Sun Queen

♛ Thirty-Four ♛

The Darkling waves his bare hands to me, "Go ahead, start with a small sphere. I have an idea."

I do as he asks. It's strange to feel the light come so easily. After not summoning for so long, it's as if I'm breathing for the first time in a while. I exhale as a sphere of light shimmers above my hands. The Darkling is distracted for a moment, my light glittering in the reflection of his eyes.

"Good," He says softly, "Now think about the heat of the light."

I stumble a little to understand him. "You want to me to work on the one thing that can actually harm people?"

"It's what you are afraid of." His eyes flick to me.

He's not wrong. Every since I gained my summoning back, the power brought out a new side. The heat. Something I was not looking forward to practicing.

I close my eyes and try to focus on the heat coming off the light flickering in my hands. My hands grew numb and unfeeling as I concentrated harder, groaning under the pressure to condense my power into one small ball.

There was a fuzzy, muffled sound and suddenly I found myself lying on my back, the Darkling on top of me. Before I could yell at him, I notice the wild streaks of worry in his eyes. My body cores out with sudden, sharp pain. I groan and crane my head around to see what happened.

My hands are smoking, billowing clouds of white pouring out of them. The wood around us is charred black, the stench of splinters burning is strong in the air.

I start to cough from the clouds of smoke filling my lungs like water. The Darkling pushes himself up and helps me carefully to my feet. The room is destroyed, the bed melted and the couch only a pile of ash. My mind whirs to the rest of ship.

"Did anyone....... else...... get hurt?" My coughs break up my sentence.

The Darkling doesn't answer, but I find out soon enough. He pulls me out into the same hallway and I exhale shakily when I see the explosion didn't leave the room. The Darkling takes me back into the bathing room and leaves me there.

I wash my ash covered hands with the remains of the bath water, watching the black dust slip away in the milky, melted bubbles. There's commotion outside the door, servants no doubt and I stay at the edge of the bathtub, resting my head on my knees.

When the Darkling returns, he seems much more...... interested.

We exit into the hallway again, and this time I get a good look. The hallway consist of only three doors. My room, the bathing room, and another one. I can't say I'm surprised to find the last door leads to the Darkling's chambers.

They aren't much different from what I have seen. Black couches and chairs are scattered across the room, stone fireplaces on either side of the room. The Darkling's bed is backed up against a window and I run towards the polished panes.

Sea sprawls from beneath the boat's wake, dark and unyielding as it breaks into foam. The sky is painted a dull color of blue, most likely still early morning then. I'm relieved to have a window finally, after feeling so detached from the world for so long.

"I'll have you stay here from now on since your old quarters were....... compromised." He smirks a little.

His teasing sets my anger in fire and I sigh in frustration. "Do I still get to meet with Mal?"

The Darkling closes and locks the door behind him, "Yes, but let's finish up here. And I promise we won't work anymore heat until we're back on solid ground."

I don't want to work on my heat period, but I'm not going to admit how much the explosion scared me. The rest of the lesson falls in place with ease. Even though he's seen what I'm like when I was forced to summon, I try to hide the extent of my power best I can. I don't need the entire ship to know what I can do.

Mostly I just work on playing around with other light sources, pulling it from threads of light in the cracks of doors and walls. Trying to find light in the darkest of places. I'm relieved to find the Darkling doesn't talk much when I practice, just watching, always watching.

After the window starts to darken and I can tell much time has passed, I flick off the light I was playing with and it drops away. "I want to see him now. I think it's only fair."

"Fair?" His smiles bends up.

I don't respond but hold my ground. It doesn't look like the Darkling wants to argue anyways. "Fine, I'll get the boy. And you'll only have ten minutes."

I nod so hard my head feels like it's going to fall off. I'll gladly take ten minutes. The Darkling leaves and I turn my attention to one of the fireplaces. Even so soon after the explosion, I want to be near the fire, feel it's kiss on my clammy skin. I settle to the couch and roast in the gentle warmth, waiting for the Darkling to return.

After a few minutes, I can feel sweat running down my back. My head throbs a little, probably from the smoke and the explosion. Strangely, when I touch my head to wipe away sweat I find it burning. I step away from the fire, retreating to a more centered chair and turn my face away from it. How did I warm up so quickly?

My headache from the smoke continues through the minutes. When I hear footsteps down the hallway I jump up, only to be pushed back by the pain. I clutch my head to massage my temples for a seocnd and gather my mind. It's only a little nausea from the smoke.

The footsteps stop outside the door and it hangs open, revealing Mal with the Darkling towering behind him.

I must admit, Mal looks better than expected. His face is in the yellow-green bruise phase as it heals and his cuts are all crusted with dried blood. I still since at the sight. Slowly I stand up, my head woozy.

Keeping an eye on the Darkling as he closes the door, I wrap Mal in a lengthy embrace. I bury my face into his chest as the nausea increases. Saints, it's much worse now. I can see spots swimming and my head is pounding. I feel like I'm right beside the fire again.

Mal must not notice my temperature through the kefta, though his eyes do soften with concern when we pull away. "Are you a alright?" He whispers, his arms rubbing my shoulder.

I open my mouth to answer, then notice the Darkling hovering by the door. "Aren't you going to leave?"

The Darkling shakes his head, still staring at Mal's hand on my shoulder. "You didn't think I was going to leave you unattended? So what, you can jump out the window and run away, professing your love for each other?"

I can tell Mal wants to retort back, but I brush a hand to his cheek. "Relax, don't let him bother you."

Suddenly I'm struck with a great idea of how to get back at the Darkling. I lean into Mal further and say softly. "Want to really see him mad?"

Mal looks back for a seocnd, then grins as he catches my idea. His hands cradle the back of my neck as he pulls it up. Our lips connect and it's like the pain explodes. As Mal deepens the kiss, pulling me in tighter, I bite back a shout as the headache roars.

The kiss only lasts for a few seconds before Mal's lips are ripped from mine. I stumble forward a little, my body on fire. The Darkling tosses Mal to the ground, staring down at him with visible fury. His boot digs into Mal's side and Mal cries out with a shriek of pain.

The Darkling's voice is a loud growl, choppy with anger. "YOU-"

I put a hand to the Darkling's back, my feet swaying a little. "Leave him alone."

The Darkling looks back when he hears my throaty voice. I take a step but my legs fail me and I'm on the ground. My ears burst as I collapse to the floor. Dread seeps in when I realize what I'm feeling.

It's the fever, it's back again.

I fall into a dark state of being awake, but not aware. I feel sheets beneath my back, hear barking orders and the slap of skin. I can taste the remnants of smoke in my mouth. My eyes only fill with darkness as I squeeze them shut in pain.

Eventually, like before, a cold, wet towel brings me out of my restless state. It's not as bad as the fever first was, but it's still makes me shake with pain. I open my eyes to look around. We're still in the Darkling's chambers but only night seeps through the window now.

The Darkling looks down at me and I try to read his face. He looks pleased, yet sick with worry, a small hint of pride streaking through him. "We need to talk. It's about the tracker."