Princess of Flames

Chapter 32

      Every time that someone left her room she felt guilty. She made a fool of herself every time. At least things really couldn't get much worse from here. At least that's what she thought until two guards and Sera walked into her room. Sera hauled her out of bed with a snarl from Taylor. "We're here. Now don't try anything Princess, or you'll regret it."Sera hissed in her ear as she clamped iron shackles around her wrists that were held in front of her. At least she was smarter this time. As Sera led her out of the cramped room and on trained instinct Taylor was looking at the number of guards, windows, exits, and possible escape measures. She was led through the hall onto the deck of the ship where there was the gangplank that led onto the dock of the port. Twenty guards were waiting on the cobblestone road. Taylor resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Iron shackles weren't enough to fully contain magic but subdue it. She was shoved forward. Taylor had decided in her room that she was going to give the people a show to remind them of who they were dealing with. She whirled ready to catch Sera on-off footing from shoving her and shot white-hot flames at her. But was caught off guard by water drowning her flames and wrapping around her. It created a bubble that her flame with it subdued could do nothing. She looked past Sera's blurry shape to see azure eyes as blue as the water around her staring back at her. But it wasn't the clear, amusement and laughing in his eyes. His eyes were glazed, unfeeling, cold, distant. She almost fell to her knees seeing that. She hardly recognized Brydan as he looked at her. She had shut him out, and he maybe he had given up on her. After everything—she deserved it. She didn't deserve him. She lowered her hands and turned away from him. The bubble of water vanished and a single tear ran down her cheek and she wiped it away before anyone could see. 

         Taylor was led through the city of Ravenna. The capital of Karatall said the signs and banners. And she was led through the castle after entering the gates into the courtyard, she wasn't thrown straight to the dungeons but was led to the throne room. A female sat on a beautifully carved golden throne. She had a golden crown upon her brown with a single violet stone in its center. The stone seemed to radiate some sort of power she couldn't place. She had tan skin, straight black hair, and faint violet eyes that had a damper over them as if it was a thin cloud to dim the brightness and beauty in them. She was fae, but she couldn't detect the kind of magic she had. She gave Taylor a small smile. "Hello, Taylor Galathynius. It's nice to finally meet you. I am Queen Cenna of Karatall." She flicked a hand toward Brydan and Sera. They both kneeled, then Sera stood. "Majesty, I found out something very interesting about the princess." Taylor stiffened. Was she talking about her and Brydan, or something regarding Terrasen? Cenna motioned for her to continue. "The wonderful Princess of Terrasen's mate is in this very room." Everyone looked to Brydan. Sera came to Taylor and whispered, "I told you that you would regret that." Taylor's world stopped. She couldn't think, the only she saw was Brydan look to her with pure shock. Cenna whipped her head to back to Brydan. "Is this true?" Taylor answered for him, "Yes." And with that, her magic exploded towards their queen.

        Her fire was stopped by a violet shield the same color as the gem in Cenna's crown. She melted the irons on her wrists and slammed her magic against that shield but it didn't give an inch. She sucked her magic back into herself and turned to Sera, whose face had gone bone white. "I will kill you," she snarled. If she couldn't kill their queen, she would kill her. How Sera had figured it out, she had no idea. Guards filled into the room all surrounding Taylor and Sera. She blasted outward with her magic which was met by a black shield. The guards were too scared to get any closer, if they did they turned to ash. As Taylor hit again and again, Sera's shield started flickering in and out of place. One more blow and that shield would be gone. And she was about to make that shot when someone tackled her to the ground. They flipped over  a couple times and she saw who had tackled her. Brydan. He landed on top pinning her to the ground. She struggled against him trying to find a way out of the hold. "Taylor. Please, just listen." Hearing his voice she stopped struggling. "Don't kill her, please, just don't. She is everything I have left. She said something she shouldn't have in front of everyone. But she was only following orders. If you kill her it only makes things worse for you."  Taylor relaxed, giving up on getting out from under him. The guards came and yanked Brydan and her apart. "Take her away now," Cenna told the guards. "And take him too," she said pointing to Brydan. She hadn't slowly gone into her power so she was exaughsted. Sera looked like she was going to object but the queen gave her a sharp look. And Taylor couldn't do a thing as she and Brydan were dragged away.