A Kingdom of Flame and Fury (The Four Kingdoms Book 1) Read online

  To avoid walking through the castle on nights when I would sneak off into the forest, Cade moved me into the king’s corridor. Before, I had been staying with my aunt on the opposite side of the castle, not ready to leave her side yet. When I turned sixteen and had been the queen for six years, my aunt returned to her cottage because she trusted that I would be safe with Cade next to me. We spent the coming years together, learning every nook and cranny in the castle. Cade taught me all of the hidden corridors in the king’s room and how he’d also get through the castle unnoticed. He never bothered using them, at least to Cade’s knowledge, because there had never been a threat against him or our kingdom.

  I walked to the far side of my bedroom and placed my hand against the small notch protruding from the wall, pushing it in. A small door creaked open and I lowered to my knees, crawling through the opening and standing vertical when the hallway stretched wide open.

  I ran my fingertips along the wall where Cade and I had etched our names into it and smiled, shaking my head at the memories of our beginnings together in the castle.

  I would see him at the festival somewhere, flirting with a visitor and offering to give her a tour of the castle. The women loved him and he took advantage of that, flashing his perfect smile and melting them there on the spot. Cade was attractive and as a young girl, I had a crush on him, but he was eight years older than me and an adult when we met. He was always with other girls when he wasn’t with me, so I outgrew it. But, he was easy to love and entirely too charming for his own good with his dark blond hair and enticing blue eyes. When we stood next to one another, we looked like complete opposites with my tanned skin and black hair against his creamy complexion and sandy locks.

  I made a mental note to install more lights as I walked down the dim hallway. During the winter months, everything seemed darker in the castle and in my secret corridors with no windows, the darkness made it even colder. I often had to light my fingertips to provide myself with a little more light and warmth.

  Blaze could be controlled, but I remained cautious. Any time I experienced any emotion lately, she was always the first to bubble up and it took more willpower than usual to keep her sedated. When I was able to lure thieves, or anyone who broke my laws, into the forest, I did, just so I could keep her sated. Continuously shoving her down felt like choking.

  I iced my fingertips to extinguish my flames, gnawing on the inside of my cheek at the thought of being out of control. There was no pull in me whatsoever to harm any of my own people, but it felt like I needed to seek out trouble lately, which was hard to do when stuck on an island. My fire was an unquenchable thirst. Overall, I had always been a very peaceful and calm soul until the prior three months, which only made my need to inflict pain that much more bewildering.

  I paused my stroll and drew in a deep breath through my nose, exhaling through my mouth. The door to exit the underground corridor was a body’s length away and it led into an empty wooden barn that the king purchased long ago for this reason. I never knew him personally, but I remained grateful to him for seemingly thinking ahead to needing secret corridors in the castle. From my understanding, they weren’t added to the castle until he became king, though no one was ever told the reason why he wanted them.

  Nervousness and excitement rushed through me as I hopped up the steps that led to the door, bouncing back and forth on the balls of my feet. Only once a year was I granted front row access to joining my people at the festival under disguise. They never would have excluded me from any that I wished to join and would welcome me joyfully, but having all the attention on me made me uncomfortable. Blending in at the Festival of Dreams remained the easiest. Villagers dressed up and put on wigs for this particular one, which was why my bright violet hair wouldn’t stand out against the typical blonde, brown, and red hair of the villagers. For this, I was just Raven. Or, well, Terra.

  Pushing the door open, I immediately heard the pop of the bonfires and smelled rum and wine being drunk in heaps outside. The door fell shut behind me as I walked quickly through the dark, small structure. “I’ll kill Cade if he forgot to unlock this,” I muttered, shoving slightly at the creaky door that led into the village. After another shove, the door swung open and I grinned, stepping out onto the snow-covered ground.

  “Take the long way?” A deep, familiar drawl asked from behind me.

  I snorted and rolled my head to the left, seeing Cade appear from the side of the barn. “I like to keep you waiting,” I replied, moving my gaze back to the crowd of villagers formed around a bonfire.

  “I never get used to seeing you like this,” he said.

  I felt his intense stare on me.

  “Decided on Terra tonight, I see. The hair will blend in well with the colors of tonight’s theme.” He dipped his chin toward the center of the village.

  My eyes averted away from the crowd and moved over the cottages where I spotted purple, gold, and midnight-blue stars and moons hanging from the roofs of every shop and cottage, and scattered along the snow was matching confetti.

  He laughed and nodded toward a group of children giggling while making snow angels on the ground. “The kids in the village had fun dyeing paper from the school to make these.” He held a hand out to me with confetti in his palm. “For your dreams.”

  The corners of my mouth tilted up as I looked to his palm. I pinched the confetti in between my fingers, admiring how they seemed to shimmer in the light of the moon rising above us. I slipped the confetti into the opening of the coin pouch hanging from my wrist. “Thank you, Cade.” I gave him a small smile.

  His stare lingered a second too long before his eyes pulled away from me and he dipped his chin in a nod.

  “Now, stop drooling and go away. You know you can’t stay with me.” I gave him a slight shove on his shoulder as we started toward a bonfire. He was quiet next to me and I glanced at him, raising my eyebrows at the tension in his face. “Why do you look so pained? It’s very unattractive. Like this.” I scrunched up my nose and crossed my eyes, sticking my tongue out.

  A small, amused grin appeared on his mouth as he looked at me, but he continued his silent retreat, falling a few steps back. I couldn’t stop and talk to him. He was well known in the kingdom and everyone in the village knew how close we were. If we looked enveloped in deep conversation, people would wonder about the violet-haired woman and why her skin tone matched so well with their queen’s. The risk of too many questions had to keep us apart for the evening.

  “Just be careful tonight. And you look beautiful,” was all he said when he finally spoke up just loud enough for me to hear, before he broke off in the opposite direction, holding his hand behind him in a small wave.

  I stopped my slow pace and watched him walk away, cocking my head in confusion at his warning. He had never warned me to be careful in my own kingdom. There was never anything to fear. He cautioned me for a reason and I could have strangled him for choosing this moment to walk away after dropping that on me.

  I closed my eyes, willing my ice to chill the warmth creeping over my skin. Blaze was quick to ignite at any sign of a threat and as far as I knew, there wasn’t one — but I suddenly felt more guarded. For a second, I wondered if I should turn around and go back to the castle. “You look forward to this every year,” I grumbled to myself, resting my hands on my hips. “You’re going to relax and focus on killing Cade later.” I giggled while I thought of ways I could. He was my best friend, but like all men, he could be infuriating and shoving him off a balcony didn’t seem too bad of an idea.

  I looked around from where I stood and spotted him already in conversation with a stunning blonde woman. That didn’t take him long. He would bring her back to the castle, fuck her, and discard of her before breakfast. I never had a chance to meet any of his conquests, but he seemed to only choose women with blonde hair. His punishment could be me bringing someone back to the castle and making him entertain him over a meal.

  He never approved of the risk I t
ook when it came to sleeping with strangers. Thinking about it, I had never actually fucked a man as myself. I was always careful not to drop whichever form I’d taken for the night. For all the villagers knew, I was a virgin and destined to never marry or bear children. It had never been a priority. My magic was a mystery, but I didn’t think I could live forever, though I did heal at alarmingly quick rate.

  That was something Cade and I learned together a few years ago when he was insistent on teaching me how to sword fight. I protested heavily, but he wouldn’t let it go. He told me that while my magic was strong, I may not be able to stop steel and it was important to have another option.

  To prove him wrong, I had tried. He’d come at me with a sword in his hand and while I was able to burn his exposed skin, he overpowered me easily. I healed any piece of him I’d burned, and then he had another idea — to prevent me from burning him again, he donned steel around his body, blocking any sight of his bare skin. When he lunged for me again, I was helpless. Blaze couldn’t do enough harm to make him stop and with Frost, I could only build ice blocks around myself like a protective dome, which he sliced through with little effort.

  If we had been outside and not in a room, Terra may have been able to bring him down by shaking the earth underneath his feet, but could I stop more than one soldier that way? There was never any way of knowing.

  He had also been training me in hand-to-hand combat for years, which I wasn’t sure I would ever need since I had my own skill set. But it was fun, throwing punches and trying to take someone down as toned as he was.

  Blocking had always been my biggest struggle when it came to holding my own sword. I had no problems on the defense, but when it came to taking the first step, I experienced a mental block at the idea of hurting someone unjustifiably. It took months of training and gaining upper and lower body strength to wield a sword and I still wasn’t great at it. I missed a block once against Cade and the point of his sword punctured the skin right above my heart.

  We both learned something else about me that day: I had the ability to freeze any internal organ, even my own heart. Though Cade’s sword didn’t cut deep enough to touch my heart, the adrenaline from the puncture had me quickly shifting into Frost to protect all of my internal organs. With the knowledge of being able to freeze internally, it stood to reason that I could set myself on fire, which was another reason why Blaze had to be controlled. If my emotions ever reached a boiling point, I may be my own demise.

  The wound in my chest from Cade’s sword had me doubled over, but within minutes, the puncture had closed after I used a combination of Frost and Blaze to soothe. He had asked if I could always combine them like that and I explained that while, yes, I could use pieces of my magic all at once, they were strongest when my entire being morphed into one of them.

  If I were to morph into Frost, I could pull bits of Blaze out, but it was like getting drops of water while dying of thirst. I had never been able to fully wield all three of them at once and trying tired me out quickly. Morphing into forms one after another didn’t wear me out, but it was mentally exhausting to focus on morphing and wielding. If I could somehow harness all three while remaining myself or in one form, I would be unstoppable. Not that any of it mattered, because I had never been threatened.

  ☽༓☾

  In the midst of my thoughts, I wandered into the middle of the village where booths lined the streets. Each booth had choices of food, wines, or crafts made by the local villagers. Not only was the Festival of Dreams a nice way for our peaceful village to be celebrated, but the outside patrons from visiting kingdoms brought in money for my people to sell what they made and I always brought enough coins to support them.

  I stopped at a booth run by a small girl and her mother, beaming at the little girl who donned paper flowers in her light-blonde locks. “Look how pretty you are,” I cooed to the young girl, grazing over the flowers laid out on a small table with my fingertips. They resembled the ones in the girl’s hair and were bright pinks and yellows, made of airy tissue paper.

  The little one curtsied to me and grabbed a handful of flowers from the table, extending her small hand out to me. “These would look the most beautiful in your purple hair!” she exclaimed, pushing them into my open palm.

  Her mother placed her hands on the shoulders of the girl and pulled her back, smiling at me and then her daughter. “I have a very enthusiastic peddler,” she said to me, shaking her head. “Eva, you can’t shove them at people. You need to wait for them to choose their own.”

  I held up my empty hand and motioned to the mother that it was perfectly fine. “I think the colors she chose for me are perfect and I was hoping she’d help me put them in my hair.” I lowered to my knees in front of Eva and slowly handed her the flowers back one by one as she fastened them all over my messy bun with small bands.

  “You remind me of a butterfly,” she whispered to me as she fastened the last flower in my hair.

  I glanced up and spotted Cade watching me from a distance, a bright smile on his face as he raised a mug of, what I assumed to be rum, at me. His choice of the night hung off of him and I rolled my eyes, giving him a slight shake of my head. He winked.

  When I felt Eva’s tiny hands leave my hair, I wrapped my arms around her in a warm hug. “Thank you, sweet one. These flowers are so lovely.” I dropped my arms from around her and reached into my coin pouch, pulling out five golden coins. I put them into the small hand of my hairdresser. “I hope I see you again.” I winked at her and rose to extend my hand to her mother. “You have a darling girl,” I told her, bidding farewell and continued my tour of what other treasures the booths lined down our cobblestone road may hold.

  ☽༓☾

  I ended up with a knit scarf, some candies, and some scented vanilla candles. I tilted my head to beckon Cade to meet me around the corner. He followed me and once we were out of sight, I shoved the goods into his arms. “Take these back with you. I don’t want to carry them around with me.”

  He looked at everything in his arms and then to me. “What the hell am I supposed to do with all of this?” He wrapped the scarf around his neck.

  “Take it to your room and I’ll come get it later. Don’t give your… lady… any of my candies. Those are for me.”

  He made a face pretending to mock, but then nodded. “Fine. We’re about to head back. Are you leaving soon?”

  My eyes narrowed at the suspicious concern in his voice. “I’m fine, Cade. I’m a big girl.” I wiggled my fingertips at him, lighting them with flames. “I have a weapon, literally on me, at all times.”

  He loosed an annoyed sigh and shifted my things in his arms, reaching up to touch one of the flowers in my hair. “I like these. They make you look nicer than you are.”

  I shoved at his shoulder and he stumbled, almost dropping my candles. “Go away,” I teased.

  He tilted his chin up in a goodbye. I kicked some snow toward him with the toe of my boot as mine.

  ☽༓☾

  After what felt like hours of greeting villagers and definitely drinking too much, I took a breather against the wall of one of the cottages on the outskirts of the village. I’d kept my eyes wide open for any attractive patrons, but no one had caught my eye.

  My lips pushed out into a pout at the idea of not receiving the release I desperately craved, but the heavy amounts of wine I had inhaled from the various booths was working to numb the pain.

  I closed my eyes and inhaled the smells surrounding me, smiling to myself at the sounds of the laughter and loud chatter of villagers. While my beginning in life may have seemed unfair, it brought me to Seolia, to be ruler of this kingdom. It would always be my greatest honor.

  As the youngest queen in Seolia’s history, I felt I related well to the needs of my people and understood their wants. I didn’t tire of hearing requests and wanted to provide the very best for all of them. There were bad seeds everywhere, but the crimes were few and far between, especially once word spread that
those who tried were met with a dark fate — which meant that Seolia was overall a joyous place to live.

  Opening my eyes and suddenly very sleepy from the wine and hours of walking, I pushed off the wall and began my trek to the small barn that housed my hidden door.

  As I started toward the middle of town, I stopped abruptly at a pair of dark-gray eyes that were zeroed in on me. I felt zoned in, trapped, and shivers danced across my bones. My tongue skimmed across my bottom lip as the gray eyes prowled closer.

  Everything went silent as I drank in the body accompanying them and I was suddenly extremely aware of my heartbeat.

  A broad chest came into view first that seemed to inhale and exhale as rapidly as I was. My gaze stayed on the rise and fall of his chest until he was an arm’s length away, towering over me. Standing still too far away was a tall, muscular man whose skin looked like it had been kissed by the sun and he was the most delicious one I had ever laid eyes on.

  If I believed in love at first sight, this would have been it.

  I took him in. Unapologetically. My sexual desires had never made me ashamed and he was definitely one of them.

  He had to be a soldier of some sort, because his heavy black shirt clung to him and I could see the outline of his toned stomach underneath the fabric. His long legs were covered in black pants that were tucked into boots; boots that weren’t from a village like my own — his were made from some sort of canvas that must have come from a neighboring kingdom, which meant he was not from Seolia.

  His hair was slicked back, as black as mine, and it curled under his ears. His jawline could cut steel and his lips were full. I tracked the movement of his jaw clenching and loosening, making my insides feel like honey. My gaze traveled back up to his and neither one of us smiled.

  We just stared. Enamored. I had never seen gray eyes like his.

  “I’ve been looking for you all night.” My voice was breathy as it escaped.