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

Thirteen

"What?" Matias asked her dubiously. "You have to be joking."

Cal shook her head. "I'm not."

Matias's back was an angry red. Five long scratches ran from his right shoulder to the left side of his waist. Along the scratches, blood beaded up and scabbed over.

"We have to show the others that you have been scratched," she said.

She watched his shoulders slump and his head bow as he sighed. "Fine," he relented.

Cal led Matias out and they entered the sitting room. Lance and Luna were cuddling on a red divan. Akaljot and Maria were seated on a sofa. Lucas sat on the floor, his ankles crossed, Jake's head in his lap. Lucas looked up from the chocolate lab, his eyes drifting to Matias, and his cheeks flushed.

Maria took notice of them. "Why does Matias not have a tunic on?"

Cal looked back at him. "You have to show them."

Matias stepped out from behind her and turned his back to them. Luna audibly gasped. Maria and Akaljot blanched. Lucas swore and Lance pursed his lips.

"You were scratched," Luna said slowly.

"Do you feel alright?" asked Akaljot.

Cal watched Matias carefully as he turned to face the rest of them.

"I feel fine," he said.

Akaljot got to his feet. "We need to bandage you up. Let's go."

Cal followed them back to the bathing room.

Akaljot pointed at one of the cabinets. "Grab the bandages. I got the isopropyl alcohol."

Cal did as her father asked and grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

"Sit down," she heard her father instruct Matias.

She handed the bottle to him and watched her father sit down behind Matias and clean his scratches.

"For someone who isn't a lakare, you sure know what you're doing," she said.

Akaljot's eyes flicked to hers and then back to Matias's back. He smiled sadly. "My best friend and on-and-off lover, Olek Niegeson, was a medic. I'm out time together, I managed to pick up a few things from him."

Olek Niegeson. Fannar's eldest son.

"What happened to him?" asked Matias.

Akaljot pursed his lips and inhaled deeply. "I don't know. He disappeared nineteen years ago after his brother Volodomyr's death." He grabbed the bandages and began to bandage Matias's back. "You two have a lot of decisions to make if you're going to get married. You need to discuss your House name, who your witnesses will be—it's a lot of work."

Cal and Matias looked at each other.

"I think that we should have a small wedding," said Matias. "It will stay away from Melania's ears and we can always have a larger state wedding after we defeat her."

She nodded. "I agree. A small wedding now, a larger one later. I also just want our close friends there. Lance, Lucas, Luna—"

"Not Luna," Akaljot said sharply.

Cal raised a brow. "Why not?"

"I do not trust her. Not in the slightest. She is hiding a lot from us. One thing I know for sure is that she is not loyal to who she says she is."

—

Cal tossed and turned, her father's words playing over and over in her mind.

"I think you have the same fear I did several centuries ago.

"She is not loyal to who she says she is."

She looked at the soundly sleeping Matias. They had discussed the House name they would take on and all of the witnesses that would attend.

The cold floor chilled her feet and Cal grabbed a silk robe. She passed out into the hallway and stopped in front of Akaljot's bedroom door. Candle light flickered under the door. Cal gently knocked.

"Enter," her father whisper-yelled.

Cal cracked the door open. Akaljot set his book down on the night table. "Dad," she whispered.

"What is wrong?" he asked softly.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and kept her focus on his face—not the flickering candle flame. "Can I talk to you about something? Alone?"

"Of course."

He got out of bed and led her to the darkened sitting room. He lit a candle and set it down on the table. She sat down in the sofa next to her father.

"Is everything okay?"

He eyes were trained on the flame. Her lip wobbled and tears pricked her eyes. Akaljot followed her gaze. He leaned over and blew it out, plunging them into moonlit darkness.

"You're right," Cal said after a few minutes of silence. "I am scared of my fire. I'm scared that it will burn me again. Just like it did when—" Her voice cracked and she trailed off.

"Just like it did when you were trapped in the iron," he finished.

Cal nodded, the tears finally spilling over. "I'm sorry, Dad."

Akaljot embraced her. "It's okay, Cal. It's okay. You are safe now. So long as I live, you will never be trapped in a suit of iron again."

Somewhere far and deep inside of Cal, an ember began to glow.