12. King of Fire

Avalyn

'You are needed in the Throne Room, Avalyn.' Dimitri mind-linked me.

'Is everything okay?' I'm a little shocked that Nik wasn't contacted in case of a problem. He was much more equipped to solve one than me.

'I'm not sure.' He replied which confused me.

'I'm coming.' I rushed to the Throne Room. The guards opened the door and I saw two guards standing in the middle of the room. And between them, stood a man with his hands cuffed behind his back. All I could see was their back since they were facing the front.

Dimitri was standing in front of them, talking to the guards in low voices but he went silent when I entered.

"What is it, Dimitri? Who is he?" I asked.

"I knew it," a guard hissed as they turned around.

I was shocked to see that the captured man was Eliyah. There were a few small cuts and scrapes on his body along with a little dirt here and there, but otherwise, he looked fine.

"What is going on?" I demanded. Solemnly, Dimitri came and stood besides me. This was totally out of character for him.

"This slave is a runaway, Queen Avalyn. I found him wandering around in the woods." A guard replied.

Eliyah was looking at the floor but his face was impassive.

"He claims to be yours, Queen Avalyn." The other guard added. "And that you have given him the permission to roam around freely in the pack. We are aware that your only personal slave is Tessa." He said and then quickly added, "and April but she is just the nanny of Prince Adrian and Princess Vanessa. The reason we are here is that the slave wasn't wearing a collar. He told us the reason but we weren't sure so we decided that it would be best to bring him to you first."

"Thank you so much," I smiled, "and yes, Eliyah belongs to me. I got him recently and this morning, I send him in the town so he would be familiar with it for when I send him to do any task." Eliyah looked up at me in shock. "And his collar is still being made."

The guard believed my answer and smiled. "I knew no one would be foolish enough to throw your name around like that or run away from you, Queen Avalyn."

"Why was he wandering in the woods? Those woods were a little too far from the town. I still believe he was trying to run away, Queen Avalyn." The first guard said earnestly. "He isn't admitting the truth to escape punishment."

"I'm sure he just got lost, right Eliyah?" I asked.

He nodded, his head lowering again.

I smiled at the guards, "thank you so much. Both of you. You are doing your jobs spectacularly. And thank you again for finding him and bringing him back."

Both of their smiles grew, "thank you, Queen Avalyn," And then they took off Eliyah's cuffs and then lowered their heads before they left.

"Familiar with town? Got lost? Why would you lie?" Dimitri asked, shaking his head, "I expected better from you."

He sounded deeply hurt and my heart constricted. The last thing I want is to hurt my family. And my actions actually could have hurt tens of thousands of people. "I did send him out to get familiar with the pack." I wasn't lying about that part. "But it was yesterday afternoon." My eyes lowered.

"Why didn't you tell us he ran away?" He asked.

"I knew about it." I murmured contritely.

"You knew?" His eyes reflected disappointment. And it cut deep. Dimitri has never looked at me that way. He has never looked at me with anything except love and utmost respect. "He could have exposed our existence to humans. He cou—"

"I wouldn't have, okay?" Eliyah cut in. "And there is no need to make her feel bad. It's not her fault. It's on me. You can punish me if you want."

Dimitri ignored him, his eyes on me. "We are your people, Queen Avalyn." I gnawed on my lip as my eyes burned with new-formed tears. I hated him calling me with my title. "And you risked our entire race's welfare and safety for one human." He shook his head and said possessively. "You're our Queen."

Eliyah opened his mouth to argue but I shook my head at him and he fell silent. There was no point in defending me. I need to take responsibility for my actions. I know what I had been doing was wrong but I still went ahead and did it. I shouldn't have done that. It wasn't even just wrong, it was betrayal to all supernatural races. It easily could have led to a crime of the highest order.

"I'm sorry." I said, feeling genuinely extremely remorseful. I'm the Queen. Only the best is expected of me. And I let everyone down. "I'll do better now."

"It's fine," Dimitri smiled but it looked strained. "But I'll have to tell Nikolai."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to be the one to tell him." He nodded at that. "Also, next time, please don't say it like that. I'm your Queen, yes. But I'm their Queen as well. They are my people too. They are a part of our Kingdom and this is their home too."

He smiled, almost as if he had expected me to comment about it. After a final nod he took his leave. I knew he was still hurt. And I realised that I did put Eliyah's wishes over the safety of thousands of people. It was wrong. I should do better than that. I am better than that. I know I am.

Eliyah looked at me and said quietly, "sorry."

"It's not your fault. You behaved like anyone else would have." I replied. "I want to know why you did it. Did I do something? Was it something I said that you didn't like maybe?"

He shook his head dejectedly. "You've treated me better than anyone else in my entire life." And then added with a snort, "even my own mother."

I took a seat on the step that led to the thrones and patted the space next to me. He looked at me and I knew he was thinking— why was I, a Queen, sitting on the floor. But he sat down besides anyways.

"Talk to me, Eliyah. It will help you ease your pain. And maybe I'll understand you better too."

He released a breath. "You want to listen to my story? A slave's? Won't that be a huge waste of time?"

"Let me be the judge of that." I smiled.

"I'm actually from the Slave Island." What the hell? Slave Island? He must have seen the confusion is on my face. "It's one of the islands of Ovzdusia. There, the slaves are bred. They stay with their birth-givers till they are five and then they are taken away from their 'homes'."

My eyes widened. What the hell?

"The boys are sent to train in different types of fighting techniques. And the girls are sent to learn about housekeeping stuff. And the ones who grow up to become beautiful are forced to become sluts and whores."

I winced at his crudeness.

"Sorry." He said softly. "After our training is completed, the strongest ones are turned into vampires and the rest of us are re-trained to do different tasks. And then we are sold to the highest bidder. It's Ovzdusia's biggest income. I've had one Master and two Mistresses-three, counting you in four years."

"Adira was a Lady and was much more demanding than the others. Thank you for buying her for me by the way—she is the only person I enjoyed killing. She had an entire house where strong male slaves were trained to become gladiators. And I was always the winning bet—I've never lost a fight. Which was why I was her favourite. Also because...because I was the best at-at giving pleasure."

He turned to look at my tear streaked face, "why are you crying?"

"Oh I'm so sorry this happened to you, Eliyah!" I hugged him. "I'm sorry you've had such a tough life. I'm so sorry you had to kill all those people when you didn't want to. I promise that you will never be treated like that here. You don't need to carry the burden of their lives. You did what you had to do to survive. It's okay."

His arms came around me awkwardly, "it wasn't your fault. And thank you." He held me for a second before his hold tightened as he repeated, "thank you." His voice was thick with emotions this time around, but resolute.

I smiled and backed up, "so you don't want to leave anymore?"

"I don't have anywhere else to go," he shrugged and then added in a kinder tone, "and I don't think I'll find anyone else who will be nice to me after I've been nothing but rude to them."

There was a sadness in his tone that I wanted to erase. I wanted to make him smile.

"I am pretty nice, aren't I?" I flipped my hair and said with a teasing smirk.

His eyes warmed as if he knew exactly what I was trying to do. And he smiled, "nice isn't a term I'd use for someone who has built schools and hospitals and orphanages and old-age homes. Or someone who no one has a single bad thing to say about, or someone who is loved and respected by all." He had definitely done some roaming around the pack. "I'd say you're awesome... Mistress."

Nikolai

"There is something important I need to tell you," Dimitri entered my office. "Well actually it's just my and Max's theory but we're pretty sure it's true."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember the beach house Max was training Natalia in? The one that caught on fire?" He asked. Why is he bringing that up right now?

"Where are you going with this?" Why is he beating around the bush?

"We think that it's not Avalyn who did that. It was you." He said.

"Did you fall off your bed this morning and hit your head too hard on the floor?" I rolled my eyes.

"Think about it, Nikolai." He said, ignoring my question. "That house didn't catch on fire until after you came there. You were furious too, remember?"

"You do remember that Ava is the one with the magic, right? Or did that fall made you lose your memories too?"

"Magic yes. But elements, no. You're the one with fire. Remember when Avalyn was shot and Zakyra and her men started burning?" He asked and I nodded. Ava was shot. I can't forget it even it I want to. It has burnt a hole in my brain, that image is here to stay. "Don't you think that's odd? She had affinity with fire. She controlled fire and was immune to it, like you and Avalyn are. But she burned to her death, Nikolai. And Avalyn had passed out by then. You were the one who was conscious and furious."

I can't believe he was actually implying this...

"Come on, don't give me that look, brother. Let's try it—light this desk on fire," he pointed to my desk.

I turned around to face it. "Abracadabra, desk, light yourself up on fire." I said flatly and obviously, nothing happened. I looked back at my dumbass younger brother, "see, smartass?"

"Do it like you mean it!" He said in a serious tone. And you don't take Dimitri lightly when he uses that tone. I turned back to the desk and concentrated on lighting it up on fire, like how I often tell Ava to concentrate to use her powers. Slowly and then all at once.

I opened my eyes and there was nothing, just as I had expected. I looked back at Dimitri and he was still staring at my desk. And then his lips parted and his trembling finger raised to point at it.

My nose detected the smell of fire. I whirled around and true to his word, my entire desk was on fire and it was only getting worse. Fuck. "No, no, no!" My desk has very important papers on it! I imagined the fire extinguishing without any harm. And that actually happened! The fire was out instantly, leaving the desk behind with not a single mark.

I walked forward and placed my hand on the surface. It was hot but it didn't bother me. The fire surely happened, I hadn't imaged it.

"You hair was blond and a little orangish and red. It was the colour of...fire. Like it is when Avalyn touches it. And your eyes turned golden." Dimitri spoke in awe.

What the fuck.

"I'm just a werewolf, Dimitri. This isn't natural. And we don't have powers like this, only royal vampires do." I whispered.

"But you're a werewolf with the purest alpha bloodline ever. It's got to mean something." He replied. "Have you noticed something else? Everyone kneels in front of you when you do something big—fire related. Every time. You give out too much power and energy to not submit to you. Hell, Max knelt too. And at that time, he wasn't a pack member either."

I had no idea.

"Also, I know it sounds ridiculous but the sky agrees with you. Whenever you're angry, it thunders and then lightening occurs and when you're sad, it's gloomy and it rains. But it's all nice and sunny otherwise. Hell, we are on the top of the tallest mountain of this fucking dimension and it's spring, Nikolai. We should have been freezing our balls off in these clothes!" He motioned towards the shorts and the plain t-shirt that we were wearing. Everything that Dimitri was spewing out of his mouth was true. It just didn't make sense. And I liked logic. I liked it quite a lot.

This is too much information to take in.

I looked down at my hands. I can control fire. Technically, I should be able to control it after I kill Zakyra. You obtain the powers of people you kill. But I could do it even before that. It does not make sense!

If there was one person who could answer my questions, then it was a witch. And old one who knows all about this stuff. Most old witches do. And there are no witches in Soare-Luna or Mozog. They were a rare species. And then Adrian's words echoed in my mind. Adrik has witches. And if what Adrian is saying is the truth than he's upto no good. As always.

I called Max and asked without any preliminaries. "Does Poziarne have a witch? A old wise one who probably knows everything."

"Poziarne has a few witches for sure but I'm not sure about the knows everything thing." He said, "what is it?"

"I need some answers."

"Okay. Give me some time, I'll call you." And then he cut the phone.

At night, when I got back to my bedroom, Ava was sitting on the swing out in the balcony, with both her legs folded up, reading a book. And she was wearing her little silk and lace nightdress that ended just below her butt.

It must be a little nippy— it usually got a lot colder after sundown. So I bundled up a blanket, slid open the window and walked out. She looked up and immediately gave me a sweet dimpled smile.

I saddled up besides her and covered our legs with the blanket. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and she snuggled into me. "Had dinner?"

Both of us had a lot of work today and I got the notice that she had been out and about in the whole pack today, doing random checks of various supplies and talking to people. She nodded. "At a cute cafe opened up recently. We should go together sometime."

"Sure." I nodded. "It's a date." I kissed her forehead. "There's something I need to tell you."

"I need to tell you something too." She mumbled, closed her book and gave me her full attention.

"You first." I said.

She told me the entire situation with what happened with Eliyah, why she did what she did and what she was thinking at that time. And then she told me about the talk she had with Dimitri and then the one with Eliyah.

"Well if you know what you did was wrong then I don't see the point of saying anything."

"Really? I thought you'll be mad." She said softly.

"Your intentions weren't wrong. But the way you went about it was. And you're the Queen, Love. You need to make your own decisions and you need to know that every decision of yours is going to affect the entire kingdom. And this one could have affected all the supernatural races."

"I'm sorry." She said in a small voice. "Will I be punished? I broke a very important law."

"No, Love." I took her hand in mine and kissed her knuckles. "Technically you didn't leak the secret. Your actions could have led to it. But nothing happened, so no. You've got to be careful though. Your reason was good but it doesn't justify your actions. Things could have gone real bad real fast. When you make a decision, I need you to think not only about the person you're dealing with but about everyone else too. You need to do better than that. You can do better than that."

"I know." She whispered.

"What would you have done if you could redo it?" I asked.

"I would have stopped him from leaving. Forcing him to stay would be wrong but it would be the right decision. And then I could have talked to him and tried to make it better."

"See? You're the perfect Mistress and Queen." I smiled, caressing the soft skin of her arm with my thumb. "This was the correct course of action."

"I'll do better next time, Mi Amor." She replied. "Now what did you want to tell me?"

I showed her instead.

I placed my palm in front of us and lit it up on fire. I saw the reflection of fire in her mesmerising eyes. They looked amber in colour because of the reflection of fire.

"How did you do it?" She whispered in awe after I extinguished it. It still difficult for me to comprehend too.

"Remember how I told you that Zakyra burned to her death?" I asked and she nodded.

"Zakyra was the Queen of the Fire Kingdom. She was the Queen of Fire. She yielded fire at her will, she's the unburnt Queen—which means that just like us, fire doesn't affect her. She doesn't burn in it."

"But she did." She frowned.

"She did." I agreed. "And remember when Max was training Natalia at the beach house and you went there to give food? And you ended up getting very angry at what you saw?" She had caused a lot of destruction but it wasn't fire. I also realised that if she really had affinity with fire, she would have burned Max to his death. She was that mad.

Thank goddess that wasn't the case.

She winced at the memory but nodded.

"And then the house caught on fire when were going back and forth?"

She nodded again.

"It wasn't you. It was me." I told her.

"I don't understand."

"Remember during the battle I asked you to light those people on fire at the beach behind our house and you couldn't do it? But then I helped you and only very few caught on fire?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"It's because you don't have an affinity with fire. I do. I also believe that I was the one who burned those people because while asking you to do it, I was thinking hard about it too." I explained.

"Let's try it out. Light the coffee table on fire." I motioned towards the a few feet away from us.

She brought her hands up and turned her palms towards the table, concentrating on lighting the table on fire.

Nothing happened.

"Now let me try." I murmured and then the surface of the table was swept in fire for a couple of seconds before it extinguished.

Her lips parted. I could feel her pride through our bond—the pride to have a powerful mate like me.

"Nikolai Volkov, the King of fire." She tested and it rolled of her tongue perfectly. "I like it. A lot."

"I do too." I pulled her on my lap so she was straddling me. She squealed at the suddenness but then her eyes turned hooded upon seeing my heated expression.

Her long hair were covering the little dress from me. I pushed them behind her shoulders, marvelling how they turned silver under my touch as always.

I groaned when my eyes fell on the little number she was wearing. It was a deep v-neck, coming down to the middle of her cleavage. The top part was all lace, the design teasingly showing the hint of her nipples. And then the almost translucent silk part started from just below her breasts.

This was definitely a new one.

I licked my lips hungrily. All mine. She was all mine. My hand reached under her dress only to feel her sopping wet folds.

Fuck. She wasn't wearing an underwear.

She bit her lip and a little moan slipped out. The thin little string holding the dress over her shoulder slipped down, exposing the upper swell of her breast.

She hadn't even moved.

But the seductive look on her face told me it was her plan all along. Come and get me, it said.

The look alone set me ablaze. How can anyone have so much power over someone? She has to be sent by the gods. She's made for me.

How can I love her so much? Every night I fall asleep thinking that I can't love her possibly more than I do. But then when I wake up in the morning and see her sleeping besides me peacefully, I fall a little deeper. With each smile she gives me, each touch she bestows me with, each kiss she blesses me with, I fall for her all over again.

My heart felt so full with love, I couldn't take it anymore.

"You've got to know what you're doing to me, Love." I whispered, my voice thick.

She tilted her head a little, a knowing smile formed on her lips. And then she placed her hands on my shoulder and played with the hair on the nape of my neck.

I shivered as tingles spread across my body.

She leaned closer, brushing her breasts against my chest and purred in my ear. "What am I doing to you, Master?"

My breath hitched and my hold on her waist tightened. I'm sure my fingers were digging in her flesh a little painfully but I couldn't stop for the life of me.

Ava rarely took control. And it was always a pleasurable game because it was so new to me. To us. A game of who will give in first and jump the other, of who will win the honour of being in control for that round. And right now, Ava was in the mood to play. So we would play.

"You, my little slave, are a minx." I rasped, my lips grazing her ear. She trembled under my hold.

"Is that a bad thing, Master?" Her nails grazed the back of my neck and her lips brushed my ear.

A deep moan rumbled from my chest. Goddamn this woman. She's it for me. She's always been it for me.

"A very, very bad thing." I growled softly, "how do you plan on making up for it?"

"I was thinking..." she rubbed her breasts against my chest, "maybe you could punish me? And then I could make you feel good." She grounded her hips against my raging hard on.

"How?" Goddess, my voice was thick.

"Maybe you could gave me a good spanking," she placed her hand on my own and slid it down till it was cupping her ass, "right here." My fingers dug in her flesh and she rested her head on my shoulder as she breathed hard, as if she was having trouble controlling herself. "And then," she was breathless, "after I've paid thoroughly for being a minx, I could show you just how much fun you can have with a minx." She rasped, "I'll be a bad, bad girl."

My eyes slid shut as a wave of pleasure passed through my whole body. My control was slipping. My mind was in haze but I knew I needed to end this quick so we could do all that she said and more.

"I don't know what bad girl you're talking about. My mate is an angel." I swiped a finger between her folds and she jumped with a gasp before she tilt her head back and moaned.

She grabbed my hand and brought it up. Her juices glittered under the moonlight. Her eyes sparkled and I knew she was going to slay me with her response. "I'm an angel in the streets and Master's bad girl in the sheets." She sucked her juices off my finger before releasing it with a pop. Her lips looked irresistible.

Fuck. She drove me fucking crazy.

Fuck this game. My fingers plunged in her hair and I yanked her head to mine before I plundered her lips.