IGNITE (The Heir Chronicles Book 1) Page 5

  We finally reach down and I walk straight over to Altin and Drake while Leo stands back and talks with a man whose name I think is Denor Sulez.

  "Hey guys!" I say and grab a glass of wine. "You look gorgeous, Fena," Altin says while Drake's lips are set in a straight line.

  "Do you pretend like you don't like me, or you really don't like me or are you like this with everyone," I ask him. I know that that is purely blunt but I have never been known to really think through my words before I say them.

  "It's not that I don't like you, it's just that . . . I don't think you should be here."

  "So in short, you don't like my very presence, way to go." I wink at Altin and we both laugh and Drake tries to protest but I laugh and later he also laughs-ish.

  "Hey, where is Adrian?" I ask. "Oh, yeah, about that, it's actually his birthday," he says as I choke on my drink. "What!" I say, still choking on the drink. "Hey, easy orange," Drake mocks but I ignore it. "And I'm assuming that you knew, considering you are his 'best buddy'." I use my hands to gesture the double quotes.

  "Actually, yes, I did," he replies, zipping his lips to prevent himself from laughing.

  "And I am also assuming that the thought of telling me about it would've crossed my mind because I am assuming again that you knew that I didn't know about this welcome-slash-`birthday party for Adrian."

  "As a matter of fact, I did, but you know me, I wanted to get a reaction from you when you found out about this, you know, it demonstrates whether or not you can think on your feet," he smirks.

  "Ugh, I will be back in a minute," I say and turn to leave. "Fena, come up with something fast, and don't tell Adrian that all this is for his birthday celebration. We want to surprise him. And please come before nine," Altin looks at me pleadingly and I nod and walk away.

  "Fena," Leo calls after me.

  "Leo, listen, I have a problem," I tell him and continue, "This party is Adrian's surprise birthday party, and clearly, people don't like to give a head start to other people. Bottom line, I have to come up with a gift for him as I think every other noble already has something for his gift." And it was true. I had seen almost all the nobles holding presents which I think are for Adrian.

  I look at the clock and see that it's already eight, so before Leo can reply, I take off in the direction of . . . somewhere.

  My feet lead me to my room and I pace around in my room, thinking about the possible gifts.

  I finally give up and settle on just wishing him "Happy birthday". Although I know that I will be made fun of considering that I have been in the palace for about a month now and I should be the one who gives him the best gift.

  I stand up to leave but as I am about to leave, something on my bedside table catches my eye. It's a locket. I am sure it wasn't there when I came in. I pick it up and observe it closely. It has some interesting engravings on it, similar to the one I am wearing. I don't know how it came here, but a voice in my head is saying that I should give him this as the present.

  I make up my mind and keep it in a box which I ordered a maid to bring me and I descend down the stairs and into the room in time. There are still fifteen minutes left till Adrian is supposed to enter. I walk over to my earlier spot. I notice Leo interacting with the nobles as if they are his childhood buddies.

  I'm going say the word which now seems to define my whole life. Weird.

  I walk over and keep the box on the table and grab the glass of wine that I had left there earlier. Suddenly the whole room starts to swirl. Drake and Altin are talking, but I can hear them no more. My head starts to pain and I sit down but no one seems to notice me anymore. I feel like I am drifting far away, like I am underwater and I notice that my locket is glowing. I touch it and the moment I touch it, I feel like I am out of the water and I am back again in the same place where I was in my dream earlier this week.

  I look around and see . . . a younger version of me.

  CHAPTER-14

  I turn around and see . . . a younger version of me.

  I am on the dance floor, dancing with . . . Adrian?

  But how am I here, and how do I know that it is me?

  I continue to stare at the two small figures dancing in front of me until my view is intercepted with another boy, about twelve or thirteen years, dancing with someone. Is he Leo?

  Yeah.

  My brain is spilling with questions. Before I can think of something, the younger me, Adrian and the other girl are escorted out the palace. I quickly run behind them but there is a flash of green light.

  "Fena? Fena!" Someone shakes my shoulders and I am jerked back into the present. "Yeah, Altin?" I say.

  He opens his mouth but is interrupted by the announcer. "The king and queen of Iréa."

  A couple, about my parents' age is descending the stairs.

  "That's king Rishan and queen Celenia," Altin whispered. Somehow, it seems that I know them, somehow. I shake that thought away as a maid reaches me with a platter filled with different masks. I pick up an orange one, which matches my dress. It has some jewel-thingy which I really don't know about.

  I put it on just as the lights dim and Adrian enters the darkened room. At first, there is only silence, and the next minute,

  "Happy birthday," is shouted by all the nobles accompanied by polite claps. The king and queen embrace him, followed by Altin and Drake. The nobles are next, including me. I stand in my place until my chance and walk towards him.

  "Happy birthday," I greet him with a wink.

  "Thank you," he answers.

  I hand him the tiny box. He opens it and looks at the locket in surprise. He doesn't say a word, he just stares at it.

  "Adrian?" I say. "Uh, yeah, so, um," he flusters. "Are you okay?" I put a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, it's just, that this, it feels as if this is some kind of part of me which was long lost and forgotten," he says. Although I can't make out any sense out of his words, I nod and smile as he puts it on. He winks at me as he moves over to the next noble.

  I am over by the dessert table, stuffing my face with each and every dessert available. "Now, his majesty, Prince Adrian will choose his partner for the first dance, with our beloved guests, the queen Celenia and the king Rishan of Iréa and our very own Queen Regina and our king Nicholas."

  "May I have this dance," a voice comes up from beside me just when my mouth is completely filled with strawberry tarts. To make it much worse, the whole crowd is staring at me while I silently wish that I evaporate or melt down on the floor. When I realize that none of that is going to happen, I try to chew the tarts as fast as I can, while also being polite.

  "Yes, you majesty," I say, as soon as I have swallowed up most of the tarts in my mouth.

  He gives me a silent smirk and I mentally roll my eyes as he takes my hand and guides me over to the dance floor. We are sandwiched in between the king and queen of our country and those of Iréa.

  I curtsy, just like Adrian had taught me in one of those awfully boring etiquette lessons.

  He places a hand on my waist and holds mine in his other while I rest my hand on his shoulder.

  "The safety of your foot is your responsibility," I whisper in his ear and he chuckles a little. The song starts and we both start off, moving slowly with the rhythm.

  "You deliberately asked me to dance while my face was stuffed, didn't you?" He twirls me and I manage to not fall down. "Yeah, I deliberately had to ask someone to dance."

  I roll my eyes as we continue to glide over the dance floor. I can feel the stares of hundreds of pairs of eyes on me, but the only unusual thing I notice is that I catch the queen of Iréa looking at me with motherly affection more than once. I instead focus on my steps until the song ends and I turn to exit the dance floor when my eye catches something very familiar. The three-jewelled locket. Just like the one in my dreams. I look at my own necklace and Adrian's too. Exactly the same as my dream.

  I exit the dance floor with a determined look on my face. I am determined to find out the truth a
bout the lockets, the truth about myself, the truth about the queen and the truth about my dreams.

  I figure that the only person who can answer my questions is Leo, so I head straight to him. He is taking to a noble, Jackson, I think is his name.

  "Leo," I say in my quiet voice, warning him that that if he tries to ignore me, I will tear him to bits right here.

  He turns towards me and as soon as he sees my furious expression, asks Jackson to excuse him and leads us to a secluded corner.

  "What happened?" He asks worriedly.

  "What happened?! WHAT HAPPENED? All the lies and the truths happened! This happened!" I point to my necklace and then to the one around the Iréan queen's neck.

  He looks at me, lost for words. "I . . . " His voice fades away.

  "Don't lie to me!" I warn. "I think I have a rough idea of the truth, but I need you to confirm it," I say, still furious.

  "Okay, but you'll have to come with me to my room, I can't tell you everything here; it's not safe for you," he says, looking around us as if checking for someone who might be spying on us.

  "Okay," I say and leave the hall with him and go to his room.

  CHAPTER-15

  "Okay, tell me," I say as Leo shuts the door behind him. "Ooookay, but don't freak out, and it's very important that you not utter a word about this to a single soul, promise," he hands out his hand and I put my hand. "Okay," I say sceptically.

  "Okay, here goes," he takes in a deep breath and continues. "There’s no mild way to put it. You are a princess," I stare at him open-mouthed. I open my mouth to say something but he silences me before I can get the word out and continues, "you also have a twin sister and I am your real brother."

  I open my mouth but no words come out.

  "Now, I know what you are thinking, let me explain." He takes my hand and leads me over to sit down on his bed. He turns a chair and sits in front of me.

  "Listen, and listen good, I can't repeat this again," he says and waves his hands in the air in some pattern which familiar to me; like a recurring dream. My dreams! They were all true! Before I have the time to do further in my thoughts, he starts again.

  "You are one of the chosen three. The chosen three are-"

  "The ones who are powerful enough to enter the darkened world and defeat the dark queen. They are chosen when the dark queen rises to power," I say automatically. I never knew that I knew this stuff, but apparently, I do.

  "Yeah. The chosen three are granted the three of nature's greatest powers. The power of water and nature, the power of fire and wind, and finally, the power of time and mind.

  Your sister, Mirella, is the heir of ice, you are the heir of fire, and, we still haven't found the heir of time.

  We knew who you both were when you both were born."

  I open my mouth to ask him why but before I can, he answers already.

  "You both had the marks," he touches a spot on my shoulder. It's like a tattoo. It has flames surrounded by a circle of words written in Hinak. There is something written on it-

  the heir of fire is hereby born, the bearer of the sword of the Clansh.

  It's as if I am noticing it for the first time. Like, it wasn't here until now.....

  "What, how......?" I move in front of the mirror to take a better look at the mark.

  I turn around and say, "tell me everything."

  "I don't think that you know, but we are descended from the Hinaks, the guardians of the Clansh. The Clansh is the source of energy for all the life in this world. If it is destroyed, the whole life in the world gets destroyed. Although, there are many other things that can be achieved from it. Using it, the user can create any creature, and if someone does that, it would be an abomination of nature as it has the power to create even immortal creatures."

  "So, what does it have to do with the chosen three?"

  "The chosen three are blessed with special powers from the Clansh for its protection. They--you three were to be born from when there would be a threat to the safe keeping of the Clansh. When you both were born, somewhere around the world. It is the duty of the finders, like me, to find the chosen three and introduce them to their powers. I knew that I was one of the finders as I too, had a tattoo, or a birthmark, as you want to call it, it said,

  The finder of the chosen three of henceforth born, to enlighten the guardians of the Clansh.

  "It came as no surprise considering we were descended from Hinaks."

  He says all of this while my mouth hangs wide open, about to detach from my jaw.

  "You both were born on the day when a lunar eclipse and a meteor shower. She, during the eclipse and you, during the meteor shower. Now, as far as we know, from the Golden prophecy-"

  "What prophecy?"

  "The Golden prophecy is the most sacred and holy books of the Hinaks. We don't have the real one, but there were several writings from the prophecy which were compiled to form a collection of an almost replica of the Prophecy. Legends say that the Prophecy will only show itself to the Chosen three, that is, of course, either Mirella, you or the Heir of Time. The prophecy contains the method to eliminate or kill any power that poses a threat to the safety and purity of the Clansh."

  "What, happened . . . " I trail off.

  "Oh, that night. It was your eleventh birthday and we were all worried about both of your safety, but, we were all sworn to secrecy to never reveal the true identity of any of the chosen three to anyone except a Hinak. Our mother gave you both your pendants," he pointed to the pendant round my neck.

  "Yeah, I saw that in a dream . . . guess it wasn't just a dream. It was a memory." He nods and continues.

  "That night, all the kings and queens were invited to the palace for the celebration. We had even put up protection spells charms and there were finders and Hinaks everywhere.

  "At about twelve p.m. when the moon was at its fullest, the Dark queen entered and tried to kill the chosen three. Someone tipped her off." I see his face contort at some old memory.

  "She knew that they were in the party that night. She went after you and your sister. We were able to get you out in time, your sister too. But she followed us. We could protect you, but your sister got captured and now, the dark queen is after you."

  "Why is she after us?"

  He looks as if he is debating whether to tell me this or not. "To get to the Clansh, the person or the power will need the Chosen three, their lockets, the sword of the heir of fire, that is, your sword, the whip of the heir of water, and the shield of the heir of time.

  "We don't know how, or why, but we know for sure that these are the elements required to reach the Clansh."

  "What happened to my sister?" I lean forward, absorbing the information slowly.

  "She," he swallows visibly, "We don't know what happened to her. We just know that she has her . . . somewhere."

  "I know where," I say, remembering my dream.

  I know that he wants to tell me more, wants me to know more, but instead of getting a reaction out of him, I get, "let's go."

  CHAPTER-16

  The room is still filled with about a million people.

  "Hey Fena!" Altin comes to me with a glass of champagne in his hand.

  "Oh, uh, hi," I say. I really don't want to explain my absence for the past few minutes.

  Thankfully, I am saved the stress of making up a story when Drake comes over and tells Altin that his parents want to see him.

  "Would you like to dance?" Drake bows and offers his hand to me.

  "Huh?" I had been distracted when he asked that I didn't hear a word he said.

  "I asked, if you would like to dance with me," he replies with a cocky smile.

  I survey the dance floor and find the king of Iréa dancing with the queen.

  "Why not," I take Drake's outstretched hand and let him lead me to the dance floor.

  The band changes the song from an upbeat one to a traditional one.

  He places his one hand on my back and I place one of mine on his sh
oulder while holding his other hand with mine. We start to sway in time with the music and I let him guide me because, let's face it, I'm a terrible dancer and he is, surprisingly, a very good one.

  "Ow," he mutters when I accidentally step on his foot. Third time.

  "Sorry," I say.

  We gradually get more comfortable and I pick up a few steps and manage to not step on his foot again.

  I realize that aside from the fact that Drake is Adrian's friend, I know nothing about him.

  He twirls me, which is a daring move, considering my track record, but I manage to not trip, but slam into him, instead of stopping. I mutter sorry but then, I notice a strange mark on his neck. The same one I saw that night in the hospital room.

  I feel like I have seen it in many places. Like, it means something, I know it, but I don't get a lot of time to think because the next moment, I am twirled again and I manage to come back perfectly.

  "What is on your neck?" Before I know it, the words pour out of my mouth.

  "What?" He seems confused.

  "The tattoo, sort of, on your neck," I point towards his tattoo.

  His eyes widen in shock but he quickly gains his composure back and whispers in my ear, "Meet me in the garden at 11:12 tonight."

  The song ends and we all exchange partners and coincidentally, I end up being the partner of king Rishan.

  He acknowledges me with a warm smile, like the one a father gives his daughter when they meet after a long time.

  The song starts and we start dancing.

  My mind is swirling with questions now. Does he know that I am his daughter? Does he want know about me? Why hasn't he communicated to me in all these years?

  "Your steps are still a little clumsy, like when you were a child," he says, snapping me out of my daze.

  "What?" I ask in shock.

  "I know that you know about your real self. I told Leo to tell you about it today. I knew that you would ask questions. You were always the curious one."

  "You knew?" is all that comes out of my mouth.

  "Yes," he says and leads me out of the dance floor towards a room which I had not noticed before. Maybe because it was in a corner where the lighting is not very bright.