As a new queen rises to power, the kings of Caeleste grow unrest. The Inlustris in their sights, they send an assassin to Antonella Feulune's palace, and the war is declared.
Inexperienced and filled with grief, Antonella sends off her fiancé on a t...
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"You can't fight the light, King Rasmus."
He snarled into the brume and raised his arms high as he opened his palms. The wind gathered around him, creating a cyclone of maps, papers, and glass shards. Lights flickered in and out as the chandelier above him swung with a brutish force, I thought it would drop on the unsuspecting king and end him once and for all. Alas, all he did was garner more control over his element.
I feared a turn in my original plan.
Black tendrils glowed under his skin. They snaked and slithered all over his body, traveling up towards his neck and face. I scrunched up my nose as his eyes blacked out. My stomach squirmed as King Rasmus grinned as if he knew he had the upper hand.
The wind intensified around him, and soon he had enough strength to push himself off the wall. The arrow Kora had shot was thrown out and the hologram wobbled as he took control of the winds. He snarled in my direction just as the hologram started going in circles. His brume flew in his wind cyclone, making me dizzy as I tried to figure out what he was doing through the hologram.
The same black tendrils overpowered his body and leapt out from under his skin. They grasped the brume and, a second later, the hologram cut off.
"What just happened?" Marisole asked. Her voice sounded like a desperate whimper. If I spoke, I feared I'd sound the same.
Instead, I summoned a ball of fire. From afar, my army regained more strength, stabbing and slashing the enemy as if they've been waiting all of their lives to do just that.
I thought back to King Rasmus and his element. Something about it didn't feel right. If his Naturae was wind, then it shouldn't have taken a black hue. Moreover, wind was never tangible, so those tendrils wouldn't have been able to grasp the brume like they did had it been a part of his Naturae. My fire faltered as I thought about the possibilities.
"Your Majesty, where is he?" Jax stared at me as if I had purposefully kicked his face. I swallowed and took a few steps back. I willed my fire to consume most of my body.
This war was far from over.
"You poor child."
The air turned thick as I willed myself to face the voice. The open space around us darkened with his presence. The only bit of color came from my fire. Everything else was gloomy, as if it came from a fresh nightmare: gray skies, dusted plains, smoke, and rubble. In the center of it all was King Rasmus.
"You don't even know what you're doing," he snarled.
King Rasmus stalked towards me. His wind threatened to extinguish my flame, but I held my ground and willed more to grow. The black tendrils around him tried to nick me, but my fire made it retreat.
I threw a line of fire at him, hoping to burn him. Unfortunately, his wind was much more potent and threw my fire to the side. I gulped as a few trees began to burn blue.
