Ember of Hope

He had fled – without me. My heart dropped to the pits of despair. And anger took the place of all reason and rationality. He had used me to escape. He never wanted to take me with him. But of course – what was I thinking? Being a witch had its imprecations. Nobody wanted to do anything with us, least to have us as a mate for lifetime. I was screaming at myself in my head. I had brought this heartache upon myself. After all; my sisters were right to never trust a man of another kind. As men born to witches had no magic in their blood; they were never considered a threat. They were puppets in the hands of the sisterhood. It was others we had to be careful about.

Revenge – my blood sang… Revenge – a mantra in my head… Revenge – was all I could think of. Revenge – was all I needed to satisfy the killing rage that had descended upon me. I was seeing red.

I will make him pay I promised myself and with that a cold calm descended upon me. Calm before the storm. For now, I’ll let my power build – and then on the blood moon night, when a witch’s power is at its peak – I’ll make it rain. I was a witch at heart after all. With a feral smile on my lips, I headed towards my quarters.

I was leaving Velar – and the sisterhood – and Alex. King Alexander - The Great would know the power of my wrath soon enough.

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She had no idea where they were… or maybe somewhere in her mind… somewhere far away, she knew where they were but Sarah didn’t bother to process that information and think about her whereabouts. Not that it was necessary because the area certainly didn’t have cell reception but her mother had made sure that all three of them left their cell phones behind and be there for just the family… a family without Raegan in it. A fresh wave of pain hit her chest accompanied with anger… anger at herself for letting her go… anger at her for being so reckless… anger at fate who had snatched her sister from her.

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“Welcome to the heart of Evreux” she barely heard him say “Pericles - the city of kings”. For she didn’t know where to look first. The beauty of the place rendered her speechless. So Raegan had spent all day marveling at it. And when night fell, he had to drag her back.

Valiance had landed in a beautiful little meadow that was surrounded by lush, dark woods at two sides and a narrow river at one. At one end there were statues of two huge armored men with their dragon wings spread behind them. Swords unsheathed; they looked poised to strike. They were magnificent. Behind them, she could see the fortress in the distance. Set atop a mountain like a crown, it was a glorious sight. It looked like the spires were touching the sky.

She walked in circles, ran here then there… closed her eyes and inhaled the scents the wild flowers were spreading. Listened to the music of flowing water… the soft sounds of the jungle around. She walked towards the river and dipped her fingers in the water. This place was truly magical. Like the moors in “Maleficent”.

There the water flowed sun gold in the day and moon silver at the night... the winds from the forest sang of the songs of valor... the spears of the stone knights glinted sharp in the sunlight and at night their shadows lead the way home... it was a valley of glory... of peace and beauty... The two fighting dragons made out of some kind of stone shone like a beacon in the darkest of nights... so nobody would get lost in the night... they were there to guide... the kings of old...

“It’s King Alex and his father - the king before him”. Valiance informed. Something felt so familiar about one of the figures. “This one is King Alex, right?” she asked Valiance who nodded, “How’d you figure out which one was him?”

“Maybe because I’ve heard so much about him, I feel like I know him… like I’ve met him”.

Raegan walked to a patch of wild flowers and knelt down near them. She inhaled the sweet perfume and smiled up at Valiance who was looking at her with unreadable eyes. “Val this place… it’s beautiful… really beautiful. Thank you for bringing me here”, she stood up, tugged his face lower, and planted a kiss on his cheek. “This is my new favorite place” she announced.

Valiance chuckled, “You’ve declared this for every other place I’ve shown you so far. What about the arena? Isn’t it your favorite anymore?”

“Duh. Of course it’s my favorite Val. Can’t a girl have more than one favorites?”

“You can have as many as you like. Would you want to explore the woods? They are completely safe around here”.

“Yeah but how…” she left the question unfinished, not sure how to ask a question like that. How are you going to fit in didn’t seem like the right choice of words to her. Val caught her meaning though as he smiled, “Oh no, I can’t possibly fit in there, I’ll break the trees. You go on in and I’ll fly above”.

She explored the woods and ate the food they’d brought along. And as night started to fall, she fell asleep next to Valiance while he told her stories from his childhood. Feeling a sense of relief he hadn’t felt in ages; Valiance wrapped a wing around Raegan to keep the chill of the night away from her and fell into a peaceful slumber.

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CHAPTER 9

Raegan didn’t feel the urge to keep her feelings under lock and key when she was with Valiance. She felt like she could tell him anything and he would understand. She’d told him about her losses and he understood because in a way he’d lost his mother too… lost her because of someone’s cruelty… he’d lost a part of him… his humanity… his chance at happiness. So yeah; he could understand when even her best friend couldn’t. Sarah was always there for her but she couldn’t understand her loss because she hadn’t lived it like Valiance had.

And she prayed to God that Sarah wouldn’t ever have to endure a loss as strong as hers.

But the weather was so pretty that night; she didn’t want to ruin it with her sad stories or his. The moon shone with a soft, shimmery glow over the trees surrounding her and Valiance; turning the leaves into molten silver. The wild flowers in the glade spreading their sweet perfume around her like a life giving mist. The grass soft and wet beneath her bare feet felt like a velvet blanket. The place, magical in its beauty, demanded her senses to be alive and her heart to be happy. And in that beautiful piece of heaven, she wanted to make her friend happy; even if for a little while.

“I’ve beaten so many boys in my school and even college, you know”. Raegan laughed, “Come to think of it, maybe that’s why I never really had any serious boyfriend ever. Guys want pretty little damsels in distress to be their girl friends so that they can play the big bad wolf and not feel threatened about their masculinity. And I never was that sweet shy thing”. She laughed again.

“So tell me a tale of your badass beatings then”. Valiance said, amused.

They had been talking about their school lives and she could imagine a little raven haired boy smiling up at his friends, skipping and hopping over the puddles on his way to school. During their stories; Valiance had asked her about her love life in a very discreet manner. Maybe she had someone waiting for her back home. The thought was like a serrated dagger through his heart.

“I caught me boyfriend; Simon with his tongue down a girl’s throat. I wasn’t supposed to go to school that day so he took it as his opportunity. His bad luck that I decided to go in the end and when I confronted him after catching him red handed, he gave me some bogus excuses. So I broke his nose and kneed him in the balls. He deserved it and the way he shrieked was hilarious”. She grinned up at Valiance and laughed outright on seeing his pained expression. He was a man after all.

“Sweetheart only you would find kneeing someone in balls to be hilarious” Valiance said, “In this moment I’m almost glad I’m stuck as a dragon” he joked but she could tell it pained him to even joke about it. “Besides, it’s his loss”.

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