Lady Smoke (Ash Princess Trilogy #2)(128)

Blaise’s hand comes to rest on my shoulder, trying to lead me away from the growing fire, but I don’t let myself be moved.

I want to see it all, the moment the Kaiser disappears into nothing but ash. I hold Ampelio’s pendant tight in my grip, feeling its power tug at my own.

I would wear a crown of that ash, I think.

Finally, when the flames grow so thick I can no longer see him, I turn and walk away without a backward glance.



* * *



—

I find Mina in one of the Kalovaxian barracks, with a boy and girl a little younger than me. The bunks have been pushed to the edges of the room, leaving a large open space in the middle of the stone floor where the three of them stand. Lingering in the shadows of the doorway, I watch them for a moment, unseen.

“Show me, Laius,” Mina says, placing a bowl on the floor between them. When she sets it down, some water sloshes over the sides.

The boy swallows, fidgeting with his hands behind his back. At first, I think he must have been one of the slaves we freed from the mine, but then I notice the marks on his arms, places blood must have been drawn from.

He’s a Guardian. The Kalovaxians must have been studying him before the battle. The thought sickens me, and a quick glance at the girl confirms she has the same marks. How many are there?

The boy—Laius—finally lifts his hands, holding his palms toward the bowl. Instantly, the water streams upward, hovering in the air at eye level in a perfect crystalline sphere.

Mina nods. “Can you turn it to ice?” she asks.

Laius’s brow furrows as he focuses on the sphere. It shifts, the candlelight making it glow, before the surface turns frosted and hard, spreading until it is entirely ice.

“Good,” Mina says. “Release it.”

Laius drops his hands and the sphere drops, shattering on the stone floor.

“Sorry,” he mutters.

“Quite all right,” Mina says. “How do you feel?”

She steps toward him to feel his forehead, and when she does, she catches sight of me. “Your Majesty,” she says, inclining her head in my direction.

Laius and the girl fall into a clumsy bow and curtsy as I step entirely into the room.

“Mina,” I reply before smiling at the other two. “You found Guardians.”

Her mouth purses. “I did. There were ten altogether. Nine fire, including Griselda here. Laius was brought from the water mine so they could be studied side by side. Laius, Griselda, would you allow Queen Theodosia to touch you?”

“Why?” I ask. I frown, but they seem to understand what she’s asking and nod. Mina beckons me forward.

“Feel their foreheads,” she instructs.

Warily, I reach a hand out to each of them: when I touch their skin, it’s hot, like Blaise’s. And now that I’m close enough, I can see the dark circles under their eyes, like neither has slept in a long time.

Mina sees the understanding dawn on me. “Why don’t you two go get lunch?” she suggests to Laius and Griselda. “We’ll continue lessons afterward.”

The children hurry off, and I wait until they’re out of earshot before speaking again.

“There are more,” I say, not sure what to call them. Berserkers isn’t inaccurate, but the word feels like a death sentence.

Mina nods. “The other eight are Guardians in the traditional sense, but Laius’s and Griselda’s abilities are unlike any I’ve seen before. Like the hypothetical friend you described. Is he still hypothetical?”

I hesitate. “It’s Blaise. He’s an Earth Guardian.”

“I figured as much. I saw what he did to those ships—more than any Earth Guardian should be capable of.”

“It almost killed him,” I say.

“But it didn’t,” she says. “Not this time.”

I don’t have an answer for that. “You said you were giving them lessons. Is that true, or are you studying them?” I ask instead.

“A bit of both, I suppose,” she says with a heavy sigh. “The stories I heard said that Guardians like them were rare—there were records of one a century perhaps. Now, there are three altogether and we haven’t even seen the other mines. Who knows how many there are in total?”

“What does it mean?” I ask her.

She shrugs, glancing at the door the boy and girl just left through. “If you were to ask Sandrin, he would tell you that it’s part of the gods’ plan, and maybe he’s right. But maybe there’s a higher percentage of people going into those caves, so there are more people who have just enough room for the exact amount of power they are given. Maybe the gods have a hand in that as well.” She turns her gaze back to me. “You didn’t come here about them, though, did you?”

I hesitate before shaking my head. I hold out my hand, palm up, and after a moment of concentration, a small flame appears, nestled in my palm. Mina watches, her eyes thoughtful.

“It’s not much,” she says after a moment. “It’s more than mine, I’ll give you that, but if this were before the siege, it wouldn’t have been enough to make you a Guardian.”

I close my hand and smother the flame. “Crescentia—the Kaiserin—the one I told you about who drank the Encantrio…she oozes power. It comes to her as easily as breath. She doesn’t even have to reach for it, it’s just there.”