Page 42 of Prince of Blaze and Embers
I put on my pants and shirt and followed him to the wall. Touching his rough shell, we walked through it together and out into the forest veiled in sparse moonlight. Thunder clapped far in the distance.
We walked deep into the forest, leaving the safety of the house behind. My heart raced as my gaze darted around the darkness, scanning for another hunter waiting for me to show myself and give them the chance to strike. But there was nothing, and the insects continued to chirp and buzz everywhere. We went sodeep into the forest that the canopy darkened the ground, making each step over roots and fallen trees more precise.
“Let me help.” Cornelius’ shell shimmered with a soft amber light between the plates. I stepped back as the light caught the rest of the shell, pouring a warm glow from it. My jaw slacked.
“You really are full of surprises…” I muttered, waving my hand over the golden rays that poured from his body.
“This is good.” He turned to face me, and I stood with my shoulders squared to him. “Now, step into the creek.”
I was so fascinated by the magical light that glowed from his shell that I didn’t notice the creek that flowed right behind me. I slipped off my shoes, stepped back, and walked into the cool water that rose above the scabs on my ankles.
My eyes closed, and I went into a safe place inside myself. The water cooled the forever-lasting pain from the shackles that bound me. The moan left my lips as a summer wind washed through the Faewood, causing my hair to blow from my chest to my back.
“What do you feel?” he asked, calmly yet with that hint of urgency still there.
“Calm.”
“Good. Now, search for the Gilded Radiance. Feel for the Rune Spirit that lives in you. It’s there. Somewhere. It’s deep down, but the more you practice feeling it, the stronger it will become. Like a bud growing into a vibrant, lush red rose. It should feel like it’s a part of you, yet separate. Like coming home to a sister you never knew you had, but feel that deep connection instantly.”
“A sister?” My stomach sank at the thought of never having a family. Never knowing my mother, not having a face to remember. Never meeting my father, never having him catch me when I fell, or even wrapping his arms around me to make me feel safe in this wretched world. “A sister? I would welcome one of those.”
“Name her, and when you feel her, get to know her. Tend toher feelings and emotions, because she will help you grow more powerful than you can imagine…”
And as if I were sifting through dirt, searching for that one diamond that would make me wealthy and change my life, as soon as I searched myself for what he described, it appeared like a flawless diamond that sparkled like every star in the sky combined.
“There…” I uttered, all of my focus shifted onto that spot deep within, somewhere between my belly button and my sternum. It was like a golden sunflower blossoming inside me, warming my insides with its exquisite, blissful light. “There she is… I feel her.”
“What’s her name?”
“Eden,” the name came without a single thought. “Her name’s Eden.”
“Good job, Ash. Excellent…”
CHAPTER 19
“Speak to it. Breathe with it. Feel that connection like it’s the sea's waves washing over you, purifying your spirit, and replenishing what was taken from you.”
Cornelius’ ancient, powerful voice reverberated between my ears as my eyelids were shut tight and I searched deep inside, feeling Eden like a ghost that was never there, but yet, always as well. She slumbered like a magnificent dragon waiting patiently to be awakened.
Eden. She feels as powerful and magical as a waterfall in the middle of an ancient forest. My brain tingles like she’s trying to speak to me. She’s like a long lost friend I never knew, but has walked beside me my whole life.
Holding my hands out wide, the feeling of the Gilded Radiance flowed through me like a second blood. My feet planted into the stream, the fresh forest air streaming in and out of my nostrils, I felt like a new woman—one birthed from the womb the moment my shackles popped off back in Bramblebash—and I knew and dreamed I’d never go back to the life I grew up in.
My soul was breaking the chains. My dreams were beginning to come true, and the magic inside me beckoned to be set free.
“Open your eyes, child.”
I opened my eyes to Cornelius’ command, and standing before me, twenty paces out, was the hulking ogre with a scowl as mean as sin, and the small, ruthless man Rone perched on his back.
I didn’t flinch, my heart didn’t race, and I didn’t have the feeling to turn and run. It was another of the magical tortoise’s illusions, but it was enough to remind me of what being hunted felt like and reminded me of the imminent confrontation with the Blaze Queen.
“He’s here to take you away.” Cornelius was directly next to me, his long neck guiding his head to my hip. “He’s here to kill Bella and to take you back in chains to the queen.”
My teeth gritted with a clenched jaw. The scabs on my ankles tingled in the cool water, reminding me of so, so many years of no semblance of self or freedom. The scars on my back tightened as I moved my hands before me, aiming them directly at the giant ogre and his rider. Their faces twisted in disgust and rage. The veins in the ogre’s thick muscles bulged, and Rone flicked the menacing whip, causing the scars on my back to shudder in remembrance.
“If you want to keep what is yours, then you have to fight!” Cornelius’ words were as commanding as I’d ever heard them. He may have been old, but there was a tempered spirit in there. Wise as he was and humble, his words caused the hatred in me to grow like an incoming storm, causing the calm sea to stir into massive, crashing waves.
Staring at Rone, glaring into his beady, soulless eyes, a light grew from my chest, flowing into my shoulders and down my arms to my fingertips. It was as if gorgeous sunlight emanated from my body, flowing down to my hands.
