Queen of Fire (A Light-Bringer Prequel)

Thirty-One

The soldier led Marilyn and Akaljot down to the dungeons where Ashlynn was being held. When Marilyn entered the dungeons, memories of the last time she was there hit her.

Ashlynn watched her intently, her once gold eyes now a dark brown. "Good evening, Your Majesty."

"You have been dying to see me?" Marilyn asked bluntly.

"I wouldn't put it that way. Plus, I'm bored. Would giving me a book on taxes hurt?" Ashlynn said coolly.

"So you went through all this trouble because you're bored?" Marilyn asked in disbelief.

"Stop screwing around, witch," Akaljot snapped. "What do you want?"

Ashlynn grinned coldly. "Let me out. And are the Krigereans only helping you because you're sleeping with him? Father and Adramelech would be so ashamed at seeing how low you're willing to stoop because you're self-righteous."

Marilyn crossed her arms. "Says the witch. I'm left cleaning up your mess, thank you very much."

"My mess? Or the mess you created five years ago?" Ashlynn pondered.

Marilyn turned to the guards. "She is not allowed any visitors under any circumstances. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," they answered.

Ashlynn jumped to her feet. "I can make you a god, Marilyn!" she shouted.

"I don't want to be a god! Being the queen of the most feared kingdom is enough!" Marilyn shouted right back as she and Akaljot left the dungeons.

—

Marilyn sat up, screaming as she pulled herself out of a nightmare.

Akaljot rubbed her back. "Are you okay?" he asked.

She looked at him. "It was just a nightmare. I'm fine. I'm going for a walk by myself. I'll be back in a bit."

Marilyn got up from the bed, pulled on a dressing robe, and walked out into the empty moonlit corridors.

She lit a flame in her hand and walked into the library.

She wandered among the shelves, the fire in her hand the only light. She pulled a book down from a shelf, sat down at the nearest table, and started to read.

"My mother was killed by those Krigerean brutes," it read. "This was the final straw. They enslave men and children, and abuse the women—forcing them to please them like the courtesans they're not. How my cousin—General Akaljot Bjorndottir, the Everlight, and son of Baldur—can march under the banner that commits these inhumane acts continues to baffle me. No matter. All of Zemlja will learn to fear the name 'King of Fire'."

Marilyn's eyes widened. This was Adramelech's journal. She shouldn't be flipping through it. But, maybe this held the answer as to why Skarsgard hated her so. She flipped through another few pages until she found one that looked promising.

"We had our most successful battle today. It was in the north Verzengend desert, and I gave our allies quite the show. My cousin, Akaljot, and his friends commanded the force we went against today. Eight hundred-thousand men strong against our militia of five thousand. Word is spreading of a man who wields fire like a god and fears nothing. They whisper the names 'King of Fire,' and 'Son of Sol,' with fear in their eyes. As for the Krigereans my cousin had commanded, I burned most of them alive (most of whom had already turned into ash) and butchered the ones who were severely burned just to put them out of their misery. I laughed when I turned the Everlight's men into ash. Now the world has a reason to fear Adramelech Pyro, the King of Fire."

Marilyn put a hand to her mouth in shock. He hadn't just burned men alive and butchered the survivors. "You disguise your fear of us as hate," she whispered. "You don't hate us—you fear us."

She closed Adramelech's journal, vowing to amend their relationship with the Krigereans.

—

His knuckles were bloodied and bruised, but Miles didn't care. The man in front of him had helped witches hide from them.

"Please," the man begged. "I have a wife and daughter at home. They need me!"

"You should have thought of them before you decided to start hiding witches," he said coldly.

"I'll give you the names of all the witches I know!" the man shouted. "Please, just let me go!"

He considered this for a moment. "Go on."

The man started talking, listing the names of his neighbours and friends.

"Is that it?" asked Miles.

"Yes, sir, it is. Am I free to go now?"

Miles smirked, drawing his sword. "No, you're not."

—

Miles's eyes snapped open, and he scrambled out from between the sheets as bile rose in his throat. He made it to the washroom in time for everything he ate at the ball to come back up.

He couldn't stop seeing him. He couldn't stop seeing the first sympathiser he killed.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and jumped when a hand touched his shoulder.

"It's just me," said Elain, sitting down on the tiles with him. "So you spent the night here?"

He nodded.

"How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Miles croaked. Empty is what he didn't say.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Elain," he lied. "Trust me."

—

Marilyn awoke in her bed beside Akaljot. She had taken a detour to her study to write and seal an important letter. She would have to give it to Akaljot before he left the next day.

She looked up at him, their hands intertwined as shafts of sunlight streamed in through the windows.

"This is perfect," she said. "You and me in bed together—undisturbed."

"You wish it could last forever?"

"Yes, Sadly, queenly duties call," she said, hauling herself out of bed. "A witch's trial beckons."

While she bathed, Akaljot left the room to give her privacy.

Her mind wandered. The punishment for treason, murder, and the practice of dark magic was death.

Flashes of memory from the last execution flashed through her mind. How she cut off the woman's head after the attempt to hang her had failed...

Marilyn gave her head a shake. She had a few hours to decide her sister's fate.

She stepped out of the tub, towel dried, and put her red and gold armour on. She fastened Azar around her waist and set off for the throne room.

Five flags were hung from the ceiling in the throne room when she walked in.

The Apparatori's yellow and orange flag hung above Andrei and his soldiers to her right. The Krigereans and their ice blue and silver flag were on her left. The Eirineftens were under their green and bronze flag in front of the Krigereans talking quietly amongst themselves. The Speians and their royal blue flag were across from them.

Miles stood at the bottom of the dais. The red and gold flag of Lucis hung above them. She ascended the step, turned, and sat upon her throne, fire flickering in her eyes.