THE EMBERWITCH

CHAPTER FOUR

LIRA

After what happened yesterday, I shouldn’t have been there.

I shouldn’t have been at the market. I should have been plotting, training.

But I also needed to hide for a bit longer, till I could make it happen. So here I was, ducking between stalls piled high with fruits, coarse wool and iron tools, on a hunt for beetroot and tuck. Alongside Maeve who had come along to escape her mistresses lady in waiting for a while.

I had forgotten that tuck was currently out of season. I mentally palmed myself as I checked stall after stall. I should’ve stocked enough during my last market run. Tuck was only harvested towards the end of the year and could sell for atleast four months before drying up or dying out.

Tuck was the fruit that made my hair black, beetroot only made it last.

Tuck was usually sold as a medicinal fruit, its seeds were used to heal wounds, so it wasn’t uncommon to see people buying enough to stock but it was weird to see one person buying a lot of it it every month.

Thankfully they never asked questions. Not that it’s anyone’s business since it’s not illegal and it’s always paid for.

The crowd pressed in like a living wall. Merchants shouted over one another. Children darted between legs. The smell of roasting meats and spilled ale made my stomach lurch.

I sighed.

I didn’t enjoy coming to the market, the chaos was too much, too stimulating for me.

Alas, I didn’t have much of a choice.

It was me who had business in the market but I soon found myself being dragged along by Maeve, tugging on my sleeves and weaving us past the crowds.

And now, as I squeezed between a man hawking dried meats and a woman selling pottery, I regretted it.

The ember beneath my blood hummed softly, simmering. It was restless today, as though it was warning me. I could almost feel the faintest blow of danger on the wind. I tried to bury it with shallow breaths, tried to pretend it wasn’t there, but I could feel it, vibrating in my chest now.

'What do you want?'

Silence…

I groaned internally. Something was wrong but what?

Maeve, oblivious, danced through the crowd, her basket swinging from one arm, a faint smile tugging at her lips.

We went deeper into the market, it was less crowded. It was a forest looking space mainly for the vendors that couldn’t afford proper stalls and had their things lying on a cloth on the ground.

As we passed a tree, it was so fast I almost didn’t catch it.

The swish of a sharp looking tail overhead. Maeve didn’t notice as she walked past it, she didn’t hear the subtle hiss.

My stomach dropped as I looked up, frozen to the ground.

It was small, sleek, and black-scaled with claws curved like sickles, i couldn’t see its face from where I stood but I knew it’s prey. It moved from tree to tree with terrifying grace. Its slobber poured through the wind.

It was hungry.

My eyes went wide with fear. And finally, I moved.

I ducked behind a tree as I ran faster towards her.

I needed to hurry but I couldn’t do anything out in the open. And we were to far for the guards to get here in time. I needed to do something,

It felt like time had slowed as Maeve bent to pay a vendor, unaware of the danger and the creature struck.

It was over in a heartbeat.

Its hand grabbed Maeve’s shoulder and twisted. She screamed, her cry tearing through the square.

My ember reacted before my mind could even think.

'Save. Hungry.'

I felt the heat surge along my veins, curling up my arms, coiling and demanding release.

When my palms began to glow faintly, my breath caught, my heart leaping into my throat.

I should’ve thought about someone seeing me but it wasn’t the time to do so.

I had to act.

The ember unfurled. It flared from my raised hands.

Fire licked the air, shimmering waves making the ground ripple under its intensity.

The creature shrieked in fear and recoiled as my ember burnt through it.

Despite what was before me, I didn’t miss the screams and cries of the market people, and the chaos that soon followed, people running around, some leaving their things behind and the others packing up what they can before running away.

The most shocking thing happened as my ember engulfed the creature, forcing it away from Maeve. My ember turned blue and the creature disappeared, completely.

My embers retreated into my body.

'Safe, safe.'

It spoke enthusiastically.

'Thank you.'

I offered, i truly was grateful.

Because if something had happened to Maeve—

I didn't even want to think about it.

I watched as Maeve crawled backward, eyes on where the creature has vanished from.

I sighed, thankful that she hadn’t noticed me, and seemingly no one else in the square.

As she made to stand, I ran to her, helping her up.

“gods, Maeve! What was that? What happened? Are you okay?”

She looked at me, fear and shock still in her eyes. Frozen to the spot.

As I searched her body for any wounds, she stayed looking at me.

I heard footsteps suddenly coming towards us and I turned to look back to see the guards who manned the square running towards us.

“The market people raised alarm of a rift creature here, where is it?” One of them asked.

“And the Emberborn.” Another finished.

“Guards, please help us, I don’t know what happened, one minute my friend and I were buying goods, the next I wake up to see flames everywhere. The creature attacked my friend.” I cried to them. Tears falling from my eyes.

We were the only two left here from what I could see. We could easily be suspects and I had to make sure to shift that away from us, me especially.

I appeared as frantic as I could.

A guard came up and held me to him.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe now. We will get you back to the palace.” He assured me.

While another went up to Maeve, who stood still, in the exact same position I had left her, her wide eyes never leaving mine. Like she knew something, like she saw something:

Every hair on my body went up as a guard took her and they passed by me, her eyes still on me as she whispered.

“You were walking behind me.” So that only I could hear.

I watched her back as she walked away.

I could vaguely hear the other guards talk about investigations and I almost didn’t register a cloaked figure in a corner across the square looking at us from the crowd as I wondered what Maeve meant.

Almost.

Just how many people had seen me? What was that cloaked figure? Another rift creature? A smart one? A guard? What did Maeve mean? Why did my ember turn blue?

And most importantly, what did this mean for me.

The guards had guided us to the palace, our uniform easily recognizable. Maeve and I had been standing at the inner corner, almost thirty minutes since the guards left us.

All my senses narrowed in on Maeve and every single thing she did. Even breathing.

What did she know? And if she knew anything, would she tell? Who was I kidding? Of course she would.

No Ironborn would come face to face with power like mine and give up the face to protect themselves.

While we stood facing the doors, my eyes were on her, willing her to say something, do anything. Something to put my mind slightly at ease.

I needed to know that she was overthinking nothing of importance.

She finally moved— towards the door.

I couldn’t let her go yet. I needed to know.

“Maeve—“ I called out.

She stopped and turned to face me.

But she didn’t stare at me like I was me. She looked at me like she was seeing a stranger.

No, no, no. Please no.

She can't know!

“You were walking behind me.”

Where was she going with this?

“Y-yes.” I agreed with her.

“I didn’t see you fall.” She stated.

“The creature had started dragging you along. You couldn’t have noticed.” I lied through my teeth and I hated it.

My entire existence was a lie to Maeve and it made me feel worse that I was forced to lie again.

How could I keep doing this to the two people that kept me sane in this prison?

But I couldn’t tell if she bought it or not, as she only c****d her head to the side.

“I saw you run.”

She said in finality, turned, opened the door and walked inside and I stood still.

My heart sank to the soles of my feet.

She saw me run? Did that mean that she saw what I did? Did she see my ember?

My mind ran in different directions trying to piece together what she meant by the three statements she made.

Before I could think any further, the bell rang, pulling me out of my thoughts. Three rings.

Another rift sighting.

Gods, they were everywhere.

Why were they everywhere? Why were they here? Didn’t they get the wards up?

It was only when I had finally come out from the tangle that was my brain thinking that I finally felt it— a pair of eyes on me.

I turned my body ever so slowly to the balcony where Maeve and I had stood just the day before, to see— Prince Kael looking right at me.

I stumbled back ever so slightly

How long had he been there. He wouldn’t have heard anything from mine and Maeve’s conversation but it looked like he’d heard of the incident from the market square.

I felt my ember rouse from sleep and travel to the tips of my fingers as if trying to drag me towards him.

'Yes. Yes.'

'What?'

There was too much happening all at once. I needed to hide again, I needed it all to die down.

I clenched my jaw and pushed the ember as far back as I could muster in my current state.

I was barely able to get my feet to walk away from his eyes.

And it was all I thought about as I walked into the palace.

Instead of the chaos, now all that ruled my mind was cold blue eyes.

Prince, better go kill the creature before something worse happens.

Reality slowly snapped into place as I neared the servants quarters. I had work to do. I needed to focus on my life here, I needed to blend in. It was too soon. Too early to reveal myself.

I wasn’t ready to burn the palace to ashes just yet.

I kept pushing linen into soapy water, my hands stiff, ears straining for the faintest sound that might betray me. I wondered how much the girls had heard, it wasn’t uncommon for even rare information to travel through the servants, I was sure they already knew, it was simply a matter of when they would confront me about it.

I thanked the gods that old Marra wasn’t around today. Apparently, she had been summoned by the Prince.

As much as I was grateful that she wasn’t here to interrogate me, I was also scared.

The royal family had never summoned a servant. Never. What did the prince want with her all of a sudden and did it have something to do with what happened yesterday.

“Does anyone know why Madam Marra was summoned?” One of the girls asked, like clockwork.

“I heard the girl who serves Lady Morgana’s lady in waiting reported something.”

I didn’t know when I had stood up abruptly, inadvertently spilling water from the buckets around me to face the girl who had said that.

“What did you say?” I had to be sure I’d heard correctly.

The girl stared at me like I had grown three horns. And just like that realization dawned on her.

“Oh, she’s your friend, isn’t she? Weren’t both of you attacked yesterday?”

“That’s not what you said.”

“Am I supposed to repeat it because you didn’t hear? I wasn’t talking to you in the first place, you dumb chit.”

“I don’t want to fight, I just need clarity.”

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to fight, if you don’t sit back down, I’ll give you one.”

Of course I didn’t sit down. I wasn’t scared of them.

I preferred to avoid confrontation but I was not afraid of them and I needed to know what the heck she meant by Maeve reported.

Did Maeve report an Emberborn? Did she report me?

One by one, the girls stood from their stools, all facing me. My lack of any sort of relationship with any one of them made me easy pickings and that meant, I couldn’t fight back.

I could run but there were too many situations where they would be able to gang up on me. The best case scenario would be to let them do what they want, then run to my room as fast as I can, pack up and wait for night to run away.

If Maeve knew, if she gave me away… then my plans, if I could even call them that, were ruined. I had to flee, I had no choice.

The ember in my chest coiled and uncoiled, it was restless, it wanted out, it wanted the girls.

'Protect.'

'No, they aren’t rift creatures.'

' Protect.'

'We can’t! Go back!'

' Why? Hurt.'

'They are human. Back!'

It didn’t speak again but it didn’t go back. It stayed simmering close to my fingertips, ready to strike, ready to burn.

And it seemed I’d have to run after all.

Staying here would only reveal my powers if the girls did attack, and I’d become a murderer.

I’d promised myself that I’d raise hell on the iron kingdom, it did not mean I wanted to kill innocents even if they weren’t all that innocent.

And so, as the first girl struck, I barely made it in time to duck and ran for the door, getting out before they had the chance to follow me. They wouldn’t rush out. They knew better, so I was safe for the time being and so was my secret.

I leaned back against the wall to breathe. I needed to ember to go back but it remained at the edge, all it would take was a push but I was too close to the emberkiller for that to happen.

I was right in his domain.

Then I heard a snarl coming from above me and all those thoughts fled my head as I looked up.

My heart sunk.

' Protect.'