Flames (Book 3)

Chapter 10: Aron

My heart sunk deeper and deeper into a noiseless abyss of despair as I watched Princess Viviana board the ship. I kept my eyes on her for as long as I possibly could, up until the second the thin, metal ramp finished rising behind her back. I was afraid that losing sight of her would mean losing her forever- which it probably would. My soul felt like the fire that enveloped the rocket's base as it prepared to take off.

How could the Order do this? How could they send a helpless girl on a mission that would fill even a seasoned rebel warrior with trepidation? I had believed wholeheartedly in them and their justice. I had possessed enough faith to spend my entire life fighting for them and clawing my way up the ranks of their organization. I had kept myself alive with the hope that the Order could make things better, that they truly cared for our well being.

But, now, I saw that the same fervent devotion to their cause that I had idolized them for made them blind. It led them to value the Flame over all else. Over a young, innocent life.

They weren't the heroes everyone thought they were. They were just the lesser of two evils.

They didn't stand for freedom

No one stood for freedom.

There was no freedom anymore.

We were all just pawns in a huge, centuries-old game of chess between Eleanna Myers and Saralee Arystenn. Some of us were painted white, and others of us black, but inside, all of us were lifeless pieces of wood.

Except for, perhaps, Viviana Arystenn. She was a single glass marble sitting on the side of the chess board. She belonged to no one. She was loyal to only herself.

I smiled as I recalled the wonder on her face as she sat by the still, silvery lake outside the base, watching the famous Rhenan Angel swans soar through the sky. She had seen true beauty in them, beauty that I had always been too scarred to notice, and had spread her unbroken heart alongside their wings.

For sixteen years of her life, she had been safe: a luxury that no one else in the Empire could ever dream of. She knew the feelings of comfort, of joy, of happiness, words that had no meaning to the rest of us. She was still pure, still whole. She still believed in goodness.

She had proved that to me in a very direct way only moments before when I had kissed her. Of course, I expected her to shove me away and call me a filthy Rhenan. After all, princesses had been doing that to commoners for centuries.

I had almost wished for her to yell at me, to shame me in front of the Order. At least, that way, I'd know that I couldn't hurt her- that her heart was closed and safe.

But, she had done quite the opposite. She had kissed me back without a moment's hesitation. Her human upbringing had allowed her to conscientiously do something that the Empire could never accept.

A Lessaenite could not love a Rhenan.

It was wrong, unnatural, and disgusting. It went against every fundamental doctrine of the Lessaenite Empire. Some could argue that it went against the very nature of Lumys and the universe itself. Even if we somehow, miraculously managed to defeat the Icehearts, our relationship could never be anything more than that of friends and coworkers. This was not an issue of Iceheart racism; it was simply something that couldn't and wouldn't happen.

I began to regret my impulsive move as the spaceship shot through the open roof of the hangar, taking the younger princess with it.

It was cruel of me to reveal my feelings for her in such an obvious manner.

I should've just told her that it would never work.

Now, she'd keep dreaming a million dreams that could never come true.