Equinox (Book One of the Firebird Chronicles) WATTY AWARD HIDDEN GEM WINNER 2015

Chapter Eight: Eighteen Years Away From Home

A/N: Media is a rather badass, moody Fabian. Cute, right?

'Lumina?'

Scarlett was gently squeezing my shoulder. Her hand was warm and strong, and, subconsciously, I reached up with my hand towards it. I faltered, and pulled away.

'What you told me was true – I am Lumina,' I murmured, 'I'm me, but I'm also your Lumina. After that memory I was sent to live as a child on Earth?'

'Yes,' Scarlett said softly, and she released my shoulder, taking the seat on the couch beside me. 'Mother died casting an exchange spell so that you could start a new life, knowing that you would only leave it again to return here.'

My fists clenched; although prospects at the orphanage had been low, I couldn't help but feel as though my life had been played around with, to no avail. I was back on Angelica again, but I was even weaker than I had been when I left.

'It didn't work,' I felt tears desperately holding onto my eyelashes, dampening my face. 'I don't have any power. I'm now human. I'm just a thief— how does she expect me to be a...what's a Queen Candidate, anyway?'

'We were just as lost as you were eighteen years ago,' Fabian said, and he knelt before me. His expression was unwavering and gentle. 'There's a temple, up in the Diamond district, our capital, where all the strongest Seers work. When they See a vision of a possible new ruler, they announce it— which is incredibly stupid, in my opinion—'

Scarlett shot him an unimpressed look, and Fabian shrugged. 'Well, it really didn't help Lumina did it—?'

'—anyway,' I intervened.

'The Seers announced you as a Queen Candidate eighteen years ago, a few weeks before you left for Earth,' Scarlett filled in sensibly. 

Fabian nodded. 'But the King at the time already had a daughter...who becomes an automatic Queen Candidate the day she is born.'

'That was Freya,' Scarlett added, 'whom you know as Reia. It seems none of us really know who she is; she met you, as you saw, when you were both children, and all we knew about her was that she was terrified of her father. We grew up together assuming she lived in our District without ever knowing that the father she was so afraid of was actually the King— and our Freya was the first Queen Candidate.'

So Reia had been a princess, I thought, picturing her kindness and gentleness in my head and remembering all those times I had just thought she was far too fair to be any ordinary girl.

'So what happens when there are two candidates?' I asked, already fearing I knew the answer.

'Firstly, it is rare for the Seers to announce a King or Queen candidate,' Fabian said thoughtfully, 'So Freya was fully expecting to become Queen one day. When another candidate was announced, Reia was furious because there were now two claims to the throne, and one must win claim over the other.'

'How?'

'By force, by agreement— there have been many ways over the past,' Scarlett said. 'But the King was taking no chances. They wanted this Candidate found— and killed— immediately.'

'So imagine Freya's face when it turned out to be her best friend,' Fabian sighed.

I clapped my hands together.

'Is that how we ended up on Earth together? She couldn't kill me, right?'

Fabian and Scarlett exchanged a look; I narrowed my eyes.

'What aren't you telling me?' I demanded.

Fabian hesitated, looking hopefully at Scarlett, who was very interested in her hands as she spoke.