Soul of Ice

Chapter Thirty-Four

"The plan was a success, Riviera!" Rousel announced to the ballroom, clearly jubilant. "Oh hey, nice! I can't believe you got the palace guards under your control."

Astra grimaced. The Pelosian guards surrounding the wraiths that entered the room no longer had their green band around their biceps.

"I told you I always have a way." Riviera, no, she was Carina now, smirked. "Are all the guards outside under control?"

Rousel gave an affirmative, while, next to him, Jesper gave a thumbs up. "Oh, look, it's Calayne. What's she doing tied up and gagged?" Rousel bounded over to Astra, concerned. He started pulling the gag out of her mouth.

"Oh, don't bother with her," Riviera said. She gave a flippant wave of her hand at Astra. "The girl betrayed us, tried to sneak the princes out, not that that was ever a surprise. I did say that she couldn't be trusted."

Astra couldn't stand the expression change that overcame Rousel's face. Confusion. A bit of anger. He stopped pulling the gag out of her mouth. "Calayne?" he asked in disbelief.

She tried and failed to spit the gag out of her mouth.

"We need to start cleaning up the mess around here and distribute jobs," Carina pointed out, effectively distracting Rousel. She looked toward the group of wraiths. "Aaro," she said, "would you mind separating the children from the adults? I need as many able bodied wraiths helping to consolidate our freedom here without the children interfering."

Astra's eyes widened as she realized immediately what Carina was going to do—it was something she would have done if she were in Carina's position. She tried protesting, but the gag blocked most of her sound, so she resorted to thumping her bound legs against the ground, but she went ignored.

"Of course," Aaro agreed amicably, utterly unconcerned by what was going to happen next.

Astra could only watch as he and the other soldiers started separating the wraiths until there was a clear circle of kids. From here, Astra could see Timothy with his wide eyes standing near the front, taking in the lights around the room and the dark sky outside, fascinated.

"Excellent." Carina pointed at the children. "Seize them."

The Pelosian soldiers moved immediately.

"What?" Rousel demanded. He hadn't moved from where he stood in front of Astra.

Nearby, Jesper neatly dodged a guard and made his way to stand just outside the circle of children with his hands curled into fists before he froze. Several soldiers already had their swords pointed at the children, aimed to wound, or kill. A few of the older children who could understand what was happening started crying and screaming.

Carina turned to the circle of adult wraiths and smiled lazily. "I would hate to shed the blood of your children, but I will if I have to. They're my insurance after all."

"Riviera..." Rousel said, lost.

"It's Carina," she corrected sharply, whirling around to face Rousal again. "Princess Carina, if you want to be respectable." She paused, then laughed. "Queen Carina, actually. I suppose Auxerre is mine now."

"The princess of Aeris!" Rousel's eyes widened in realization. "You were a mole!" He advanced forward, a fireball materializing in his hand. Behind him, Jesper dodged the Pelosians' blades to pull him back and slammed his hand over the fireball swirling in his brother's hand. Only smoke erupted from the brothers' clasped hands. "How dare you jeopardize everything we've worked for!"  

Behind him, Jesper tried in vain to pull Rousel back, but he couldn't be stopped. Rousel continued, "You don't even realize what you're doing, do you?" Astra watched in horror as Rousel started glowing until a thin layer of fire covered his entire body. "You're just perpetuating the subjugation of wraiths!"

"You better listen to your brother, Rousel, lest I do something I regret," Carina warned, and a cold draft blew through the room, sending the flames on Rousel's body wild. "He might be a mute, but at least he was always smarter than you."

Rousel took a step forward, the fire on his body starting to turn blue with heat, and Astra pushed against her brother's back, trying to get farther away from it. Next to Rousel, Jesper was still trying to pull him back, his face pinched with effort. And slowly, slowly, Astra saw the flames from Rousel's body traveling along the arm that was connect to Jesper's, until it was Jesper alight and surrounded by flames. A few more seconds, and the flames that were on Jesper's body simply disintegrated into ash and smoke.

Carina turned away, dismissing the brothers. "Thank you, Aaro, by the way," she called. "Your help has been most appreciated."

Rousel and Jesper stared down the male ice wraith. "You," Rousel growled, finding someone less dangerous to mess with.

Jesper didn't speak, but he unsheathed his sword and wiped the blade of it against his pant leg.

"I had no choice," Aaro defended himself as he backed up.

"Everyone has a choice," Rousel shot back, advancing once again, although again, Jesper pulled him back.

"Tie the fire wraith brothers up. Keep a few of the children in here, and toss the rest in one of the cells in the dungeon," Carina interrupted, flicking a hand at the gathered group. She turned to the adult wraiths. "For every one of you that tries something, one child dies." She smoothed a wrinkle in her dress before finishing off her wine, tossing the glass to the side. It arced through the air and shattered near Astra's legs, and she flinched, feeling the tiny shards dig into her skin.

"Now," Carina said, "it's simple. Swear to me your allegiance, and your undying loyalty, and the children will be safe and cared for. Anwealda and I plan to build an army of wraiths, and we expect that you'll fulfill your duties to us faithfully, unless you want to see the children's heads roll."

"Who?" Rousel asked even as a Pelosian soldier grabbed his wrists and pulled them back to tie them together. It was the same question that Astra wanted to voice herself. Next to Rousel, Jesper was unarmed and pushed down to his knees.

"Anwealda Jackson, the leader of Pelosia, of course," Carina answered, laughing. "Where do you think I got all these soldiers? Certainly not from Aeris."

If the gag hadn't been stretching her mouth already, Astra would have gaped. Not Tybalt from the spirit realm memories, but it couldn't be a coincidence that the leader of Pelosia happened to share the same last name as a Solasian traitor, even if said traitor must have died millennia ago.

Carina waved her hand at the soldiers surrounding the adult wraiths. "Secure their oaths, slaughter the children you leave in here if that'll teach them a lesson, but keep them under guard." She turned to call out another group of soldiers, "I want the Auxerran royalty secured in one of the rooms down the hall. Don't rough them up too much; I'll need them later. Lock the ball attendees that are still alive in a cell. I also need a team to go through the castle, the grounds, make sure all stragglers not already apprehended are accounted for. Don't bother with those on the verge of dying. Oh, kill the remaining Auxerran royal guards, I have no use for them."

Astra looked away as the Pelosian soldiers moved forward to slaughter the surviving Auxerran guards that had surrendered. The sound of angry curses from the guards and loud sobbing from the remaining partygoers resounded through the huge ballroom.

Carina turned to eye Astra. "And bring Calayne and the Solasian prince to the main conference room. I think we're due for a private interrogation."