Page 3 of Of Blooming Embers
My gaze roamed upward, searching for pockets of sunlight pushing through the crown. I ground the base of my thumb into my belt satchel. Two glass vials squeaked against each other between the leather.
I had too many resurfaced recollections to sift through since taking the embered Mirage Orchid elixir several days past. Murky memories of Gavrel and me embracing two springs ago weaved with those of Kaden’s arms around me during the last Dormancy.
My best friend’s head between my thighs under the Elysium Tree in Surrelia.
His teeth nipping at my neck.
Me straddling Gavrel under a clear, starry night in the woods behind my cottage. Igniting as I rubbed against him while he sucked and bit at my breasts.
Me whispering,finally.
A rush of heat sped over my skin and pooled within my very core. Biting the inside of my cheek, I clenched my thighs.
Shame twisted in my gut. The image of Kaden, traces of anguish marring his usual smirk, stomped through the lust of my first intimacy with his brother.
These were the moments when I wished Derya hadn’t made the potion. That I’d remained oblivious to all the erased experiences in which the Dormancy and Melina had swept into the crevices of my mind. Others, I clutched tightly within my chest, the knowledge of them burning through every cell and pushing me onward.
My father, Gideon, one of the Elders’ Somneia spies, dooming Gavrel and Kaden’s mother, Hestia, to death by culling.
Melina’s abuse and torment of countless Midst Fall citizens, including two of her fellow Elders.
She possessed a warped and wanton lust for dominance at any cost. She had specifically erased my memories of my ember’s origins, and that was … something. It pointed to her insecurities. Her fears.
Within every shadowy corner of my mind, ashes of drifting recollections settled. Along the edges, a few things were clear, and the reflections of reclaimed fragments cast light over them.
Elder Harrow was wary of my gifts, just like she’d been of my mother’s. Perhaps she suspected that Mama and I were Scions, primed to undergo Ascension and take her spot.
Damn Melina to the Nether Void. I didn’t want her place as an Elder, and I suspected Mama hadn’t either. Nonetheless, we paid Melina’s price.
I squeezed my eyes tightly, trapping the thought of my mother—and the hope that she was still alive—behind the lids.
“We’re close,” Gavrel announced, and my attention snapped to him. Melina was obsessed with Gavrel. Covetous and jealous enough to erase my memories of our fleeting relationship.
A heavy sigh fell from me, and I tucked an errant curl behind my ear, mollified that the rest of it remained in a messy plait.
I studied the strong, angular line of his profile as he reached into the pocket of his black trousers, removing a wrinkled scroll. Gavrel had sent missives to Rhaegar and Xeni by harbinger starlings from the village where we had acquired our mounts.
I grimaced, thinking of the small gray spotted birds. They were temperamental beasties, but they took their job of delivering messages across the realm seriously. You just might get pecked for their efforts, though.
Turns ago, while stationed in Pneumali City, Gavrel had sent his brother a scroll by harbinger. Kaden had warily untied the message from the bird’s leg, and the scrappy thing stabbed him in the thumb with its tiny yellow beak before puffing its feathers and flying off.Kaden acted as if he had been impaled. My mouth curled at the memory.
With a breathy, amused exhale, I straightened in my seat and refocused on Gavrel.
We’d find Kaden. There was no other outcome I’d accept. I only hoped Gavrel’s dream—what he believed to be a premonition—was correct, and that we’d find Kaden safe in the Perilous Bogs.
Gavrel rolled the fawn-colored paper, nodding as he tucked it away. I followed his line of sight toward a tall boulder nestled between a pair of thick trees.
Only Xeni had replied, her message relaying that she would meet us at this location via a hidden portal from Haadra, her home region.
A couple of days ago, Gavrel had revealed that his Draumr team and the Akridais knew the locations of several secret portals throughout the realm, which could only be accessed and activated by those with ember. Throughout the turns, these portals had helped them traverse the expanse of Midst Fall and swiftly complete various missions.
The star-shaped scar on my neck tingled with anticipation as we dismounted and secured the horses. Although it had been part of me my entire life, its constant buzz served as a reminder of both my failings and my potential as a Druik. If a shade hadn’t attacked me in the Stygian Murk last autumn, leaving the hidden talisman undisturbed, would my path have been different? Or would my gifts have eventually overpowered the rune’s spell?
Realizing such thoughts were futile, I breathed out steadily through pursed lips, allowing my ember to flow in rippling waves under my skin.
Dimly glowing auras flared to life as we made our way to the boulder. Grayish greens flickered about the grymwoods as they clung to the last vestiges of their existence. Shades of brown and amber twinkled over various living surfaces, and a streak of smoky black trailed after a plump raven as it flew over our heads and into the distance ahead.
The intricate, ten-point star on Gavrel’s right hand pulsed intoexistence, a white glimmer lurking under the delicate, intersecting lines.
