Quellos falls to his buttocks, trying to scramble away from me. “Y-you don’t know what you’re messing with, boy.” He holds up his metal gauntlet and shoots out an icy blast.
My flames eviscerate it with a single swing of my hand.
“How did you get that power?” Sira screeches from her far spot on the bridge. Faustrius has evaded my flames and stands behind her, dragging a near-lifeless Aquila. “You thief! You rotten, tricky bandit! That is not for the likes of you!”
Her voice grates on me. I shoot a cyclone of fire toward her. As it’s about to hit, shadows spring up in the form of a shield, deflecting my blow.
Kill her. Kill her now!the voice inside me rages.
Not until this is done.
Quellos crawls toward her. “Mistress, help me!”
“There’s no one to help you,” I snarl and slam my flaming foot down on his chest. He gasps, clawing at his robes as they begin to burn. “Listen to me, Quellos. I want you to picture one thing and one thing only as I take the life from you. Picture my mother, Niamh, Princess of Autumn. Picture the blood that spattered from her heart as you pierced her with that lance. Picture her eyes going dim because you stole the life from her.”
“Help me, mistress!” he shrieks.
“You’ve lost, Sira.” Rosalina’s voice is clear and strong. “We’ve stopped the volcano. Your servant, Perth Quellos, is now in our custody. Faustrius, it’s not too late to change the course of your future. Fix Kairyn and?—”
Faustrius steps forward and casts a glance into the churning depths. He furrows his brow. “You have only delayed the inevitable. You have but mere days until the mountain wakes.”
“Stop the volcano in exchange for Quellos’s life,” Keldarion says.
How dare he entertain the idea of letting this pathetic man live?
Faustrius shakes his head. “The mountain has tasted fire. There is no force in the Vale that can stop it now.”
“You’re on your own, Perth,” Sira says lowly. Shadows wrap around her, Faustrius, and Aquila until they disappear from view.
But I care not for them or for this mountain of fire.
Fool! You lost her!
The voice in my head is among a chorus of other voices, screaming my name. Begging me to stop.
I would not stop if the fate of the world depended on it. Not until my vengeance has been quenched.
I sink down, my body blanketing him in a phantasmal glow. “Now, picture her son ripping open your flesh and sending flames skittering along your bones. Picture your blood boiling. Picture my fingers running lines of fire down your skull. Picture this and know that any who wrong Farron, Autumn blood, will meet the same fate.”
“No, please, no, no, no, Noooooo—” Quellos screams as I do exactly what I promised.
One voice cuts through my mind. I recognize it as the Son’s.Do not do this, Farron. You will never be the same.
No, I agree.I will be better.
With a wicked smile on my face, I ignite. Quellos’s agonized cries only make my fire burn brighter.
With each piece of flesh falling away to ash, I swear I can hear my mother crying. She must be so happy that I avenged her.
My flames burn as bright as a bonfire even when there is nothing but charred bones beneath my fingers. I don’t stop until the bones are soot.
Euphoria rushes through me when I finally sit back, letting my flames simmer. I stare at my hands, black with bits of Quellos’s corrupted soul, and laugh.
“It’s done!” I cry. “It’s done!”
I avenged Mother. I saved them. Again, I am powerful enough to choose who lives or dies. There isnothingI cannot do with the Green Flame.
Turning around, I look to the passageway where my family awaits. I smile at them, so excited to hear their celebratory cries.
