A Fistful of Fire: Chronicles of Marsdenfel #1

Year 222 of the Bynding

The cumbersome garments serve their purpose well, making it impossible to outrun guards and chaperones. My mother wears such garments herself by her own consent, as undue payment for her youthful actions that will likely bring the fall of Marsdenfel by my day.

In my day, now that the Bynd has rejected her. By right of custom, I am now ruler, my lack of even ten meager years on Aleyi notwithstanding. But I refuse to heed that; I know I'm not ready to rule.

My mother and I had barely seated ourselves when King Barnett of Grehafen entered. My father.

He glanced over me with a slight, confused frown, and I glanced over him and noticed that he is why I am large for my age, why my eyes are so dark, why I like grey, and why I don't tan well.

When my father spoke, his tone held more haste than politeness. "I would speak to the queen alone."

If anything, the silence grew with that demand. Those like Herdalin sent wary, distrustful glances my mother's way before leaving. Others politely obeyed the request in my mother's nod without nonverbal comment.

But even after my mother nodded, Gaylen remained, watching my mother carefully to be certain that she meant it, and my mother herself told me with her eyes to stay.

"Prophet Gaylen," my mother said quietly. "Please ensure that no doors have ears."

He bowed before leaving to obey. The stern look he gave King Barnett while passing made even me flinch, and I wasn't the one who had earned it.

The stone door, made light enough to move by magic infused in the naril metal etched into the rock, still caused an echo when it closed. Mother, father, and ill[egitimate] daughter remained solitary in that hall.

My mother raised her hand from the arm of her throne, releasing the Bynd from where she'd hid it in her palm. I gasped at its glow—orange, muted and grayed, but definitely orange. Reminiscent of a fire, if you knew which type of magic my father naturally used.

"This isn't yours yet," my mother said, her tone bitterly wry. "The light should be brighter."

He came forward, stepping up on the dais. I cringed.

"Force it now, and you'll die!"

My mother's harsh warning startled me. I stared at her. She still punishes herself for her folly; she forsook her engagement to Gaylen, refused to marry at all to have a legitimate child and thereby disinherit me. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that my mother still cared for the one she'd fallen for, even when he was making good on his betrayal.

But King Barnett stopped abruptly, expression stricken. "No, Yuoleen!" I wanted to believe his aghast tone, but the Bynd glowed its orange, betraying that he was wresting my mother's royal magic from her, abusing what power he'd been given in the Bynd's magic by siring a child with my mother and thereby becoming part of the family.

He continued speaking, dropping to his knees on the step before her throne and touching her free hand, the one without the Bynd. "Karnelcia is dead, we can wed—"

My mother's quick intake of breath was too loud in the marble hall. He fell silent. Seconds ticked by.

"No."

It was quiet, her response, and it took my father completely by surprise. Whether they liked her or despised her, the members of my mother's court were discreet. Word that my mother had refused to marry for my sake had not reached his ears.

"No?" He stared at her, at me. "No?"

"No." My mother smiled ruefully. "I will not give your son my throne, Barnett."

"I wouldn't want you to! Darnell is Karnelcia's child; he has already wed and will have Grehafen. We could have a child, could raise an heir for yours—"

"We have a child, Barnett." My mother's firm court voice returned. She gestured towards me with her fingers—a faint motion, barely noticeable. "And she is my scion."

King Barnett recovered quickly from this unexpected news. It is remarkably good fortune for a baseborn child, to be intentionally left a throne. From how he stared, I suspect he didn't know of my existence. "She could still be."

"I'm not marrying you, Barnett." My mother sounded tired.

He swallowed. "Yuoleen—"

"Answer me this, Barnett." She held up the orange-glowing Bynd in accusation all by itself. "If not for this, if not for the myth, would you even care to make an honest woman of me?"

The pause probably seemed longer than it was. I couldn't say if he were honestly considering that question or considering what answer my mother sought to hear. I do not know the man. "I would," he finally declared, firmly.

"You would?" my mother asked, quietly. "Or you would like to think you would?"

She pulled the Bynd back up into her palm, to hide its accusing light. "I can't give this to you, Barnett. You know that."

Silence, again. Then: "You know I need it."

"You think you need it," my mother corrected him. "It's a legend, Barnett. You humans' Crystal has been lost to time; leave our Crystal be."

"Lost to time? After two hundred years? Someone knows what happened to it."

"Someone, perhaps. Not us."

My father's eyes actually glimmered with tears. "I wish I could believe that." He stood, bowed respectfully, and headed down the dais, down the hall.

My mother stared at her hand that held the Bynd. "You'll be forcing this magic from me, then?"

"You leave me little choice, Yuoleen."

I stiffened and looked at my mother. She nodded, resigned. "It won't have quite the effect you intend," she warned, wearily.

He didn't know, I realized with more shock than fury. He didn't comprehend what the magic he was manipulating could and would [do].

My father ignored her warning. The stone door shut behind him, sealing my mother and I alone in the stone chamber that was as cool and silent as the royal tombs that my mother would occupy as soon as my father succeeded in his goal. I failed to not cry.

Excerpt Discovered by Evonalé Yunan,
Queen of Grehafen and Princess Consort of Salles,
Prophesied Savior of Marsdenfel
and Illicit Daughter of the late Princess Endellion Yunan

Missing, mistaken, and denfelvish words were interpreted
into mountaineer by the same.

——————

I hope you've enjoyed this section of A Fistful of Fire. It's up here on Wattpad in its entirety, and feel free to read it all here. (Note that all the sections of this book are of uneven lengths. I'm sorry for that. This was the first title I posted on Wattpad with long-term intent, and I was focused on dividing by timeline sections, as the book is, rather than considering what would make it convenient to read.)

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 • The sequel, A FISTFUL OF EARTH, is also available both on Wattpad and for sale in e-book and print formats. It's on Wattpad at www.wattpad.com/story/6039622. Links to purchase it can be found at http://bit.ly/showcase-AFoE, or you can search for it on Amazon or your preferred vendor.