Chapter Fifteen

 

The rush to Palace is a blur, and before I know it, I can feel the heat of the flames from the blaze in front of me. There are screams from the back of the Palace and I rush through the fire with no thought for myself, ignoring Dante’s calls to stop. I know that scream.

Sophie.

If Sophie’s hurt, I swear to anyone who is listening, I will tear whoever hurt her limb from limb.

Inside, the smoke affects my visibility but I can still hear her. I move as quickly as I can through the rubble of what was once the kitchens of the Palace. I keep an eye out for anyone trapped, but I see no one as I work my way deeper into the destruction.

Blind instinct brings me to entrance hall. I don’t know that Sophie is up there, but I am sure I heard her.

“You’ll never save her…” I hear the hiss as if its inside my head. I whip around to find the source of the voice but I see nothing. In the background, Sophie’s screams grow smaller.

“You won’t save any of them,” the hiss taunts again. Bitch, game on. You don’t hurt the ones I love and get away with it. Ignoring the voice, I charge up the stairs and rush towards my rooms, taking little notice of the growing flames. The door is closed, and I try to rush it but I’m thrown backwards. My arm erupts into an almost unbearable throb where I hit the door.

“Addie!” I turn to see Xander running towards me through the smoke. My vision blurs and I know the fumes are starting to get to me. I can’t survive the heat and smoke much longer.

“Sophie is in there. Michael too. We need to get them out,” I yell to him. The flames are licking the walls and ceilings around us.

“I can get them. I promise. You need to get out of here. It could collapse at any second.”             

“Now is not the time to look after me, Xander. Help me get the god damn door open!” I scream, before kicking at the door again. He takes off in the opposite direction, going in one of the other adjoining rooms as I keep trying to attack the door. All the shit I’ve been through, all the people I’ve fought, and now a door is my biggest obstacle.

Xander re-appears pulling me back.

“The ceiling has collapsed in there, I can’t see anyone, but we can get in through the window. We’ll just need to go out fly in.”

“That sounds reasonable,” I say to him, though most reason left me when that voice taunted me. I feel as if I can’t quite get a grip on myself. I try to shake it off, and follow Xander back into the room and watch as he stretches out his wings. I follow suit.

“You ready?” He asks, and I nod resolutely. They have to be okay.

“Then let’s go.”

I follow him as he ducks out of the window and moves round to the window I’ve stared from a thousand times. He touches the glass and takes his hand away quickly. “It’s too hot. If we open the window, if could cause and explosion.”

“I am the Reborn, the Princess Valoire, and you’re trying to tell me you think it might be too hot to save two of the people I love most in the world? I don’t think so. There has to be a way to get to them. I will not give up on them.”

“I told you you’d never save them,” the hiss taunts again in my head.

“Shut up!!” I scream, as I feel the darkness inside me burst out of its box. I feel as my arm rise as it shoots fire towards the window. I watch as the flames erupt in the room before coming straight at me. The fierce heat envelopes me and somewhere in the distance, I hear the shouts from Xander and the screams from the ground below me.

But my demon-self welcomes the heat from the flames. She was born of fire. Soon, I am in the room.

“Are you coming?” I ask a shocked Xander.

He falters but follows me through the broken window into the destruction of what was once my room. The flames have died back but slabs of concrete, blackened by the fire fill the room. Xander and I search but find no-one.

“We’ll find them,” he says, trying to comfort me, but the darkness still has hold of me, and try as I might, all I feel now is cold. I fight it back, thinking of Sophie, letting the determination and the love I feel for her be the thing that brings me back.

“We should go and help the others,” I say to him, taking another glance around the room. Maybe I never heard her after all. I follow him outside and back to the chaos at the front of the Palace, losing myself in the robot like movements of making sure everyone is okay.

After what feels like hours, but can’t have been more than half of one, I start to feel like myself again, the exhaustion of the day wears thin.

“Addie, there you are!” Dante says, rushing towards me. He wraps me in his arms and I sink into him.

“I’ve been worried sick. I lost you in the rush to get up here. I had a feeling you were safe, but when I couldn’t find you, I worried.”

“Who do you think could have done this?” I ask.

“I don’t know, but who could possibly hate the crown so much to try and destroy it this way?”

“I don’t know, but when I find them, they’re going to wish I never had,” I say, setting my mouth in a grim line, and thinking of my mother. I’ve been afraid to say it, to tell anyone of my suspicions – but somewhere deep in my heart, I know it was her. Only she hates me and the people enough to do this.

“Any news on Kellan? Sophie or Michael?” I ask.

“Kellan made it out safely. He was one of the first out, and then he was whisked away by his personal guard so he was safe, despite his protests.”

I nod, wondering just how much protest he put up. He’s never exactly been the hero type.

“Michael was brought in to the triage centre a while ago. He was out cold. Apparently, they pulled him out from a pile of rubble, took a pretty nasty blow to the head and they are keeping an eye on his lungs to check there wasn’t too much smoke damage. He was near the meeting rooms, which is where the blast seems to have originated.

I look at the palace and see the fire still raging, ravaging the palace as it burns hot.

“How is it still burning this hot?” I ask, as another explosion rocks the ground beneath us. I look up and see flames, tinged with green and look to Dante, confusion and panic on my face.

“Hell Fire,” he gasps, and I notice the flames come from the areas where the cells were. I have no idea what hell fire is, but it can’t be anything good. I rush forward to help, and am pulled back by Xander.

“No, Addie. You need to stay here, you can’t risk yourself like that. Hell fire is dangerous to us all. Fae, Fallen, Human. The only ones it cannot hurt are demons. You need to stay here and let us handle this.”

“But…”

“Addie, you are a Princess. Stay here with, Dante. We have this,” he tells me, nodding to Kaden and they both take flight, circling above the flames before Xander dives. I hear Kaden call out to him, I can’t make out his face from here, but I know Kaden. The frantic movements and his shouts tell me that whatever is happening can’t’ be good.

“Dante, I have to…”

“No, Addie. Do as he asked. Please?” He pleads, and I still, holding my breath waiting for Xander to rise from the flames. I might not have chosen him, but this can’t be how it ends. This one act of craziness, of terror, cannot be how this story ends.

Kaden dives, before emerging from the flames moments later, and the sight before me takes my strength, and I feel my knees give out as I watch them come to us. Kaden lands before me Xander, barely recognisable in his arms, protecting a crying terrified Sophie.

Medics descend on us, taking Sophie from his arms and checking her over, as others try to fuss around Xander, as he tries to wave them off. I feel the tears run down my face and the charred and burnt face that I love so dearly.

“Addie,” he manages to say, coughs wracking his body.

“Don’t, they need to help you. Don’t speak.”

“Too late,” he croaks and I look up to Kaden, the devastation on his face mirroring my own.

“I only just got you back,” Kaden says, his voice thick with tears, as he sinks to his knees on Xanders other side.

“I saved her for you. I had to make sure she was okay,” Xander wheezes, and I take his hand in mine. It's some of the very little skin he has left that is untouched by flame.

“Xander,” I start.

“No, Addie. Do not cry. You have her. She could have been ours. Our girl. I had to save her for you. You, no more pain.” His jumbled words spill out and I try to talk but a sob wracks my body and I can’t control it. He sacrificed himself for me. For Sophie. To give me her, as if she were our own daughter. He knew I couldn’t have him, but wanted to me to have her still.

“Love you, forever.” He mutters, his eyes fluttering before he looks at Kaden.

“I’ll see you in Addatria, brother.” He says before the breath leaves his body and doesn’t return.