me what happened,” my mother said coming in and shutting the door behind her. Her hair had finally cooled to resting against her neck as she stood in front of me, hands on her hips.

“It was nothing really,” I said weakly, it was useless trying to sound convincing. One thing I learned as soon as I got here was that people in Fire, could spot a lie from a mile away.

“This is foolish, answer the question Aria.” I looked at her for the first real time, really looked. I saw the small little white scar close to her ear and the crinkles of age and tiredness gathering in the sides of her eyes. Her skin wasn’t as flawless as I’m sure it could’ve been, and all of this led to the question of why?

“He kissed me alright,” It came out breathless sounding. Why was this happening to me? Was he just another guy to add to the list? “It wasn’t a big thing.”

Her face told me otherwise. Her scowl faded into a thin line that made her look even older. I pressed my palms into my legs hoping to relieve some of the tension building.

“What is his last name Aria?”

“Please mother, you don’t need to bring him into this, he didn’t do anything wrong.”

“His name, now.” Her eyes changed, as they always did when her emotions shifted, to red. Her anger was felt with the broiling heat bubbling of her skin.

“Summers, Kegan Summers. He lives somewhere near Avalor I think.” Avalor is one of the more important cities as it’s where the courts of Fire converge, like a democracy and republican party joining to discuss rules and discuss the most popular topic of the season… me.

She thought about this for a moment before shaking her head and sitting next to me.

“I only want to protect you.”

“I know but I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“I know you don’t, and that it why I’m here to help you.”

She kissed my forehead and walked away, leaving me alone to replay her words back in my mind until they finally sent me drifting into a sleep that didn’t have anything to do with Fire, or Kegan. Instead all that was there was water, a big pool of it gently surrounding a cot in the corner and a boy with soft features and messy blond hair sleeping soundly.

***

“Dear you’ll be late.”

I turned my head to see the small red headed nurse that was assigned to torment me. I mumbled pushing my face into the pillow farther. Maybe just maybe I’ll suffocate.

“Princess,” she sighed.

Or not.

I lifted my head and shot her a nasty look which she justified with one of her own. Falling into appeasing mode, I let her draw a bath where she of course had to help me into and out of, handing me my towel and wrapping my hair in its own. Following, she twirled my raven colored hair into a complicated twist before stabbing my skull with about a hundred bobby pins and then for good measure a big clip with a bejeweled dragon on it. I kept my eyes on its red jewels that sparkled every time it moved. The dress was less flashy but was still obvious wardrobe of the Queen’s household or the Queen herself.

I sat behind the mirror as she matted my face with shimmer and lined my lids with dark makeup.

“Beautiful,” was the only thing she said before marching me out to the throne room.

There was Miles, my mother and Beth and Tilla. The twins stopped bickering as my steps echoed through the empty room and Miles’ attention caught. My nurse turned on her heel and scurried away, throwing me to the wolves. I tried to do as told before, walk confidently but I could feel my steps falter.

I didn’t want to look any of them in the eyes and fortunately I didn’t have to, I got half way to opening my mouth but my mother was already turning and walking briskly towards the exit.

A carriage was waiting, in the white smoke that usually surrounded the ground this early in the morning. It smelt like burning coal. A few specks of ash fluttered through the wind landing at my feet as I stepped over them and into the carriage with my mother.

Miles and the twins followed with subtle glances directed to me but I let myself stay angry, hurt and stared out the window.

The dreams of Cal were worse. I’d wake up only to fall back asleep into the same nightmare I woke up from. Cal, sleeping soundly in a bed with water surrounding him and then me, somehow tied to a chair with Levi’s soft, spindly fingers resting on my shoulders as the water rose around him. It never reached us but it would slowly surround Cal, never waking him up until the water was past his nose and he was gurgling for air. I would scream or at least try, but nothing would ever come out, not a sound or even a muffled sob.

I bit my lip as the memories flooded back and I was staring at a stream of lava, slowly sifting around the molten rocks and leaving a slimy orange residue in its place.

“Are you okay?”

I looked at the twins. One of them had spoken but they both sounded the same.

“Fine,” I said shrugging off the curiosity about which one asked and looked back out to the shifting ground beneath me and the mountains of rock that lined most of the boundaries. I could feel both my mother’s and Miles’ eyes bore into me.

Avalor wasn’t far from here. We were to go into Fire’s courts today and wait for my mother, as she was head of the courts and was required to be there for big decisions, while we roamed the court yards and watched Tilla and Beth.

What a fun day this was going to be.