Ashes to Ashes | ✓

24 || The Weak Flame

Her words made his head spin as though they were filled with venom, crawling through his body toward his heart. Even his flame seemed to shrink back from her somewhere deep inside him. He shoved up, scrubbing dirt from his eyes. It stung and they refused to open properly; a curse slipped from his lips as he fumbled for his knife.

Nova's crossbow clicked as another bolt slid in place, drawn back along the track. His heart stopped and his body stilled, desperately sweeping his half-lidded vision across the room for a glimpse of the raven-haired girl. There was no sight of her. His throat constricted. By the time he heard the crossbow discharge the bolt, it would be too late to move out of the way if he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.

The tips of his fingers brushed the hilt of his knife, but it was pulled from his grasp by a warm hand. His blurry gaze snapped up, landing on Aiko's face. She was balanced awkwardly on her uninjured leg beside him, though the arrow was missing from the wound. Gripping the knife, she shot forward, hands blazing with the Core's flames. Her red cloak billowed around her—a beacon that guided his dim gaze to the source of the sound. A few feet away, Nova was standing amongst the shadows, her one visible eye wide with surprise and a hint of fear. Her aim shifted from Felix to Aiko. The twang of the bolt shooting off the track followed, but it hit the dirt as Aiko spun out of the way, slipping into Nova's blind side. Ducking low, to avoid Nova's awkward swing, she drove the blade up. It plunged into Nova's chest and the girl choked out an anguished scream. It cut off sharply as she collapsed at Aiko's feet. Fire licked at the wound, quickly devouring Nova's limp body and leaving nothing but her ashes behind.

Emptiness hollowed Felix's insides and he stared numbly at the place where she had been. All that hatred ebbed away in an instant. All that bitterness, that fear, that panic. Gone. He gingerly reached up to touch his wounded shoulder, and his mind subconsciously drifted back to Mae's tiny body in the throne room.

Breathless, Aiko turned stiffly to Felix, careful of her wounded leg now that blood poured from the injury. Her hand trembled at her side, steeped in scarlet which dripped from the tip of her blade. Regret darkened her eyes, but her lips remained sealed. Whatever she wished to say remained locked behind the prison of her mind, and he was stuck on the outside looking in.

Dinah's hand dropped to her side as she clicked her tongue against her teeth, glaring at Aiko. And yet it wasn't the face of a woman who had her companion murdered. It was the shadowed look of a noble lady whose dress was stained with new wine. "You couldn't sit still and let me rip the Core from you, huh?"

"I told you to leave him out of this," Aiko hissed. "Touch him again, and I will kill you."

"I haven't touched him at all, oh wise and powerful Ember Core, soul of the phoenix god." Dinah splayed her hands innocently. "Even if I did, why should it matter to you? If you do manage to stop me, you can always find another weak flame. Surely the Core will extend a little bit of grace for its Bright Soul, hm? It shouldn't take you too long. You lose nothing if he dies, and he loses nothing if you die. The only one at risk of losing something worthwhile is me. Without your Core, I'll be stuck as a lowly queen. Why stay there when I could be a god?"

With a roar, Aiko charged for her, flames twining around her fingers as she lifted Felix's knife. As soon as his vision cleared, Felix pushed to his feet and joined her, drawing a longer blade. It was heavy in his hands, free of the nicks and stains that covered so many others. A little slot hollowed out the hilt and he uncorked one of the poisons—a clear liquid this time—and slid it inside. He had never used the poison blade before, but if Dinah was going to use magic against them, it was a good time to test it.

Aiko sliced Dinah's wrist, searing her flesh and leaving the deep wound blackened at the edges. Silver closed the gash just as quickly. Felix plunged the knife into her chest. She sneered as she shoved him back with the invisible force again. Even that wound closed in seconds, and Dinah still stood there proudly with a smug glint in her eyes. It didn't matter how many times they cut, stabbed, sliced, burned, and fought. The silver always sealed her wounds once again.