Princess of Fire (The Light-Bringer Trilogy, #2)

Prologue

"The king and queen are dead!" the messenger shouted as he burst through the study doors. "King Santos and Queen Hope of Spei are dead!"

Every head in the room turned to face the messenger.

"What do you mean 'dead'?" Marilyn Pyro asked.

"They were found dead in their bed," said the messenger. "No one knows how they died."

She was speechless. The man who gave her troops to help Marilyn secure her throne was dead. 

"Miles, secure us passage into Spei," she instructed. "We're leaving tonight."

—

The ship docked a week later in the Speian capital of Dochas. Marilyn held on tightly to her daughter's tiny hand as Jasiah Saki stepped forward to greet them. She knew Miles and Elain were behind her. Marilyn's eyes drifted over Jasiah's shoulder to the woman lingering behind him.

Melania Andhera, Jasiah's dark-haired bride. Melania's soulless ebony eyes bore into Marilyn's golden ones. She was the dark to Jasiah's light.

"Welcome, Your Majesty," said Jasiah, forcing Marilyn to look away from his wife. "We're glad that you could make it in these... unfortunate times."

"On behalf of Lucis, I would like to extend my condolences to House Saki," she said curtly. 

Melania's eyes rested upon Calista in curiosity. "So this is the Heir of Nothing." She paused. "She's a bastard child, isn't she?"

Rage flared in Marilyn like accelerant to a flame. "How dare you make an accusation like that!" she shrieked, raising a flaming hand at Melania.

She felt Miles grab her wrist. "She's not worth it, Marilyn," he said. 

"Listen to your madman second, Queen of Fire," Jasiah sneered, his blue eyes cold and empty.

Miles bristled at the insult.

The flames in Marilyn's hand died down. "She's the Princess of Fire. Her magic is just taking longer," she said.

The rest of the trip went by with tension between the Lucinean and the Sakis. Marilyn never took her eyes off of Melania.

"Melania's family hasn't shown up yet. Isn't the coronation tomorrow?" said Miles after the funeral.

"Maybe they haven't shown up because they don't exist," she said flatly.

"What do you mean?"

"In all of my years, never have I heard of House Andhera."

Miles crossed his arms. "Do you think it could be her?"

"It's her. What infuriates me most is that we can't do anything until she sets foot in Lucis."

"All we have to do is get through the coronation, and then we can leave," said Miles.

Marilyn grudgingly went to the coronation the next day. They stayed long enough for the dinner after. A few hours in, Elain feigned sickness, asking to go back to Valon to see a doctor. Miles escorted his wife to their rooms while Marilyn said their farewells.

They spent the night in their rooms before waking up the next morning. They hailed a carriage to take them down to the docks. 

Marilyn exited the carriage and stood on the gangplank, Calista in her arms, and looked back at Dochas for the last time before she boarded the ship.

—

Relations between Lucis and Spei became strained with King Jasiah's reign. A year after he ascended the throne, Marilyn received the news that Spei was undergoing a name and flag change. In the months following the changes, riots broke out, throwing the island kingdom into chaos. Three years after Zemlja isolated Spei from the world, news broke that King Jasiah Saki was dead.