Flames of Fury

Magnolia

The temperature of the room plummets, the mood sobers.

“He’ll be avenged, princess. Illian is going to suffer ten fold.” My dad assures me.

“Bastian, this is overwhelming for everyone. Why don’t we leave the kids to relax and catch up. I trust the boys won’t let her out of their sight.”

“No ma’am,” Xander answers immediately, earning himself a snarl from the Alphas.

“Make sure she rests,” my mom looks at each of the guys one by one to make sure they understand that it’s not a request but an order, a Queen’s order. “Girls, why don’t you come with me and we’ll get you settled into your own rooms?” My mom addresses Kat and Ember.

Ember looks at me for approval, I know she’s reluctant to leave my side but she deserves to rest. Besides, I still have to deal with the Alphas and whatever Accalia meant by wiping their memories.

My uncle and parents escort Kat and Ember from my office, leaving me, Incandis, Xander, and the Alphas standing around in a loose circle.

Several moments pass by in an increasingly uncomfortable silence, but ultimately it is Ro that breaks the silence.

“So, you’re Xander? You’re the one we’re supposed to talk to?”

Xander nods his head. “I know you’re angry, and I know you’re going to be even angrier in a minute, but for what it’s worth I was just following orders.”

The twins scoff in unison. “How do we know this isn’t still some trick? That you’re not just planting false memories to suit some ulterior motive by the very people who allegedly put you up to the task in the first place?” Varian accuses Xander.

“You’re asking me for proof?” Xander almost laughs. The Alphas’ expressions remain stern and deadly serious, they’re not convinced this isn’t some elaborate plan to trap them into mating someone, mating me.

Xander looks to Incandis, exchanging a private and meaningful look. Incandis’ eyes enlarge, his mouth is popped open like a trout. He’s nervous. It doesn’t immediately make sense to me, they’ve been best friends their whole lives. What could Incandis be nervous about?

Xander looks again at the twins. “You’re going to have to trust me that it’s the truth. I have the ability to manipulate memories to an extent. I can make someone forget things completely, like locking them away until they want them unlocked again…if they ever do. I can’t give someone a false memory, but what I can do is distort the truth of a memory. I can change small details, like people, places, time, but not an entire memory.”

Varian crosses his arms over his chest, skepticism etched into his eyes. “Again, how can we believe that?”

Xander looks again at my brother. I’m looking back and forth between the two of them trying to intercept whatever non-verbal signals they’re sending to one another.

Incandis gives his head the smallest shake, that nervous expression still hanging on his features.

Xander stuffs his hands in his pockets, his shoulders are hunched up to his ears and his gaze drops to the floor.

“Xander, don’t…” Incandis pleads, taking a step closer to Xander in some last ditch attempt to prevent the next words from spilling off his chest.

Xander lifts his head up immediately locking eyes with me. The expression in his eyes almost brings me to my knees. He looks sad and broken. He looks guilty.

“Because I’ve used my gift on Mags.”

I scoff in disbelief. I may not have known what his gift was but I know Xander would never do that to me. He must be lying to get the twins to trust him.

But that expression on his face…that haunted, pained look doesn’t fade. It’s real. Fuck. What if he really did wipe a memory? What memory could he have wanted to erase?

“Can you give back memories?” I ask.

“I never really take them, more like…bury them. So yes. I can un-bury them, I can make it so you remember.” He says, his voice impossibly small.

“Then do it.” I command.

He’s surprised by my immediate command, but he’s unable to say no to me.

“Now?”

I nod and he gestures for me to sit.

“Alright, Mags. Let’s talk.”

Everything around me disappears. I’m sitting in a chair and all around me is a boundless black void. The room is so dark, in fact, that not even my blindsight can pierce its veil. The only light source is a lamp hanging down from above.

Without warning, the black void lifts to reveal one of the training grounds in the grove. In the distance I make out three figures training together. Two boys and a girl it looks like.

I tentatively walk closer to these three warriors. When I’m about fifteen feet away I stop, getting a good look now at who I’m supposed to be watching.

What I notice first is the girl’s hair. It’s white like mine, right down to the pearlescent shimmer. When she turns her body my heart freezes. That girl is me. I’m a hundred years younger, but it’s definitely me.

The two boys next to me are Incandis and Xander. They’re sparring with me. We’re all laughing, the boys are critiquing my form, gently correcting me and guiding me.

I remember this day.

It was one of the very first times I was allowed to train with Incandis and Xander, future guardians of the grove. I was so excited to be able to be matched against someone who’d pose a challenge. But both of them have 150 years on me, so I know they’re going to pull their punches…at least at first.

So far nothing about this memory is any different than how I’ve remembered it for 100 years.

Right about now Xander will taunt Incandis. “Come on then, D. Mags and me against you. Loser has to do double night patrol.”

“Deal.”

We circle one another for a minute before Xander makes the first move. The three of us effortlessly sparring together, dodging and rolling in perfect synchronization.

But midway through something changes in the guys, testosterone gets in the way and they lose sight of me in order to focus on beating the other.

Incandis is hitting Xander with his full strength, and Xander so far is managing to hold his own. But I’m young, I’m fifty, I’m not used to seeing them fight like this up close. I get worried. So I pull on Xander’s arm to get his attention when — crack!

The sound is so abrasive it sends ringing through my ears. I watch everything as if in slow motion.

My younger self collapses to the ground. Xander and Incandis watch in horror as my limp body makes no attempt to brace for impact.

Wait, this isn’t right. This isn’t what I remember.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck! Mags!” Incandis panics. “Mags! I’m so sorry. Mags?”

“We need to get her to the infirmary.” The words are barely off Xander’s tongue before Incandis scoops me up and teleports to the infirmary.

The void returns for a brief moment before revealing a new scene. I’m laying in a bed in the infirmary, my face is swollen and bruised beyond recognition.

Incandis enters the room, running both hands through his hair.

“Hey, how’d it go with your mom?” Xander asks cautiously.

“Well obviously she’s furious. Fuck, Xan, I didn’t even see her there! I thought she had bowed out.”

“D, it’s okay, it was an accident. The doctor said all the bones are healed, we just need to wait for the swelling to go down.”

“Mom has forbidden me from ever training with her again. I can’t lift a finger near her.” Incandis sits down, his elbows on his knees and his hands laced behind his neck. “Mags will never forgive me.”

“D, stop that. Of course she’ll forgive you.”

“No she won’t…because I’ll never forgive myself. I should never have given in, I should have told her no. I should have kept her safe.”

“I know this may not be what you want to hear but, I mean, she took a good knock to the head…she may not even remember what happened.”

“She’ll wake up and be in pain, she’ll remember that. Fuck! I wish I could undo —.” Incandis lifts his head up sharply to look at Xander before rising to his feet wagging a finger like he’s made a discovery.

“Xander, make her forget. When she’s fully healed, please, wipe this from her memory. I don’t want to see the memory of this day flash behind her eyes every time I decline training with her.”

“Incandis…”

“Please! I’m begging you. Please don’t let her suffer with this memory for eternity.”

Once more the black void wraps itself around me like a blanket before exposing one final scene. My younger self sits across from Xander in my bedroom.

“Alright Mags, let’s talk.”

When my eyes lift open I am back in my office again, sitting knee to knee across from Xander. Incandis and the twins are around somewhere behind me.

I once thought, not that long ago, that what I went through in that cave was the worst torture I’d ever endured. But even that pales in comparison to the feeling of betrayal that guts me to the core right now.

My brother and my best friend, my guardian, invaded my mind and manipulated my memories. I feel violated in a way I haven’t felt since Ian. Xander entered my mind without my consent, without regard for my wishes or feelings on the matter. And it was my brother who told him to do it.

I lift myself off the couch. Xander shooting up from his seat to offer me a hand which I vehemently decline. When I’m upright, I bring my eyes to his and open them slowly. A single tear escapes my eye. It’s all the sadness I’ll allow myself to express outwardly because I need to make room for the fury.

I’m burning with heat fueled by my anger. My hands are gripped so tightly into fists that I can feel my nails beginning to draw blood.

I release the tension in my right fist, allowing my hand to open. Maybe he sees it coming, maybe he doesn’t. But not a heartbeat passes before my flat palm connects with his face.

I know that he knows he deserves worse because his eyes tell me as much.

“How could you?” I turn my head and find my brother at a loss of what to do or say. “How could either of you do that to me?”

For the first time in my life I feel completely alone. My own family betrayed me — twice. Once when they wiped out my memories, and again when they wiped those of my mates. And because of that, I don’t even have Varian and Ro to lean on now.

I survived Drow Hollow only to be broken apart in my own home.

Quietly, I exit the room not sparing any of them a single glance, and head to my bedroom to fall apart in private.