Page 66 of Beneath the Flames
His smirk was infuriating.“I promise there are noboobytraps, Maren.Now go inside before you die from the cold.”
So many retorts waited on the tip of my tongue, but I bit them all back at the reminder that warmth waited on the other side of that door.My boots crunched on the hardened lava beneath my feet, then thunked as I stepped inside onto a rough wood floor.
It really was tiny.
A single cot with threadbare blankets sat in the corner to the left of the door, a small cupboard with a large bowl on top to the right.At the back sat an enormous fireplace, taking up most of the wall, tons of gray ash resting at the bottom.
That was it.
“Um,” I said, staring at the very small cot.“There’s one bed.”
“Yes.”
“Does Avalea have a weird fetish with only having one of something?”
Rhydian shook his head and went to the fireplace, waving his palm over and over, growing increasingly more tense when the golden magic didn’t appear.I was about to offer to start the fire myself—with my bare hands—when Rhydian let out a curse as he thrust his hands forward and a burst of flame erupted into the center of it.
He knelt there panting for several seconds, the magic clearly taking a lot out of him.Relief swept through me at the sight of that golden light for the first time.His magic must not have been truly gone—only depleted.
“This was only ever meant for one person.Sharing was never intended,” he finally responded.
I was vaguely aware of him moving around the little room, but my gaze was still fixed on the cot.It looked like it had seen better days.Would it even hold my weight?I doubted it would hold the both of us—not that we’d be sharing or anything.
I turned to find Rhydian staring at the door, once again trying to summon his golden death rays.His face was twisted in frustration as only the tiniest of flickers would come to life in his hands.
“What are you doing?”
“Being cautious,” he gritted out between clenched teeth.
“I thought you said no one has been here in years.”
“I did.”
“So then why—”
“Because Eroth is no longer the friendly place it used to be.The land is angry about being cursed, about dying.It is better to be safe than to assume you already are.Did you learn nothing from the incident with the Scorching Rivers?”
The reminder of us being so close to death made me wince.“Point taken.”I gingerly sat on the edge of the cot, half expecting the thing to collapse beneath my weight.It let outa loud creak but otherwise seemed sturdy enough.The faint scent of smoke filled the air as the fire crackled away, slowly infusing the cabin with heat.
When he was finished, Rhydian sat on the floor in front of the fireplace, keeping his back to me as if he didn’t want to speak anymore.
“Should I be worried that the Scorching Rivers will destroy this cabin too?”I asked.We had seen them trailing us in the distance for most of the journey, but they’d been noticeably absent for a while now.
“The Rivers don’t come near Mount Kharos.You don’t need to worry about them here.”
“Why?”What was so special about this volcano that they wouldn’t come here?
“It doesn’t matter,” Rhydian barked out, his shoulders lifting toward his ears, tensing at my onslaught of questions once again.I tried to be quiet—I really did—but my desire to understand this strange world was too great.The words poured from my mouth.
“So what happened to Eroth?Why was it—you—cursed?”I asked, watching his shoulders stiffen in response.I added, “And don’t even think about trying to run away now.There’s nowhere for you to hide.”
With a sigh, he said, “Very well.”He turned so that he was facing me, his arms resting on his knees.The position was so human-like that, for a moment, I forgot he was something else.
“Eons ago, when Avalea was created, the four kingdoms were not like they are now.In the Pure Fae lands, the queens of their respective kingdoms were tasked with watching over their lands by those deities I mentioned before, keeping the Fae safe, and prospering the earth with their magic.But in the Dark Fae lands, there were no queens.Instead, beasts were created,meant to also guard the earth.They did so for many years, but eventually they were…corrupted.”
Rhydian pointed to the ground, the volcano beneath us.“Kharos was the Beast of Eroth.There came a time when he threatened to destroy all of Avalea.”He stopped abruptly, the sudden intake of his breath catching me off guard.His brows lowered as if recalling something unpleasant.His next words were low, bitter.“The queens acted—believing that they were protecting Avalea by cursing the beast.”
A sudden pop in the fire punctuated his sentence.
