Page 14 of A Kiss of Flame
‘But I?—’
‘I know. But try, for me.’
Wren trembled against her, drew in a shuddering breath and released it slowly. And all was still again. ‘It’s so hard. This place… the Aurum…’
‘I know. But you’re being so good.’ Slowly Elodie moved Wren back to arm’s length and studied her. She smiled at what she saw, her brave and beautiful daughter desperately trying to hold everything together and still be herself. Someone was attempting to make a princess of her wild child. Good luck with that, whoever it was.
‘They wouldn’t let me in to see you before.’
Elodie smiled sadly. ‘What changed their mind?’
Wren dropped her gaze to the ground, as was her habit when she had done something she shouldn’t have, even if only accidentally.
‘I melted the stupid bell,’ Wren mumbled guiltily and that made Elodie laugh. She couldn’t help it. ‘I didn’t mean to. It just… it just happened.’
‘I’m sure it did. That would do it, I suppose.’ So overt a show of power would have caught the attention of the maidens. No doubt about that. They had probably been waiting for it. Everything was a test. Maryn had asked her so many questions about Wren, all of which Elodie had refused to entertain. She trusted the maiden with her life. But with Wren’s life… she trusted no one. ‘Come, walk with me. We can talk in private in my cell.’
That one word brought Wren’s face up, horror written on her features. ‘They lock you up?’
‘No, no,’ and Elodie laughed again. Great light, she had thought perhaps she had lost the ability altogether but a few minutes with Wren and there it was again. That joy. The sheer delight Wren had brought into her life. ‘No, I mean my room. The maidens call all their rooms cells. It’s a place of retreat, not a prison.’ She smoothed a hand through Wren’s hair, pleased to see it short, relieved to see the girl she had raised and loved so well, and to steal a little time with her.
‘It sounds like one.’
‘When have you ever seen a prison?’
Light, she hoped Wren had not been shown the prison beneath the mountain, with its bleak, damp cells, devoid of light and hope.
They wandered through the little garden and back towards the long row of rooms where the maidens slept.
‘This whole city is a prison.’ Given that all Wren knew was Cellandre, that was almost fair. And certainly from what she had been used to, to what she had to be experiencing now, a good assessment. Elodie remembered her childhood here with a chill. Only one thing had made it bearable, her friendship with Roland and that… that was something she was deliberately not thinking about. ‘What’s going to happen to us?’ Wren asked.
Elodie shrugged as she opened the door to her room. It was very simple, as simple as the room that she had slept in back in their tower. It was a sanctuary and, from the moment she stepped inside, she could have sworn she breathed more easily. So did Wren.
‘There will be a trial before the Aurum. That’s unavoidable, I’m afraid.’
‘And then?’
Elodie didn’t answer at once. What could she say? If the Aurum deemed her guilty they would execute her. It was not without precedent. Her great-great-uncle Alvanor had been given to the flames because he turned away from the light. She couldn’t even remember why. If they thought she had done the same thing… well, there were people who wouldn’t hesitate. She had fled the kingdom when it needed her most, they would say. Worse, she had taken Wren with her and if they knew the actual reason why…
She had created a power vacuum and those who had stepped in to fill her place were unlikely to give up that power easily. It should have been a negotiation, and had it just been Roland, perhaps that would have been possible. Her aunt and the Earl of Sassone, however… they were another matter. Their enemies beyond Asteroth had taken advantage of it too, of course. Not the Ilanthians for once. They had been too busy trying to rebuild their shattered realm. But the rebel witchkind had apparently thrived and part of her heart had secretly cheered them on.
Elodie swallowed hard. Once she would have been able to talk to Roland about it. Long ago. But now… now, even though he was so close, she couldn’t say a word. He would never understand. She knew that now.
But it left Wren exposed, in danger. Would he protect her?
‘I don’t know, little bird.’ It was all she could say, this confession of her powerlessness, and Wren looked stricken.
‘But they can’t find you guilty.’
‘It all depends on what they want. I’m not exactly first choice to return to the throne for many of them. Some have had a taste of power. Some never cared for my headstrong ways. And some?—’
‘Roland wants me on the throne,’ Wren blurted out. ‘So he can cement his own rule. He’s on the regents’ council and if I’m the queen… I don’t know anything about ruling, or about the kingdom or… they’ll put a crown on my head and the Aurum…’
The way she trailed off said it all, the dread in her voice and the realisation that she had probably said too much already.
‘What happened with the Aurum?’ Elodie asked in a calm and quiet voice, one wreathed in a patience she didn’t feel, dreading the inevitable answer.
‘I didn’t mean?—’
