Fire Rises

Springtime

The hall we landed in was unfamiliar and familiar all at once. I had never seen this place before but I was immediately overwhelmed with a sense of home. I glanced around trying to get my bearings in this new territory, but was stopped in my tracks when the beauty of my surroundings began to sink in. 

The golden marble floors sparkled in the sunlight that was streaming in from a hundred open air windows from high overhead. The walls were covered in paintings that seemed too perfect to have been created by any human. Intricate carvings of lush, full flowers adorned every perfectly spaced column. 

A massive set of sand colored carved wooden doors clued me in that we were standing in a foyer. The carvings told a story I had heard many times before, but through a very different lens. Seeing it depicted like this was like seeing it for the first time. A young couple danced in the woods on the upper side of the left door. Below that, a woman laid resting surrounded by many other resting figures. The upper side of the right door a familiar handsome face leaned down to kiss the still sleeping woman while below that, the couple danced again with two small children at their feet. It was beautiful. Even just in carving form, you could feel the love radiate between the pair.

My eyes continued to sweep across the enchanting space. A pristine pond was the focal point of the room. The pond was filled with fish so colorful I couldn’t look away. As if responding to my prolonged gaze, the water suddenly started to lift from within the pond swirling into a slow moving vortex, putting the fish vertically on display.

From somewhere in the distance, the sweetest melody ever sung drifted into my ears. The song sounded like happiness and new beginnings. It was comforting and full of promise. Unlike the overwhelming embarrassment I felt when Archer sang, this song felt like it was warming me up from the inside and I didn’t want it to end. 

The beautiful tune seemed to wash realization over my body. This palace was the embodiment of Spring.

I looked to Maverick with my mouth fully unhinged. He was staring back with an expression that I had understood as hopeful. 

“Do you like it?” 

“Are you kidding? I love it! Where are we?”

He let out a breath of relief. A smile that made my stomach flutter spread across his gorgeous face. He wrapped one hand around my waist and gestured with the other to the room in front of us. “This is where I grew up. This is my kingdom’s palace. If you’d like it to be, this will be our home.”

“OH MY GOD THIS PLACE IS FREAKING AMAZING!!” Clara was finally jolted out of her shock. “I mean, I’ve heard stories about this palace, but hot damn! This is so much better than I could have ever imagined!” My brother laughed at her outburst.

“Well, I had wanted a chance to prepare our castle before I brought you there, but maybe it will be better to have your opinion on things…” Now I was the one who was laughing. Seeing Lucian’s softer side was still so foreign to me. Clara’s eyes lit up at his words and she threw herself into my brother’s awaiting arms.

“I want these floors! And that pond! Can we? Can we please have those things?” Lucian kissed her cheek softly.

“You can have whatever you want. Does that mean you’ll come live with me?” His eyebrows pulled together as if he wasn’t sure of the answer.

“Uh, duh! I thought that was already the plan.” He smiled at her before spinning her in a circle.

If my brother starts singing right now, I’m going back to the Dark Place. I liked seeing this new side of Lucian, but it was also disturbing. I rolled my eyes and turned to Ari.

“What do you think, Ari?”

“I never knew such a beautiful place could exist,” she whispered as she continued to take in the room surrounding her. 

Maverick had already mentally moved past our awe of his beautiful home. “So Arabella and Kian are close friends of mine. I think we should tell them what’s going on. I know they are also close with Prince Charming’s family, so there is a chance they will want to stay neutral in all of this. If they do, you can either stay with us before heading to the boarding school or you can go straight there…” He trailed off his mind clearly working through the next steps to his plan.

“Maverick, we can’t send her back to Far, Far Away. In fact, I think we need to get the kids from the Dark Place out of that kingdom, too.”

“Genie and his wife are leading that school. Trust me, those kids are safe. Those two are the nicest and most caring people and Genie is the most powerful person in this world. He would never let any harm come to them.” Maverick’s words did make me feel better. I had briefly interacted with the head mistress and master of the boarding school and I knew what he said about them was the truth.

“I think we should contact them and tell them what’s going on.” It was Ari who spoke up, which surprised us all. “In fact, Prince Maverick, I think we should reach out to the leaders from all of the other kingdoms and let them know as soon as possible what’s going on. We need to get ahead of this before Autumn and Prince Charming get to everyone else first. They will spin the narrative however they see fit and we will, no doubt, come out looking like the bad guys in their version of the truth.”

I had never heard her speak so much or so confidently before. My mouth had fallen open again as had Clara’s. When no one answered her, Ari lowered her head and added, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to speak out of turn-”

Maverick lifted a hand to halt her before she had a chance to fall back in submission. “Stop right there, Ari. We are all a team now. Your opinion is just as valuable as the rest of ours. That is a great idea. We should do that. Now. I’ll show you to your rooms so you can set your stuff down and we will leave immediately after.”

“Wait, wait, wait, when did Prince Charming assume such an active role in all of Autumn’s plans?” Clara looked to each of us with raised eyebrows. She hadn’t been in the meeting. She didn’t know that Charming was presumably under one of Sophia’s spells. She also didn’t know that Autumn was trying to claim Lucian as her own.

“Um, well, Clara, Angel, I… Our rooms, you say, Maverick? Let’s-”

“Don’t you bullshit me, Lucian. Tell me everything.” She folded her arms across her chest and impatiently tapped a foot at him. When he didn’t answer she prompted, “I’m waiting…” Lucian sighed in defeat and gave Clara a full debrief on our office encounter. By the end of it, Clara looked like she was going to blow a gasket.

“You should have seen the look on Autumn’s face when Lucian denied her repeatedly! She was like a toddler being told ‘no’ to a candy bar.” Ari’s words did seem to perk Clara up a little.

“You promise she’s lying? You don’t feel anything for her?”

“That’s what you’re worried about? Oh no, no, no.” He placed gentle hands on either side of her face. “You are everything to me. No one else can ever or will ever compare. Especially not some spoiled little brat like her.” He gave her a quick kiss. Without taking his eyes off hers he addressed the rest of us, “Alright, we should probably get our asses in gear. We have an evil prince and princess to stop.”

****

Maverick had shown Clara and Lucian to a room they would share while they worked on repairing their castle. Lucian had thrown Clara over his shoulder and given her bottom a quick swat as he carried her inside. 

Maverick called after them, “I mean it, you two, we need to leave as soon as possible. Be back in the foyer in fifteen minutes!”

“We’ll see about that, pretty boy!” As he spoke, Lucian slammed the door shut with his foot. 

Ari was dropped off next at another nearby guest room. The room was huge and beautiful. She took a few slow steps in before squealing with excitement. She twirled around on the golden floor as we backed away and continued down the hall.

“Sooo… ummm there’s this room over here that I think would be a good fit for you.” My face fell a little bit. “Unless…”

Yes, yes, yes!!

“Unless…” I repeated back to him, unable to hide my smile.

He laughed and led me in the opposite direction we had been walking. We stopped in front of another set of ornate wooden doors. He moved his hand in front of the doors and they opened in response. My breath caught as the interior of the room was revealed.

Everything shone in hues of gold. In fact, most of the room appeared to be actual gold. Except for the floors which were a golden marble. Light refracted from every surface making the space sparkle. The whole room looked like sunshine and happiness. As I continued to glance around a thought popped into my head and I couldn’t stop myself from giggling.

How fitting.

“What?” He had a soft smile but I could tell he was concerned by my reaction.

I took his hand and gently pulled his face down to mine for a quick kiss. He was so cute when he was worried. “I love it. I really, really do. I was just laughing at how stereotypical it is for a dragon to live in such a treasure trove.”

His face lit up at the realization of both my approval and the joke. He caressed my cheek before answering, “You’re the greatest treasure that will ever be in my room... our room.” He really was the sweetest. 

He walked towards what I assumed was the closet as he unbuttoned his shirt. “I’m going to change really quick before we head back out. Feel free to hang your clothes in our closet, now, or we can do it later tonight.” His shirt slipped over his broad shoulders exposing his back. He was glorious. I was openly gawking at his perfect body as he smoothly moved inside the closet. He returned and was now facing me. His front was even better than his back. I unconsciously licked my lips. My eyes eagerly moved from him to the inviting four post bed across the room.

We can’t be in that big of a hurry... He chuckled at how shamelessly I was admiring him. “Your eyes are glowing, Love. See something you like?” My eyes had only ever glowed when I was angry. This was new territory for me.

Oh you have no idea how much I like what I see. He was just so perfectly made for me. He was so mine. I needed him. I gripped his chin, stood on my tiptoes, and kissed him as hungrily as I could muster. For a second, he matched my intensity, but he suddenly groaned and gently pushed me back. “We have to go.”

I tried to kiss him again, but he moved away. I pouted my bottom lip and pulled at it, not enjoying the rejection. 

“Don’t do that, Love. You know I want you. So much. But we have to go and I never want to rush anything with you. Especially for the first time. I want to take my time getting to know every inch of your gorgeous body.” He leaned forward, until his face was only millimeters away from mine. “Now, the sooner we go, the sooner we will be back.” He gently moved my hand away from my mouth, and replaced it with his lips. He sucked my pouting lip into his mouth, nibbling at it before pulling back and leading us both back outside into the hallway.

Fucking tease.