Mirror of Embers (Book 1)

t w e n t y

❄ Royal ❄

"GET OUT OF MY WAY." Faune shoves past me. I whirl around on her, "Touch me again and you'll regret it, Honey." Venom spills off my tongue, it feels so sweet to go at it with Faune. The only thing that feels normal right now is fighting with Faune. It's the only thing that keeps me from breaking down completely. We won't admit it, but we're both suffering, and taking it out on each other seems to be helping.

Faune stomps up to me, a scowl contorted through her features. Everyone groans from behind us. We tend to do this a lot. Everyone is sick of the fighting, but none of them understand it's the only way Faune and I are coping right now. I may hate Ember's sister, but I know what she's going through right now. I'm going through the same fucking thing. We're both shattering. Our fear is consuming us. We don't know how to deal with any of this. No one does. Lokas is pretty bad and so is the guy who met up with Ember. The dipshit who got us into this whole ordeal. Him and his fucking cousin. The gods-damned King of Llyria.

Kamolinn Alinac.

I want to rip him to shreds.

Everytime I think about what Ember was saying . . . about him taking advantage of her. Everything seems to go red. I don't think I was ever this angry when I found my－

My cousin with Serena.

I was a lot more calm then, compared to how I feel about King Kamolinn. My blood begins to boil just thinking of his smug face. Him touching Ember. Hurting her.

See, this is why Faune and I get into it. We keep having the same thoughts. We won't admit it, but we're having them. Fighting with each other seems to be the only thing that works. I never really hurt her. Well, not badly. She's hurt me plenty. She's fucking blinded me so many times. I think I've given her some cuts and bruises, but that's as far as I'll go. Ember would skin me and turn me into a coat if I properly hurt her sister. I don't want to actually hurt Faune either, but when she attacks me, I have to defend myself.

"Call me honey again and see what happens." She spits.

I incline my head, "Is that a threat?"

Everyone jumps up, Shann and Eden start pulling me away from Faune. Lokas is behind her, his arms wrap around her. She doesn't even notice him slowly pulling her away. "It's whatever you make it, O'Dea." She grinds out. A grin forms on my lips. Faune growls and lunges for me. Lokas drags her back, yanking her away from our camp. He drags her out to the forest. He picks her up at some point and throws her over his shoulder. She curses and snarls the entire time. I don't move. I grin at her until she's left. When the cursing dies out and we can no longer see her we all sigh and relax.

Someone smacks me on the back of the head. I whirl around. Eden's hands are on her hips. "You need to stop doing that shit, she's upset."

"Oh? And I'm not? I'm not fucking livid that Ember was taken by the King of Llyria? I'm not upset that my girlfriend was kidnapped?"

"That's not what I meant." She sighs, Irina comes up beside Eden and places a hand on her girlfriend's back. "We all need to be patient, Royal. No ones saying you don't have the right to be angry." Irina soothes. I bite my cheek to keep from lashing out. Eden can see it, her galre is ferocious. She's practically daring me to say something and see what will happen. I'm in no mood to die right now. It'd be very inconvenient.

I walk away from them and back towards the fire where Shann, Clementine and Landon are sitting. Dilynn is off to the side, chopping wood. Landon takes one of Dilynn's logs and lays it on top of the fire, adding to the hearth. I slump to the ground beside Clem. She gives me a sad smile and pats my arm affectionately. I cross my legs and tuck them underneath one another.