Acotar and Tog [Discontinued, Will be deleted]

The Princess of Wildfire

“Faster”

He could see the light, the cliff was close. The stench of a skinwalker hits him just as it jumps out. A swing of the hatchet and sword, disables the walker.

He glanced back as he leaped off the cliff, just to hear her shout “Shift!”

Holy gods. The wildfire from earlier that day had been nothing in comparison. Not in intensity or size. The skinwalkers were ash before they had a chance to scream. Both sides of the river were on fire, easily a 3 klick radius.

“Can you put it out?”

He assessed her, the ice in his veins told him that she was not spent.

“You could if you tried.”

She stared at him, not bothering to deign a reply. “I’m almost done.”

“We don't need something else attracted to your fires.”

Reigning silence.

He didn’t know what to say. He did not know if he should scream at her for her stupidity, chastise her for her cowardice, or apologize for what he had said earlier. She was truly the heir of Brannon’s wildfire, the lost princess of a broken kingdom, a girl raised by killers, a lost soul. A girl that let go of a lover and lost a friend. He decided to wait for her to choose the tone of their next words.

“Why is my shifting so vital?”

“because it terrifies you, mastering it is the first step toward learning how to control your power. Without control, with a blast like that, you could have easily burnt yourself out.”

He didn’t want to add that any other fire magic wielder could never created such a blast, even with a complete burnout.

“What do you mean?

The look on her face showed another part of her, the intelligent girl trying to make sense of her world. Did no one teach this girl?

“When you access your power, what does it feel like?”

“A well. The magic feels like a well.”

“Have you felt the bottom of it?”

“Is there a bottom?”

A three klick radius and she did not even reach the bottom. For the first time he wondered if she held more power than him. Whatever had happened up there, there was a shift and for the first time in weeks he had her attention.

“All magic has a bottom -- a breaking point. For those with weaker gifts, it’s easily depleted and easily refilled. They can access most of their power at once. But those with stronger gifts, it can take hours to hit the bottom, to summon their powers to full strength.”

“how long does it take you.”

“A full day. Before battle, we take the time, so that when we walk onto the killing field, we can be at our strongest. You can do other things at the same time, but some part of you in down in there, pulling up more and more, until you reach the bottom.”

“And when you pull it all out, it just -- releases in some giant wave?”

“If I want it to. I can release smaller bursts, and go for a while. But it can be hard to hold back. People sometimes can’t tell friend from foe when they’re handing that much magic.”

“How long does it take you to recover?”

“Days. A week, depending on how I used the power and whether I drained every last drop. Some make the mistake of trying to take more before they are ready, or holding on far too long, and they either burn out their minds or just burn up altogether. Your shaking isn’t just from the river, you know. It’s your boy’s way of telling you not to do that again.”

“Because of the iron in our blood pushing against the magic?”

“That’s how our enemies will sometimes try to fight against us if they don't have magic -- iron everything.”

He did not give the girl enough credit, in the weeks he had learned her facial expressions, she had been doing the same. She knew that there was a story.

“I was captured once. While on a campaign in the east, in a kingdom that doesn’t exist anymore. They had me shackled head to toe in iron to keep me from choking the air out of their lungs.”

“Were you tortured?”

“Two weeks on their tables before my men rescued me.”

He did not know why, but he unbuckled his brambrace.

“Cut me open bit by it, then took the bones here and --”

“I can see very well what happened, and know exactly how it’s done.”

The light left her eyes.

“Was it you or someone else?”

“I was too late. He didn’t survive.”

Her voice was hollow, sad.

“Thank you for saving me.”

He was not worthy of her gratitude, he was a worthless male that had failed to protect his mate and child.

“I am bound by an unbreakable blood oath to my Queen, so I had no choice to ensure you didn‘t die. But, i would not have left anyone to a fate at the hands of the skinwalkers.”

“A warning would have been nice.”

“I said they were on the loose -- weeks ago. but even if I’d warned you today, you would not have listened?”

“What was the trigger when you shifted earlier?

“It as nothing.”

He wasn’t going to let it go at nothing.

“Let’s just say it was fear and necessity and impressively deep-rooted survival instincts.”

“You didn’t lose control immediately upon shifting. When you finally used your magic, your clothes didn’t burn; neither did your hair. And the daggers didn’t melt.”

He took the ivory handled daggers from her.

“Why was it different this time?”

“Because I didn’t want you to die to save me.”

“Would you have shifted to save yourself?”

“Your opinion of me is pretty much identical to my own, so you know the answer.”

Even though his heart had been frozen for two centuries, he could not help but feel a pang of empathy. He knew who this girl was, but there was something about her. He could give her the only thing he had left, his knowledge. At least her cause was not in the name of glory, not to gain back her crown, no her cause was to stop a murderous king. Her cause was to ensure no other eight year old girls with bright and safe futures became orphans.

He would have time to work out what she meant when she said that she didn’t want him to die to save her.

“You’re not leaving.” He crossed his arms prepared for another fight. “I’m not letting you off double duty in the kitchens, but you’re not leaving.”

“Why?”

Because you wanted to save me. Because we are most likely carranam. Because that power you just displayed didn’t burn you out as it should have. The fact that the blue wildfire took a great deal of concentration to smother. Because you are the first person to make me feel something, even past the anger.

“Because I said so, that’s why.”