‘And that means …’
‘That you are about to be crowned the new Queen of the Aquatori.’
My stomach turns inside out. ‘But – but the people. They’llneveraccept me.’
Grandmother places a hand over mine. ‘I won’t pretend that this transition is going to be easy. Many challenges lie ahead, but you must weather the storm. You must be brave. Unshakeable. Only then can you prove to the people –yourpeople – that you are so much more than what they think you are.’ Candlelight dances in her eyes. ‘You won your crown, Blaze. Nowearnit.’
A torrent of emotions collide into me, one after the other.
Fear, hot and suffocating, followed by that wistful pang of loss for the future I had once planned for myself. I was so focused on beating Marina, onwinning, that I had almost forgotten winning didn’t mean the end – it was just the start. What was it Grandmother had said all those weeks ago on the morning of the eclipse?
Make no mistake, the real game begins when the winners take their thrones.
Doubt burrows deep. I don’t know if I have what it takes to be queen. What if I’m not brave, or unshakeable? What ifI fall flat on my face? What if the people refuse to serve me, or worse, revolt against my rule?
I rub my scar, the mottled remains of my first brandmark, my constant reminder that I am not who I was supposed to be – Ignitia. Bold and bright, a daughter of fire, another spark to stoke the legacy of House Harglade.
And yet, strangely, in this moment I find I’m glad. Because that girl couldn’t have turned water to ice, or carved a wave, or called the rain. That girl isn’t me. It doesn’t matter who I was supposed to be, for in that amphitheatre I remembered who I am.
I wasn’t born to conjure flames, but to drown them.
I feel it then, amid the fear and loss and doubt, something unfamiliar and yet almost feverish in its intensity.Pride.
I think of the storm, the way it felt to weave it, to control the clouds and paint the sky and watch my power rain down upon the earth. Power that is mine and mine alone.
Power that was returned to me.
Without thinking, my fingers move to brush the chain round my neck. Grandmother notices. I tense up as she reaches out and pulls Syla’s talisman from beneath the collar of my nightgown.
‘An eye,’ she murmurs.
‘It belongs to Spinner,’ I lie quickly. ‘She gave it to me as a good luck charm.’
Grandmother smiles gently. ‘Well, then, it certainly worked, didn’t it?’
I nod, then wince, lifting a hand to probe the swollen lump on my head. ‘Ouch.’
‘Sleep,’ Grandmother orders.
‘How can I possibly go to sleep after what’s just happened?’ I ask incredulously.
‘Because, my darling one, I don’t care that you’re the new Aquatori Queen. I am your grandmother, and you will do as I say.’
Admitting defeat, I let her tuck me in. Something small and soft leaps on to the bed and curls up next to me, purring in my ear.
‘Hello, Mouse,’ I whisper, as she nuzzles into my cheek.
Despite what I said, it doesn’t take long for sleep to pull me under. I dream of Flint, watching as he crumples to the ground again and again. I dream of Syla, bound in crystal chains down in the dungeons. I dream of the rain’s song, pure and devastatingly beautiful.
And I dream of eyes.
Eyes and skies and storms.
47
Etheri scatter in their haste to let me pass as I make my way through the Golden Palace towards Queen Hydra’s chambers.
She’s sitting in her chair by the window. I am not here by invitation but it seems my visit was anticipated, as she greets me before even turning round.
