Behind the Lace and the Lies

2 - Broken Vows

We crossed the courtyard and entered the castle's ballroom. I could barely comprehend the towering ceiling, marble floors, and gold-touched furniture. The crowd was bunched on one half of the room, the other side cleared by a patrol of guards. I followed the path Atticus carved through the crowd.

An empty platform stood on the opposite side of the room, framed by elegant curtains of imported satin and an intricate carved stone backdrop.

I saw him before I saw her.

Lord Kieran walked alongside her from a doorway on the far end of the room. His body shielded her from the crowd; his dark cape billowed behind him. He had truly embraced his fall from grace, but I already knew that. The only fallen Alkira. At the sight of him, my heart sped up, its erratic beating like that of caged bird already aware of its doom. Beads of sweat prickled against my skin and my scar ached. I had told myself I was going to be objective, that I could put aside my fears for the sake of revenge.

But the memories. The dark field illuminated by my light. The pounded of my heart. The clash of Insurran soldiers against my own. Then pain and blood and finally darkness, for I had no more magic to make light.

I wanted to hide, to duck behind Atticus and pretend this was all a dream. But my feet were rooted in the ground, my body paralyzed, hands curled into tight fists. It didn't matter, he wouldn't recognize me. Regardless, I was here for a reason, to reclaim what had been lost, what had been stolen.

Then, at last, I saw her.

Dark hair streaming down her back, ceremonial robes of red and orange against smokey gray. Piercing eyes that contained within them the image of a thousand flames. She was the one who was going to save us all. The last phoenix, and last member of the seven gifteds who would save us when the four worlds collided.

She stood at on the alter, hands clenched together and head slightly bowed. Lord Kieran stood beside her. He begin to speak, voice echoing through the silence of the room, "the last of her kind, the last of the phoenixes, she will guide us from the curses of the hell-world to the safety of our own. I present to you, Althea. Let there be the flames of her eternal ancestors."

Despite hearing him speak, despite the paralyzing fear, I couldn't think of anything but her. Althea. With a sweep of Kieran's hands, darkness fell across the room.

This was a moment that would be carved into the soul of each person in that room.

Althea raised her head and spread her palms. The red came first, spreading across the open space like first drops of spilled blood. It blossomed into crimson, then orange, and with the strength of the sun itself, golden fire unfolded, racing across the space. Flames danced in the air.

Warm.

Light.

Energy.

Salvation.

And with that, the fire vanished and the light returned. A smile lingered on my face. The crowd broke into applause, uttering exclamations of their joy, surprise, and relief.

Faint beads of sweat dotted Althea's hairline, but she smiled softly as she stepped off the stage – a polite smile that reminded me of my own. She exited the room, trailed by several guards as the rest remained around the perimeter of the room, keeping the audience trapped inside. Kieran began to speak, but his words bounced around, failing to capture my attention.

She was real, the last phoenix was real. Doubt wormed its way into my mind, now that she was actually real, my plan was questionable. But I had to press forward. I had no other choice, I couldn't live in a world without my magic.

Atticus turned to say something, but I had already slipped into the depths of the crowd, hidden by a shifting mass of people. I didn't care, he didn't matter anymore. Everything would be over soon, one way or another. I ducked to avoid a stray elbow and winced as someone stepped on my foot, but at last, I had worked my way to other side of the room, just as the guards stepped back, allowing the crowd to return outside.

But the courtyard was empty, not a single person in sight. Where is Althea? I was not alone in my search, the crowd surged outside, clearly expecting to find her. I stepped aside, my mind furiously spinning. She went outside, but she could have looped back inside through the other side door, that was the obvious choice. For that reason, I didn't trust it. I remembered the beads of sweat that spotted her forehead, she had to be warm from summoning the fire, and so she wouldn't return to the warmth of inside, but she wasn't in the courtyard. That left the garden or the orchards.

I hesitated. A half chance either way, but choose wrong and I will never reclaim my magic. I stepped towards the orchards then paused. The garden. I will go to the garden.

I pivoted and hurried off to the garden, head ducked low. The chatter of the party returned, murmurs about Althea's light show partnered with the clink of glasses. My hand trembled faintly, yet I lacked the energy to control it.

Soon, the warm yellow glow of incana bulbs was only a glimmer in the background. The light of the moons was dim, half-full Azura settled on the distant horizon and some other little moon hung high overhead. The crunch of gravel was replaced by the gentle squish of soft dirt and leaf mulch.

The garden stood alone, in between one side of the castle and surrounded by the orchard on the others. At the sight of the open gate, my heart soared, only to sink as I spotted no guards. They won't leave her alone, would they? My legs felt heavy, dragging along the ground as I stepped into the garden.

Water gurgled somewhere. Nightinjays fluttered across the sky, their lullabies hovering in the open air. Flanked on all sides by a wide variety of plants and flowers, I followed the garden's path.

A qarant jumped out of a bush, its furry antenna twitching as it ran across the path. I flinched, then smiled. It was just a qarant.

I turned the corner and saw her.