House of Winter

Chapter 39

Lumi

It was snowing when they slipped out of the palace, side-by-side, the two of them against whatever army awaited them. Jinni's paws made huge footprints in the fresh snow as they crossed the gardens, following that strange sense that Lumi had grown to know intimately - the feeling of her brother, tugging at her like they were connected by an invisible string.

The palace here in Vulfholm was not a stronghold, like the Volcano Palace in Singtsu. The Volcano Palace could only be attacked from the sky, and it was defended by the fire army, whose main base rested in the crater of that dead volcano. But here, the city spread behind them down onto the river and the city, out to the bay, and the palace was nestled between sloping mountains on either side.

Lumi lit a fire in her palm and held it high, feeling the magic burn bright and hot within her and eager to burst free of its confines, out into the sky, licking up at the snow rather than doused by it.

There were wolfguards along the perimeter of the garden. They held their arms aloft, and Lumi realised in a start that the winter starrlings on the back of each wolf were the ones creating this snowstorm that had descended upon them. The sky was dark grey now, the wind ripping through the deep rivulet of a valley between the mountains, and the snow came at Lumi from all directions, clinging to her hair and her coat, and clinging to Jinni as well, so that his fur was soon covered in white.

She passed the wolfguard, who let her through the perimeter and out towards the forest beyond the gardens, where she knew Tai was waiting for her. As she approached, she could feel the beating fire magic of more and more of her people, invisible to her eyes through the snowstorm.

The snow cleared, and Lumi saw Tai, sitting on Yainni, a dark silhouette in the snow. Behind him, she could just see the firelight of fire starrlings in formation.

She couldn't help it. She smiled.

"Taikku," she said, relieved to see him.

"Lumiko," he said.

This was it, then. The moment she had been walking towards all of her life. They were born together, but they could not be together as she had wished. He had shown her that, and now, finally, she believed him.

"You could have stayed at the Volcano Palace," she said, her voice softening as she saw how much he had changed. He had been sick, she knew, and also injured in the volcano eruptions. He looked bone-tired. "You could have been king. Why have you chased me across the world?"

"Sister," he said, and there was some of that condescension in his voice that she knew so well, but mostly he just sounded tired. "When you are gone, my magic is gone. I cannot be a king without magic. I need you, by my side."

"Of course," she said. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

He scoffed at her, but she couldn't find it in herself to be angry at him now. All of his past sins were forgiven, because of what she was about to do.

"I cannot let you take the empire, Tai," Lumi said. "You know that."

"I should have known you would always have this self-righteous streak of goodness in you," Tai said coldly. "You will always do what you believe is right."

"It's the only thing we can do," Lumi said. She took a breath and reached towards him, feeling the beating heart of his magic, deep inside him.

It felt like a baby fire sparrow, a little hiss of a spark, but nothing as strong as what she had known. She felt like she could cup it in the palm of her hand and douse it in the snow and it would sputter and die. After everything, it would be as simple as putting a baby bird to sleep.

"DON'T DO IT!"

Lumi turned, shocked at the panic in the shout from behind her. The snow parted as if had been cleaved in half, and in the middle of it - as if in the eye of the storm - was Virani on her white tiger, her white hair whipping in the wind.

"You cannot do this, Lumi!" Virani cried, racing towards her. She dismounted from Silka and clutched Lumi into a hug.

"Please, your twin, you cannot do it," Virani said, and there was no mistake that there were tears in her aunt's eyes.

"Auntie," Lumi said, shocked and bewildered at the emotion on her usually-stoic aunt's face.

"I watched my sister die, child," Virani said. "I watched her die, and with it, I watched a part of myself die too. The magic of twins must always be in balance. There is no one without the other. If you quell Tai's magic, you shall quell your own. If you have no magic, then neither of you can claim the throne. Please, Lumi, I cannot let you do this to Tai. Please, don't make my mistake."

"Your mistake?" Lumi asked.

"I let your mother die," Virani said. "I should have been stronger. I should have fought harder."

Something that Lumi had heard the Reunsgardians came to Lumi's mind. "If quelling Tai's power would make me lose my power... if twins must have balance, then why do you have magic, Auntie V? Your magic has always been renowned. Yet my mother has been dead for ten years. The Reunsgardians said there are other ways."

"There are," Virani said. "As you would know, Lumiko. I saw what you did in Reunsgar. You have learned to quell, and you know what happens when you quell."

"When I take others' power, I gain more for my own," Lumi said. "Is that how you've done it, all these years? You've been surging?"

Virani brushed her hand across Lumi's brow, and at first Lumi thought she was doing it in an affectionate way, but then Lumi saw the cruel smile on her aunt's face.

"You've done it too," she said. "Your hair, here. The white streaks, at the crown of your head. Soon enough you would be like me, my love. It wouldn't take long. If you quelled Tai today, I'm sure your hair would be almost as white as mine. My hair turned white when I surged your mother so much that the power erupted from within her and she died."

Lumi felt a sharp lurch in her stomach at her aunt's words, and she knew Tai felt the same.

"What?" he said. "What did you say?"

Lumi pulled back out of her aunt's grip and stared into the eyes of the woman who would have looked so much like her mother.

"You surged our mother? You killed our mother?" Tai repeated.

Virani looked at both of them. "I had to," she said, with a smile. "But you don't have to. You two can learn to love each other, the way that Lumivara and I could never. We loathed each other. I couldn't stand her, and she me."

"No," Lumi said. "You told me you were close. You trained together. You grew up together."

"I told you many things, Lumi."

"You surged her?" Tai repeated. "Why?"

"I had to," Virani snapped. "Your father craved power, but he didn't understand it. He never understood the surge and the quell. He wasn't Reunsgardian, like we are. He didn't know the risks, or the benefits. He would never understand."

"Why would you do that to her?" Lumi asked.

"I had to keep my daughter safe!" Virani said, and her words were like a scream in the snow. "The Burning King would have killed Sanna, just like he killed my sons. He would have killed her, but I saved her. I saved Sanna, because I killed Lumivara. I didn't know how powerful I was. I didn't know one could kill a person by pouring so much magic into her that she would die."

"He killed her," Lumi said. "That's what they always said. Our father killed our mother. That's what everyone said."

"He did," Virani said. "He did, because he commanded me to kill her. If I didn't kill her, he would have killed Sanna. I protected my daughter, just as I have protected the two of you, all my life. I will always protect my children from the abuse that I faced. I will never let another child face what I faced."

... to be continued

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