Soul Fire

7.1

"I don't understand why the hell you did that." Xenia hissed at Bloom softly. The girls had walked out onto the balcony, not wanting Stella to overhear them. "Since when do you get to make decisions on behalf of the group?"

"They were going to kill her, Xenia.. I couldn't..." Bloom gulped, "I couldn't let that happen."

"We could have taken them." Musa said bitterly.

Bloom whipped around to face Musa, her red hair trailing through the air as she did so. "Could have taken them?" Bloom scoffed. "We're a bunch of amateurs!" Bloom threw her hands up in the air exasperatedly. "To think we could battle three witches who are clearly more powerful and experienced than we are?" She shook her head. "We should have listened to Flora earlier. We should have gone straight to the headmistress. We are in way over our heads here, guys."

"Speak for yourself, Bloom." Musa bit back. "Just because you don't know how to use your magic doesn't mean we don't."

Bloom tried to hide the hurt from her face.

Flora bit her lip. "We didn't know that we would be facing those witches." She wrapped an arm around Bloom, who didn't let herself show any weakness by returning Flora's hug, but man, she really needed that. "If it's any consolation," Flora continued, pulling away and squeezing Bloom's shoulder, "I would have done the same thing. I would have chosen to save our friend."

Xenia sighed, and softened her gaze towards Bloom. "I'm not mad at your choice, I'm frustrated that you made it on your own." Xenia gulped, "Stella could have died. The odds of all five of us getting out of there were slim. There's no way to know whether or not the Trix were bluffing."

Musa crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. "The what?"

Xenia shrugged. "The Trix. I don't know, it's what I've been calling them." She waved her hand through the air absentmindedly. "I know why you did it, Bloom. The outcome would have been bad no matter what we did."

Bloom bit her lip to keep the tears from spilling over. "So now what... Will Stella be exiled from Solariea?"

"Not if we can get it back." a voice said behind her.

Bloom whipped around and found herself face to face with the crown princess of Solariea herself. Stella had changed and showered, her hair wrapped up in a towel and a robe around her body. Bloom eyed that nasty red and purple mark around her neck, which was already beginning to fade.

"If we get it back before anyone learns of my..." Stella took a deep breath to steady herself. "failure..." She choked out, "then I can still claim my right to the throne."

Bloom didn't say anything, she just looked at Stella, who refused to meet her eyes.

Flora nodded. "And... should we ask for help from Faragonda?"

"No." Stella snapped. "Nobody can know about this..." She stared down all of the faeries one by one. "To the grave."

They exchanged a glance, and then nodded. "To the grave." Bloom said.

Stella turned to go back into the suite. "We leave tonight."

"Tonight?" Xenia said, taking a step forward. "Stella, it's too soon. You're not even recovered yet.."

Stella stopped walking, but made no move to turn around. "Sun-Weaver is connected to my magic, the more they wield it, the more it will drain me. We have to go now before they use too much. And if they're planning to lay claim to the Solarien throne, we have to get there before that, too. So we leave tonight." Stella strutted into her bedroom and shut the door.