“Well, considering you carry the flame within you, that is the heart of this realm? It dies, then the walls deteriorate. It was never created to be a permanent home to our people.” My breath stilled in my lungs because the thought of displacing that many people all at once was unsettling.
“It isn’t your responsibility to carry the weight of that burden. As queen, your only responsibility is to ensure they have a kingdom to go back to. The majority won’t mind returning to the home they fled from in order to survive. A kingdom is nothing without a heart. When you leave here, you will take it with you.” Scylla’s fingers touched beneath my collarbone, pushing against my heart. “You are the heart of the kingdom. Our people will feel it once you ascend, which will draw them back to the place they call home.”
“How is it possible that it will cease to exist by Aria leaving, who just arrived, mind you, leaves?” Eva questioned, her head cocked to the side, as if she were trying to understand what Scylla had disclosed.
“Freyja created the Kingdom of Fire around seeds she’d brought here with her. Those seeds became sentient beings. Once they’d put down roots, it sealed the creation of the first realm within the nine. Aria now carries those seeds, as well as the most of the elements.”
Scylla’s explanation sparked memories of things I’d learned during a time of forced imprisonment in the basement as a child. Sabine had brought down books on Norse mythology and the cosmos. In that moment, the bits of information were a hundred tiny puzzle pieces, meeting to create the perfect picture.
“Yggdrasil? Your mother didn’t bring you here to avoid conflict with those opposing seidr. She brought you here to hide what you were. She brought you here because she’d stolen seeds from Yggdrasil, which she then planted in the void.” My mind spun with the facts being slammed against the blackboard in my brain. “She consumed them, didn’t she? Freyja swallowed the seeds from the world tree to create you, her daughter.” Take that, scholars! My grin was almost manic, but Zyion and Scylla looked at me as if I’d lost my marbles. The longer they both stared, the stupider I felt, and my smile slowly faded.
“I warned you she’d be incredibly intelligent if you forced my blood to be added to the mold,” Zyion murmured, eyes sparkling with pride that caused a flurry within my belly. Not one of lust, but of worry. Had he just stated his blood had been used to mold me? Because that shit wasn’t strange at all?
“Which means Aria now carries the mana of the world tree inside her. As did I and my mother before her. The seeds attached only to daughters born from mothers who swallowed them, and my mother was uncertain about the spreading process. Not all of the girls in our bloodline were born with the mana of the tree inside them. There is also the fact that many before my mother had stolen and swallowed the seeds, but only a few ever came to fruition. The seeds are selective of whom they flourish within, as well. Aria will return to the Nine Realms, which means this one will cease to exist without the mana of my soul to keep it living.”
“You said they gave you a vision?” Basilius’s interruption forced my eyes to snap up before sliding to where he’d leaned back against the wall. “A vision of what, exactly?”
Scylla’s head turned, which caused Zyion to tense with apprehension that I keenly felt.
Clearing her throat, she lowered her head before speaking. “In the vision, they showed me how to combine two of the most powerful bloodlines into one powerful creature. A creature born of both dragon and phoenix blood.”
Esme elbowed me as if she too were remembering the room where we’d watched the 4D rendering unfolding before us. My mind swirled as curiosity blossomed. I hadn’t stopped wondering about the scene we’d been privy to in the library. Now, I’d get to learn of it firsthand.
“A child born of both creatures would be powerful and house the hottest flame we’d ever known. Using the cloak my mother left me, I shape-shifted into my mother, then forced two unmated individuals to come to me. A fierce dragon known as Dragharyn Dreki, the first dragon who roamed the lands, untethered by kingdom or throne. Princess Rhianna Fafnir, my own daughter, was the phoenix. She was pure of heart, but a fierce warrior.” The moment she’d spoken the name, I’d felt the thread connecting me to Zyion grow taut. Scylla spared a glance in his direction but continued without acknowledging the tension churning through him. “When I first approached them, neither would agree to what I asked of them. It forced my hand to do whatever was needed to ensure they created a child. Using the binding spell, I threaded their lives together. After I had, they did what was needed. The spell unraveled, though. Eventually, Dragharyn undid what I’d done to them. Two years after Rhianna gave birth to their child, he murdered her by ensuring her flame could never be lit by me, nor another living soul.”
Zyion’s teeth ground loud enough to be heard. The rage he felt was both terrifying and immense as it percolated inside the chamber. It felt like I was missing something huge. Something which left everyone else other than Zyion and Scylla, lost in the dark.
“I raised the babe myself, ensuring no one else knew of her true parentage. In doing so, I’d set forth the first thing demanded of me from the old gods. Ryna never took a feral form, though. The combination wasn’t compatible with dragon and phoenix. I followed the vision provided to me by seidr magic, and her fire burned hotter than anything we had seen before as promised.
Zyion’s face blurred in the tears stinging my eyes, and every fiber of my being snapped taut with denial. I had to have heard her wrong.
“That’s messed up,” Esme interjected, her face downtrodden, as if she’d been forced to breed with her enemy. “You took her free will and used her as a weapon?” Esme’s wide, horrified eyes snapped to me, widening even more if at all possible.
Zyion made a strangled sound in his throat. Long, powerful steps took him to the shelf, holding several green, glass bottles. His fingers flexed, then balled into fists before repeating the action. His shoulders rose and fell with slow, practiced breaths, as if he were counting inside his head, forcing his emotions to remain in check.
“If you had to choose between doing what was right and what would save the world, what would you have done in my place?” Esme noisily exhaled and then folded her arms across her chest, glaring. “I loved my daughter more than I loved myself, Esmeralda. If I could’ve traded places with her, I’d have done so without question.”
“You could’ve fucking tried to find someone else!” Zyion snarled, which had my heartbeat increasing and the hair on my nape standing on end. “You didn’t even think to warn me we would sacrifice the woman I loved? That my mate had to die in order to bring forth your fucking savior?” My gaze darted between the two beings bleeding anger and hurt into the room. Scylla, looked wounded, and Zyion, looked utterly devoid of mercy. “Instead, you took her from me without allowing me to say goodbye. You fucking lied to me and told me she’d chosen him.” His fury forced something inside me to tighten. My breathing turned sharp and shallow, passing my lips as rapid puffs of air.
“You would have tried to alter the course of events had I told you the truth. Rhianna was my daughter and the only unmated phoenix. So, I did what I needed to do in order to ensure her sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain. I knew you’d fancied yourself in love with my daughter, but not that it went beyond that. How could you not love her? Rhianna was so easy to love.” I wasn’t sure if they remembered the audience actively watching the exchange, but it was as if I were watching a show about their tragic history. “I couldn’t change the course without the old gods abandoning us. If I’d have tried, you’d have lost her anyway, Zyion. Of all my children or those I’d loved. Rhianna was special to me. The day she was born, it was like I’d finally found a purpose in life. She was the only child I’d ever thanked the gods for giving me. By doing so, I’d sealed her fate to mine, knowing the gods would come for her if I didn’t follow through on what the visions foretold.”