Page 46 of A Blaze of Fire
I pulled away slowly and looked up at him, my arms still wrapped around his mid-section. “Then tell me, Ansel – what’s going on?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
I sighed. “Since I returned from my trip with Alec and the others, everyone stares at me more than they used to. They’re talking about me and things I’m supposedly able to do that I’m not aware of. Alec keeps brushing it off with pretty words, but I know it’s not the whole truth.”
Ansel looked uncomfortable. “Violet …”
“Ansel, you’ve always been honest with me, even when the truth was hard to accept. So please don’t lie to me.”
He gave a strained smile. “You know I can’t lie.”
“But you can bend the truth,” I countered, raising one eyebrow. “You taught me that. You also taught me to never trust a fae. And right now, it feels like I can’t trust anyone.”
Ansel stared deep into my eyes as if searching for something. Seeming to find what he was looking for, he nodded and took my hand, leading me to the foot of his four-poster bed. We sat on the edge facing each other and he took a deep breath.
“Alec told me you have no memory of the wraith attack,” he began gently. “Is that true?”
I nodded.
“Well, something happened during the attack.”
My eyes widened. “What happened? Everyone seems fine!”
“Yes, everyone is safe … because of you.”
I furrowed my brows. “I’m not following.”
“You burned those wraiths to a crisp using your fire elemental magic,” Ansel revealed.
“Did you hear that from Alec?” I asked, suspicious.
“Not just Alec,” he said. “The other Unseelie who witnessed it have been saying it as well. But Vi, the surprising part is not that you can use fire. That was expected. The part that has everyone in such an uproar is the fact that you breathed fire out of your mouth.”
I froze in place and tried to process what Ansel just said. I had no memory of any this. I tried really hard to find the missing pieces in my memory, but they wouldn’t come.
“So?” I shrugged. “I breathed fire. What’s the big deal?”
Ansel twisted his mouth to the side and hesitated before continuing, as if this was the part he didn’t want to tell. “You have to understand, Vi, fire elemental users are different from other elemental users. They practically have their own religion. Their history is deeply rooted in legends that date back to a time before the world was created.”
“What does that have to do with me?” I asked carefully, a sinking feeling starting to churn in my gut.
“Lord Ansel,” Rook tried to stop him, but Ansel waved him off.
“It’s okay, she has a right to know.” Ansel turned back to me. “A long time ago … before me, before my parents, before the King and Queen, dragons roamed the fae realm.”
My eyebrows rose. “Realdragons?”
Ansel nodded. “Real dragons. According to legend, they were a sight to behold and were treasured by the fire elementals. Having dragons on their side made them strong, almost unstoppable. To the other elementals, it was a bad thing. No one faction should be stronger than the other. So the other elementals banded together to get rid of the dragons.”
“That’s horrible!” I said, aghast.
Ansel nodded. “They succeeded in destroying them … all except for one. One dragon refused to die by the hands of the other elementals. It went into hiding for its survival.”
“Wait,” I interrupted. “Did the fire elementals take this lying down? Did they try to defend the dragons at all? I mean, I would have been furious! In the human realm, that would have been enough to start a war!”
Ansel gave a dry chuckle. “It did, which is why the fae are divided into Seelie and Unseelie.”
“Ohh … no wonder there are so many fire elementals in the Unseelie Court,” I said.
