Furyborn
Eliana brushed a hand across his wild dark bangs. “Remy, this story of theirs… It could be nothing. It might not even be true.”
“Think about it,” he said. “Your body could heal itself, and we never knew why. But it was because all that power was trapped sleeping inside you, and it didn’t have anything to do, so instead it fixed you up whenever it could. It makes perfect sense.”
Simon chuckled. “An interesting way to describe it.”
Triumphant, Remy grinned at her. “I knew you were special, El. I’ve always known that.”
“God, Remy.” She rubbed her face. “Please stop—”
“Let him speak if he wants to,” Simon said. “Especially since he’s right.”
“But if he’s right, I’m what, exactly?” She threw up her hands. “A general? A freak?”
“A savior,” Simon answered. “A symbol. A queen.”
“But I don’t know how to do this!” Her voice was turning desperate. Good. She felt desperate. “How to fight the Emperor? I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
Or if I even want to try.
Fighting to save friends and allies was one thing. But fighting for the world was not a task she appreciated having dropped in her lap.
Zahra looked curiously at her. She knew the wraith could sense what she was thinking, and she didn’t care.
“I’ll help you,” Simon said, still watching the fire. “You won’t be alone in this. Not for a moment.”
She stiffened. “What if you fail me?”
“I won’t.”
“What if I fail?”
“Then we’re doomed even more completely than we already were. But at least we’ll have tried, hmm?”
“Tell me this, then,” Eliana said, “if you’re so confident: Will I be like her?”
The fire painted Simon’s piercing blue gaze a flickering amber. “Like your mother?”
Beside her, Remy flinched.
“Like the Blood Queen,” Eliana said sharply.
“Will you be like her? That’s a question I can’t answer. Only time can do so. And you.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
At the bitter note in her voice, Simon turned and watched her for a long moment. When he spoke again, it was gentle. “I’ll tell Malik to wait a few hours before your meeting with the kings. You can rest, talk with Remy. I’ll send for food.”
She shook her head, cutting him off. She couldn’t talk to Remy, not yet. And hours of waiting would make the inevitable feel even worse than it already did.
“Food, yes,” she said, “and lots of it. But after that…bring the kings to me.” Then she rose to her feet and told the first lie of her new life: “I’m ready to begin.”
Elements in the Empirium Trilogy
In Celdaria, Rielle’s kingdom, the Church is the official religious body. Citizens worship in seven elemental temples that stand in each Celdarian city. Temples range from simple altars in a single, small room to the elaborate, lavish temples of the capital city, Âme de la Terre. Similar religious institutions exist in nations around the world of Avitas. In Eliana’s time, most elemental temples have been destroyed by the Undying Empire, and few people still believe in the Old World stories about magic, the saints, and the Gate.