Excerpt from that novel I'm working on. Sorry about the length! I'm not on a laptop and I'm using an outline of the scene to finally write it out. I'll put that "keep reading" thing in the morning.
Book 1: The Architects Book 2: The Outcasts Book 3: The Rookies Book 4: The Twin Crowns
Check the “vytar” tag to read more!
Emma once read a quote that described of a night so deathly cold it hit the writer like a thousand knives. Sometimes, as cold as the air may seem, the one thing that frightens us all is the burn. We come into wintry nights bundled and prepared for a chill to fly up one’s nostrils. And then the scorching begins…and ends. It lasts for a millisecond, like the peak of wasabi on your tongue. The feeling may linger, but it is the peak that one can be afraid to cross. Emma had become frostbitten by the terrible Syrion winter, a feeling that was all too familiar. The Hyperonite winter was tough but no sea storm billowed as piercing as the scarlet sky before her.
In her fetal position, she clutched her arms very closely to her chest and wept. The frostbite was very, very deep in her chest and the peak seemed to last for hours.
“You’re the Lord of War,” she cried to Alec. “How do I make it stop?”
“There are some things that cannot be fought with swords.” His breathing was shallow and tightlipped. “Yesterday wasn’t the day that he died.” The warlord knew better than to utter any names. “In fact, he died the moment we took him to the palace for the first time. We knew his sister would try to kill him.”
“WE COULD HAVE PREVENTED IT.” It was as if Emma’s eyes burst into green flames.
However, Alec was unphased. “No. We couldn’t have. We couldn’t have known about Victor. Nasty git was waiting to collect his sister but once he failed to do so, he and that tyrant stuck with the other half of the plan. And unfortunately, not everyone has a stable conscience like Valerie.”
“Or as quick witted,” Kyle remarked.
In a flash, Valerie and Felix shot him piercing glares as if to say, “too soon, asshole.”
“Ouch.” Alec said flatly.
“Careful, Rosenthal.” Felix was quick to defend his sister.
“Did you really think Isaac was capable of carrying out his part? Did you, Ethan, really expect to trust him with your sister? This isn’t just about some idiot and a girl who’s been held captive for many years. Their death by his stupidity cost us the whole operation. We’re back at square one.”
Emma’s shook with the burn of her icy tone. “What. Is it. About Isaac. That you hate. So much?”
“You saw how quick he was to change from being on our side to his sister’s. I never trusted him since that. He only came back when he was terrified of her power. Face it. You know that he was never meant to be in the Court and you didn’t trust him with the responsibility either. And there’s something else going on, isn’t there, your Grace? It’s not his death that upset you.”
Felix, Valerie, and Ethan looked extremely baffled. Alec remained in thought, as still as stone. All eyes were on Emma and the broad shouldered, stocky warrior in front of her. After a few moments, she stood up.
“That’s enough for today.” Her arms remained in front of her chest and Faded out of the lobby.
Valerie stepped in closer to Kyle, her flaming hair trickling with electricity. “Why did you have to upset her?”
Kyle sighed exasperatedly. “It’s like I said, Emma isn’t really upset over her death. She’s upset that she cold turkey gave him a suicide mission–”
“–he’s right.” Everyone’s heads shifted to Alec. “Emma was unstable from the moment Isaac joined the operation. It makes sense, anyhow. Jhan told us about the twin crowns but her vision wasn’t referring to Isaac and definifely not his sister. If you ask me, everyone just treated him like a piece of meat since he arrived. He really should have stayed on Earth. He would have at least lived longer.”
“You’re acting as if my sister was a disposable piece of meat, too.” Ethan said grimly.
Alec gently placed his hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about your sister and I’m sorry you never got to know her. But she was bait for all of us. That’s the only reason Izabel kept her alive all of those years. She was waiting for our return. And so was Sophie. What’s agonizing Emma deep inside is her responsibility as the head of La Cielle. Her Grace’s leadership has been questioned more than ever due to this skirmish. The blame can shift to a general when he has nothing but fallen soldiers.”
There was a moment of silence.
“I’m going to bed.” Valerie announced before Fading. The others followed her until only Ethan was left strolling alone towards the bay window.
He sat in nook with his head hanging low, twiddling his thumbs. Occasionally, he would sweep his long golden bangs out of his face. It had happened before, the mourning of a relative that he never knew, the night he discovered that he was the lost son of the late Queen Kyva Von Nautten and King Consort Andrew of Hyperion. The difference was, they had been dead long before he had even grasped the concept of death and dying. He closed his eyes and shed one tear as he imagined taking a golden haired girl home to the castle and showing her her very own princess sized room. He would embrace her as she cried and then teach her how to fight to wipe her own tears if he could not be there. Over the sequences of the lovely images in his mind, the prince fell asleep against the glass. Outside as he slept, the clouds seemed to have separated since the storm. The winds no longer whistled but purred softly. And once again, the sky that gleamed scarlet returned to its former indigo blanket that kept the castle warm and secure for at least one more night.
