Equinox (Book One of the Firebird Chronicles) WATTY AWARD HIDDEN GEM WINNER 2015

Chapter Twenty Four: When I am Queen, you shall be King

'How did you find me?'

Instead of replying to Fabian's comment, my question chose to divert back to something more tactical. He frowned, almost as if he were hurt. But I was certain he couldn't be. His comments only backed up his earlier statement; him and I were not involved. And now he knew it.

But do you? The sneaky voice cracked up once more. I wondered if I was going mad, having erroneous thoughts bursting through my legitimate ones.

'Morwena sent a messenger,' Fabian replied slowly, 'and I came to find you. What I didn't realise was that so soon after, they knew about you...and retaliated, attacking me mid-flight.'

'Not just you,' I said solemnly, and I told him about the Sapphire district.

'My whole household?' he whispered, and I saw his fists clenching against the blankets, pulling at the threads. 

I didn't say anything. 

'But there's...there's children. And good, honest workers. In the Ruby Prison? No. No.'

I watched as the man, previously so brave and bold, suddenly cowered in terror for the situation of his people.

That is a true ruler, I thought numbly, their own lives are more threatening to him than his own.

'Is it that bad?'

Fabian's head whipped towards me as if he couldn't understand what I had just said.

'Bad?' he repeated, 'Bad? Oh, it's not bad, Lumina. It's hell.'

'Well, at least they're still alive...'

'I wish they were dead.'

'I'm sure they're thankful...'

'They're not. Trust me, they would all choose death.'

My temper flared. 'They're not dead. They are not going to die. Therefore we must get them out of there.'

'That's crazy,' Fabian laughed darkly, 'nobody has ever escaped. Nobody comes out, damn it!'

At that last sentence, he threw his fist against the adjacent wall. The stone he'd hit didn't even make a sound. I was highly surprised his wrist hadn't, though.

'Exactly!' I shouted, 'Did you think a rebellion was going to be easy? You've been planning this for years! If we can't take down a prison, how do we take down the capital?'

Fabian's hand flopped to his side, his mouth a slack triangle. Gods, whatever had I thought attractive about him?

He shut his mouth, thought for a second, and then it flopped open again. 

'What?' I snapped.

'You. You want to take down the prison?'

'Yes. I guess.'

'As a...a practice for overthrowing the King.'

'...yes, that sounds about right.'

'You have my everlasting loyalty.'

'What?!' 

Fabian's despair had changed; a grim, dark smile had replaced the frown lines, and he swept his unkempt hair back from his face. On autopilot, I stood and grabbed the comb from the drawer and began threading it through his silver blond hair, stretching to his shoulders. Fabian swivelled to look over his shoulder at me, blushing.

I dropped my arm, and with it, the comb fell to my side.

'You're brushing my hair?'

I gave him a withering look. 'If we want to attack a prison, we have to look the part.'