Flames

Chapter Forty-Five

The woman narrowed her eyes in the darkness, watching as the guards paced in front of the gates of Phaepyr. It had been years since she had dared come this close, but she had made a promise years before and hadn't intended on giving up just yet. The memory still haunted her, having to walk away from all she had created for the king's sick and twisted pleasure.

It was time to take her family back.

"Stay close, Sophia." The woman was knelt behind a bush she had spent time behind before, eyes focused on the guard's movements. "Remember your training." She glanced back at her seven year old daughter, offering the little girl a smile. "These people are going to be dangerous, but nothing we can't handle together. We're going to walk away from this with our family, at long last."

The little girl was the spitting image of her father. Her black hair was tightly braided against her head, the ends secured into a bun at the base of her neck. Wisps of baby hairs hung freely around her masked face. Her dark brown eyes were barely visible in the darkness. She had his nose and his smile.

The woman felt for her daughter. She hadn't met half of her family and it had all been her own fault; it was entirely Amber's fault. Had she thought things through or perhaps risked even the smallest injury, things could have been different. However, it was too late for regrets. She couldn't change the past, but she could change the future.

"Mom?" Sophia pulled down her mask to expose her mouth. "Am I really going to meet dad? And my brother?" Hope glimmered in her young eyes, having only stories to remember the two by. It had never been enough.

"If everything goes well, they will leave with us." Amber had been missing from their lives for a little over seven years. She knew it was impossible that Cedric had remarried, but she didn't care. That didn't matter anymore. While her heart still entirely belonged to Cedric, she understood how she would have to adjust to whatever life they had made. She wasn't even sure if she could get him to leave again but she was going to try. She had spent every waking moment thinking of him and Riley, how she had felt like half of her heart had been ripped out of her chest when Roman had sent her away. The only comfort she was able to give herself was knowing that they had been saved.

She took a deep breath, finding a rock beneath the bush. With her eyes focused upon the guard, Amber hurled the rock towards a tree further away from the gate to catch the guard's attention. She grinned to herself as it worked, the guard taking the distraction and walking away from his post. She grabbed her daughter's hand and began to run, using the shadows the night provided to sneak through the main gates like she had many times before. Very little had changed.

Amber navigated her way through the familiar streets of Phaepyr, keeping Sophia's hand tight in her own. She had lost one child to Roman, she didn't plan on losing another. She had tried to convince the girl to stay with the others, but Sophia had her father's stubbornness. She had won her over with the argument that family should stick together and that if her father didn't want to come back with her, Sophia wanted to see him regardless.

The other women at camp had tried to talk her out of it, but Amber had refused it all. She had spent too much time thinking over what could have been. When she felt like her power was at its peak, she knew it was time to strike.

As Amber led her daughter through the streets, she couldn't help but think of the life that could have been. Had she complied with all of Roman's rules and remained in Phaepyr, this would have been hers and Sophia's permanent home. Sophia would have grown up with Riley and would have known her father, but at what cost? On the positive side, they would have gotten their complete family and would have been together, but on the other side, they would have been a family of murderers that participated in a war they had no right to win.