Read Online The Flame of Wrath by Christene Knight - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Christene Knight
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them home. They were four brothers and two sisters with hair the color of sparkling sand and eyes that matched the sea. They lingered near the Queen as though she possessed the keys to life in her words. They were dressed as various animals of the forest.
The sister dressed as a falcon spoke the feeling felt among her siblings. “My Queen, please never forget that the Province of Shadow Reign is widely renowned for its martial skill. If you should ever need, our blades... our shields... our very lives... they are yours, Highness. We are your servants.”
Looking between them, Aurea memorized the intensity of their eyes. “There is something,” she began. “I may have need of such warriors one day.” Her thoughts ventured to the design slowly beginning its genesis within her mind. Though she was not yet ready to speak of it aloud, she knew that one day the time would come.
Their eyes widened in hopeful surprise as inwardly they prayed for the opportunity to serve a ruler of Pyros and one day become legends to rival those of their province's honorable past. “We will be ready when that day comes,” they promised. Much to their great delight, they were favored with a gentle smile.
Moments later, Aurea wordlessly rose from her chair. She did not bother to excuse herself from the banquet table. The attendants around her made those remarks for her. Instead she wandered aimlessly through the crowd until she found herself standing beyond the reaches of her great celebration.
She stood beneath a starry sky, deep within the valley of the sacred volcano. All the wonders of the garden were in every direction she looked.
With both hands, the Queen removed her mask. She stood motionless, a dazed warrior at the end of her first battle. She searched the stars for the answer to a question she was yet to know.
Swaying slightly, her world tottered. The mask fell helplessly from her grasp. It fell with an eerie slow-motion which claimed the surrounding night. As it impacted brutally against the grass beneath her feet, the dream came as the storm to cloud her mind.
********
The white bloom sent out a bewitching perfume to seduce the innermost secrets from her soul. She exhaled. It was a shivering warmth that caused the flower to tremble in anticipation. As she leaned forward, her eyes closed slowly.
********
Gravity commanded that Aurea obey. She knelt to her as forcibly she fell to her knees.
********
Through the protection of her closed eyelids, she could see the intensity of pure blinding light growing stronger. Its heat grew stronger against her face. She inclined into it, moving away from the darkness abound everywhere but this flower's heart. Her lips parted. Her head tilted as she moistened her lips to bestow a solitary kiss so impassioned by all she possessed that it would sear the bloom.
********
Her hands slowly scoured and groped at the ground in a feeble attempt at surrogate sight. Blindly, she tangled her fingers within cool emerald strands.
********
“The stars.” A voice spoke hauntingly from the blackness. “The stars are destruction and rebirth.”
A kneeling woman was no more than tantalizing shadows. She offered up the gift within her trembling hands. A star blazed zealously. Its white light flooded the horizon with blinding might.
“Ash and bloom.”
********
Somewhere in the distance, she heard the rushing footsteps of others approaching. Their voices seemed so far away. When at last their touch was felt upon her skin, they others felt no nearer to her. What was happening? Why couldn't she
The sister dressed as a falcon spoke the feeling felt among her siblings. “My Queen, please never forget that the Province of Shadow Reign is widely renowned for its martial skill. If you should ever need, our blades... our shields... our very lives... they are yours, Highness. We are your servants.”
Looking between them, Aurea memorized the intensity of their eyes. “There is something,” she began. “I may have need of such warriors one day.” Her thoughts ventured to the design slowly beginning its genesis within her mind. Though she was not yet ready to speak of it aloud, she knew that one day the time would come.
Their eyes widened in hopeful surprise as inwardly they prayed for the opportunity to serve a ruler of Pyros and one day become legends to rival those of their province's honorable past. “We will be ready when that day comes,” they promised. Much to their great delight, they were favored with a gentle smile.
Moments later, Aurea wordlessly rose from her chair. She did not bother to excuse herself from the banquet table. The attendants around her made those remarks for her. Instead she wandered aimlessly through the crowd until she found herself standing beyond the reaches of her great celebration.
She stood beneath a starry sky, deep within the valley of the sacred volcano. All the wonders of the garden were in every direction she looked.
With both hands, the Queen removed her mask. She stood motionless, a dazed warrior at the end of her first battle. She searched the stars for the answer to a question she was yet to know.
Swaying slightly, her world tottered. The mask fell helplessly from her grasp. It fell with an eerie slow-motion which claimed the surrounding night. As it impacted brutally against the grass beneath her feet, the dream came as the storm to cloud her mind.
********
The white bloom sent out a bewitching perfume to seduce the innermost secrets from her soul. She exhaled. It was a shivering warmth that caused the flower to tremble in anticipation. As she leaned forward, her eyes closed slowly.
********
Gravity commanded that Aurea obey. She knelt to her as forcibly she fell to her knees.
********
Through the protection of her closed eyelids, she could see the intensity of pure blinding light growing stronger. Its heat grew stronger against her face. She inclined into it, moving away from the darkness abound everywhere but this flower's heart. Her lips parted. Her head tilted as she moistened her lips to bestow a solitary kiss so impassioned by all she possessed that it would sear the bloom.
********
Her hands slowly scoured and groped at the ground in a feeble attempt at surrogate sight. Blindly, she tangled her fingers within cool emerald strands.
********
“The stars.” A voice spoke hauntingly from the blackness. “The stars are destruction and rebirth.”
A kneeling woman was no more than tantalizing shadows. She offered up the gift within her trembling hands. A star blazed zealously. Its white light flooded the horizon with blinding might.
“Ash and bloom.”
********
Somewhere in the distance, she heard the rushing footsteps of others approaching. Their voices seemed so far away. When at last their touch was felt upon her skin, they others felt no nearer to her. What was happening? Why couldn't she