Ashes to Ashes | ✓

22 || Cold Reunion

A persistent ringing hooked Felix's consciousness and dragged him from the frigid depths. Despite the cold, the dark was welcoming. It smothered him in its weight, burying him in the promise that nothing else mattered. Weariness clung to him for so long; if he let go now, it would be so easy. No one could blame him. He could simply forget and sink free, unburdened by pain and the responsibility of living on. Who could blame him?

The ringing grew steadily louder, joined by a stabbing pain that tore through his head. A distant cry cut through the dark, prying him from its whispers. Aiko's face appeared in his vision—hazy and far away, but there all the same. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. Her hand reached toward him, but he could never meet her. She was too far; the tips of his fingers didn't even brush hers when he stretched out his hand. Ice sank into his bones. The warmth of the Bright Soul was too far to latch onto, and he could feel his flame dying out.

"Felix, stay with me!"

His eyes flew open and he heaved in a gasp, his chest aching as though he had forgotten to breathe for a long stretch of time. A shiver raced through him as he pushed himself upright. His shoulder burned, joined by the staggering pain in his head to produce a wave of dizzying nausea that threatened to drag him under again.

When his vision settled, the throne room came into view. Red carpet covered the floor beneath him, pushed against the walls on either side of him and lined with strips of gold. A pool of blood darkened the carpet, marking the place where he had been laying for so long. Aiko was kneeling beside him, though several feet away as if to keep her from getting too close. Her eyes were wide with fear and her chest heaved as she took in shallow breaths. Behind her back, her wrists were bound together in thick rope. She seemed unharmed otherwise. He relaxed, slumping back against his heels.

"There he is. So kind of you to join us," a soft voice spoke in a honeyed tone, carried by the same elegant melody he remembered. The one that spoke of lies—a snake that had coiled around his heart, waiting months for the chance to strike him down.

He snapped his gaze toward the sound. Ahead, at the far end of the room, a gilded throne sat atop a dias. Light from the chandelier high above graced the throne in a warm, angelic glow that mirrored the Ember Core's presence. Perched within its seat, dressed in a fine, midnight blue gown, was Dinah. A smile curled her red lips up and she crossed one leg over the other, her skirts glittering like the fabric was embedded with thousands of tiny diamonds. Her pale blonde hair spilled over her shoulders in delicate curls, free of the bun that had trapped it the last time he saw her. Gone was the small and unassuming woman he had met in the study buried deep within Furvus walls. What sat before him was a proud queen who held his life in her hands. His heart shuddered.

This was the Queen of Furvus.

She waved to one of the guards at her side. "Help him up. That shoulder is surely bugging him, but it's polite to sit up straight in the presence of a Queen."

"Don't you dare lay a finger on him!" Aiko snapped, jerking forward and pulling at the ropes that bound her. An invisible force seemed to have locked her in place. The air shimmered with the appearance of the Core's barrier—similar, but not quite the same.

"Do what you want with me, but leave Felix out of this! You've hurt him enough," she finished.

Dinah's laughter fell like the first drop of rain after a long, dry, and unmerciful summer. It graced the silence with a sound like the gentle chime of bells. As beautiful as it was, it twisted Felix's insides painfully. It didn't match the rough hand of her guard that grabbed his hair and yanked him upright. The guard jerked Felix's wrists behind his back, pulling sharply on his wounded shoulder. Red hot pain laced through his body. He suppressed his cry to a low hiss, counting the slow seconds until the pain subsided and the guard released him, though the rope he left behind rubbed awkwardly against Felix's wrists.