The Heiress of Fire

Chapter 7

When I finally step out into the hallway, I see Ember is waiting for me still. She grabs my arm with her hand and leads me down the barely lit hall. I trust her to take me where we need to go. My stomach grumbles loudly. I haven't eaten all day. I was supposed to get food with Carter, but I guess some kidnapping got in the way.

When Ember and I finally get to the dining hall, Queen Enya is already sitting there, all alone. It is kind of sad to see her like this, but when she notices that Ember and I are here, I can see her eyes light up. I know that no one wants to be alone when they eat. Ember lets go of my arm and take her spot next to the queen. And I do the same so that Ember and I are sitting across from each other.

"I am glad you could make it," Enya says tightly, her gracious lips wrapping around her spoon. I almost feel way out of my element. I usually eat with my fingers for a lot of things. There are probably six or seven different forks, and I have no idea which to use. The cooks bring out salad first, and I look up at Ember, hoping she can give me some direction. She gives me a smile and points to the fork on the far left. I mouth "thank you" at her.

I grab the fork and take a bite of the salad, and I am not joking at all when I say that this is the freshest lettuce I have ever tasted. How can you make this so right?

"This is good," I moan aloud. I don't know how, but the queen will probably get me hooked on just the food alone.

"We make everything fresh here. We have our garden where we grow everything," Queen Enya quips, looking delighted in herself.

When the cooks bring out the main course, I almost have an orgasm on the spot. Holy fucking shit does this look amazing. It is roast beef. I think with some of the creamiest mashed potatoes I have ever tasted. I think I am going to go into a food coma from overeating. It is almost too rich for my stomach to handle. I haven't had this type of food ever.

I can see Ember watching me scarf down every last bit of my food. "You humans do eat a lot."

"I never tasted anything like this in my life," I say with my mouth full, and they both give me disgusted looks, and I shut my mouth. Sometimes I forget that I am not home with my mom. I am sitting in front of a queen who could melt me on the spot.

"I'm glad you like it," Enya replies politely. She shifts in her seat, so she is sitting up straighter. I wonder if queens with special powers go to some fancy school where they teach you manners and such. That would be kind of funny, not going to lie.

Queen Enya gets up from her seat, and she stretches a little bit. I can see a bit of her belly. She is wearing a more slutty dress. I don't know how to say this nicely. It is way more revealing than the one she was wearing earlier, and I wonder if she did it for me. I already think that she is so beautiful, but I need to get to know her all over again. I feel like I got to know a fake person, but I think she seems decent enough. She needs to learn how to have some fun. I think she would be way less uptight if she let loose a little bit.

Ember gets up from her seat too and waits to see what the queen wants to do. We follow Enya into one of the sitting rooms, and she takes a seat, rather heavily, onto one of her plush couches. I sit down in a chair, and so does Ember. These are probably the most comfortable chairs that I have ever sat on. I might fall asleep here, honestly, after all of that food.

"Marrick," I look up at Enya when she says my name.

"How do you know my name?" I ask, feeling a little uncomfortable. I know we talked a lot when we were in our dreams, but I don't remember saying anything about my name.

"I have some insight," she gives me a half-grin and jerks her head towards Ember, who is blushing deeply.

"I see, so Ember just does all of your evil biddings for you then?"

"Not all of it is evil," Enya gives me a hard stare.

"So she finds all of your men for you? And then gets beat by them, doesn't seem like a great job," I retort back, glaring at her. I see that Ember is starting to get uncomfortable.

"That is not true! Ember is my best friend. I wouldn't let her get hurt," Enya is starting to raise her voice, which is making me more upset. I don't want to be here right now. I thought if I had dinner with her and sat down and had a conversation with her, that I might start to like her again. I am beginning to see her true colors, and it is making me upset. I thought she was perfect when we met in our dreams, but I can see that she is not. I understand that people aren't perfect, but she was so different. I might try to get used to being here since I will probably be here for a while. Maybe I could have even loved her, but now I am not sure anymore. I just want to go home.

I decide not to say anything. I am just too tired for this anyway. I can see Ember giving her a pleading look.

"I am sorry," Queen Enya finally breaks the awkward silence. "I had no idea that they were beating her." She sounds pretty sincere, which genuinely surprises me.

"It's okay," Ember is the one to talk now. "I didn't want to tell you so you could find your king." That was probably the most innocent sentence I've heard in my life, and you can see the concern on Enya's face too. I think she genuinely cares about Ember, and I like to see that.

"You should have told me! We don't need icky men like that in here," Queen Enya whispers to her, putting her hand on her knee in a comforting way.

"I promise it is okay," Ember gives Enya a small smile. I can see that they are pretty much the only people that they have. That is probably all they need, which is each other. I don't know why I feel like I am interrupting some intimate bonding thing with them—just feeling a little awkward as they are just staring at each other.

"I am glad we had this little reunion," I clap, and they both snap out of it, looking back at me.

"Yeah, I am glad we can figure things out. You need to talk to me, please, so I can fix things," Enya is pleading to Ember, and she's giving her a sad look.

"I promise I will tell you," Ember smiles back, trying to make everything better. I am happy that they figured this out, but I am also feeling like I am interrupting something. Enya gets up and hugs Ember, and I smile at them. I don't know. Maybe I misjudged how much she cares about her. They only have each other, which is kind of sad. They need to get out more and see the city. I'm guessing they stay cooped up here in this massive castle for weeks on end without going outside. I would hate that and get bored quickly, so I'm glad that we can do some stuff.

"Um, I can take you back to your room now, Marrick," Ember says, removing her arms from her queen and wiping her eyes.

Enya nods at her to take me away, and she grabs my arm again, leading me down these vast halls. We finally get to my room, and Ember drops my arm.

"Thank you for doing everything for me," I say and sit down on my bed. Ember timidly follows me into my room and takes a seat next to me.

"Of course," she smiles up at me, batting those long lashes. Before I can even think, I lean in and kiss her. Her eyes go wide as she pushes me away, and I pull back, feeling embarrassed. I don't know why I just did that.

"I am so so sorry!" I try to reach for her, but she has already gotten off the bed.

"Um, I've got to go," she darts out the door and slams it behind her. I groan and fall back onto my bed. What the hell was I thinking? I just ruined a great friendship, and now she is probably going to tell Enya. I know that I fucked up real bad. It was in the heat of the moment type of thing. I wasn't even thinking straight. I feel like such a slob, poor Ember probably gets used like that all the time, and finally, when she starts to trust me, I go and do that.