Her Cinder Throne (Completed)

Chapter 97

With eyes screwed shut, Cole yanked backward on the hilt, feeling his hand move with hers. It slid free with a gritty friction, like pulling it through wet sand, and then she stumbled backward.

When she opened her eyes, Bastian stood before her, as if untouched, for a split second. Then, like a nightmare choir, the cave monsters shrieked in terrifying unison. They writhed on the ground, clawing at their huge milky eyes, filling the cavern with the sound of metal against metal. Cole slammed her hands over her ears, grimacing at the pain of the sound, but her eyes stayed on Bastian. He sagged and the black tendrils of mist that had encased him began to slough away, falling away like mud in the rain. His face, his real face with his tender eyes and thick eyebrows, slowly swam back into vision. It contorted in pain, and he dropped to the floor, his head smacking hard against the rocks.

Cole raced to his side, but didn't get to her knees by his side. Thijs was still alive, and in control of Cursed and humans alike, and she couldn't risk completely giving up her guard. She instead stood just above Bastian, looking down as he slowly regained all his color and the shadows melted away. He now lay gasping for air in tight and sharp bursts, and the pink of his cheeks had been moved to his chest, where blood soaked through his black shirt.

"Thank you," he choked out, looking up at her with the tender brown eyes she remembered seeing so fleetingly in moments when he thought no one was looking. A tear filled one corner of his eye, falling gracefully down his cheek.

"I'll get you help," she said, almost as a promise. "I don't want you to die."

Panic lit up his face and he almost tried to sit up. "No! Please! Make sure I die here! Don't let my father turn me back!" he spluttered, gasping around the words. "Please, Cole, finish me off. I long for the place where he can never control me again."

Cole shook her head sharply, anger returning to fill her blood with boiling purpose. The flames she let go out as Bastian approached her, she rekindled and let burn as bright and orange as the sun. Her fingers let go on the ax, and it clattered to the ground. The knife, still dripping Bastian's blood on the floor, shifted to her strong hand.

"No, I'm not going to kill you," she almost whispered. "Because you're not going to be the one to leave to escape him. He'll be the one moving on to death."

She spun on her heel, flames bursting around her, licking up toward the ceiling and creating a vortex of wind that spun her hair wildly around her face. Every ounce of hatred toward this king she poured into her magic, letting it burn hot and warp the air in front of her. Thijs stumbled backward, for once not looking smug and assured. His eyes widened, scanning toward the cave monsters that Bastian once had controlled. But they were lumps of shadow now, useless. There was no one to help him, no one who could do his dirty work any longer.

As she neared him, she focused her flames down her arm and into the dagger that he had used to betray his son. She filled not only her anger, but Bastian's into it, until it glowed white hot, like a blade freshly taken from the forging fires.

Thijs tried to back away, but his back hit the wall of the cavern. He still tried to get away from her, though, his boots scraping against the ground, and his eyes filling with fear as she stepped right up to him. Her free hand snaked out, grabbing his throat like he had grabbed Bastian's. His beard was stiff and irritating under her palm, and she couldn't fit her whole hand around his throat. But she pressed down hard, digging her fingers up under his chin, and she saw the pain cross his features.

"You thought you'd gain the whole world," she said, bringing up her hand with the dagger in it. "But now you'll lose them all."

The dagger danced forward, sliding cleanly in between the king's ribs and landing in his heart. He gasped gently, jerking in her grip, and she let him go. He slumped down and she stepped away, watching as the hilt continued to glow even inside of him, and the flames that licked across his tunic from its hilt. A second later, the flames began to spread inside of him, burning him from the inside out. They came from inside his mouth, licking out into the air like wicked words. He struggled to escape them, patting at his chest and face, but it was far too late. The flames burst from his ears and eyes and every corner of him, flashing into raging life until where the king had stood was now a fireball too bright to look at.

It lasted a few seconds, and then suddenly died, leaving the cavern looking darker than before. When Cole looked back, there was nothing but cinders left, dancing in the breeze.