A Storm of Flames and Deceit

IV. Satisfied

Eris

I was a bit torn to catch my mother with Nephele. She was smiling brightly, laughing more than I had seen in years, but laughter hadn't a place here. She was getting attached. And if I know my father, he will exploit that attachment as soon as he catches it.
"You can't be out of control on our tour," I tell her as we reach the roof, the winnowing point. "It will reflect badly on you as well as me. Your scars are already telling enough."
Yes, I had seen the lightning-like lines on the underside of her forearms. Lightning in her veins.
I just hope no one can tell what sort of practices breed such scarring.
She smirks up at me, her lids low, still a bit of alcohol in her system. "What? Are my scars not cool enough for you?" She teases, blinking up with those beautiful lashes.
I freeze. "What stories has my mother spun for you?"
She laughs cruelly. "Forget I said anything," she smirks, glancing behind my ear. "Where exactly are we going?"
I blink, recovering. "Some place remote," I revoke my arm from hers and take her hand, lacing her freezing fingers through mine. Her hand seems to burrow into mine which runs warmer, the flame beneath the skin.
I winnow us to a clearing surrounded by trees, not far from my private residence. I won't be showing her that today- I never will. She releases my hand, stepping into the center of the clearing, looking up at the trees. A smile curves on her lips and she looks strangely sobered. Grateful.
It's like she's seeing autumn for the first time. "Won't my father be angry with you for taking me from the palace without his permission?" She asks me, her stormy eyes wide and curious. "He would never authorize this."
I shake my head. "You're no longer his property," I inform her. "You're mine."
She makes a face. "How charming."
"Concern yourself with transactional semantics all you want- you asked a question," I wave my hand, impatient. "Or you can make it rain."
She glares at me, mumbling to herself as she turns away. She rolls her shoulders back, tilting her head skyward, but she hesitates. "What if I can't make it stop again?" She whispers, and I soften a bit, despite myself.
"You can," I tell her. "You have before."
She nods, shaking out her hands, sighing softly. She says something I can't hear under her breath, and an instant later, thunder cracks and the sky opens up. Rain water drenched the pair of us, soaking through my white shirt, making her lilac dress hang heavy on her body, her thick braids dropping into her face. She swats them away, looking to me for instruction.
"Now, make it stop."
She squeezes her eyes shut, and nothing happens. Her hands ball into fists. Nothing. She clenched her teeth. Nothing.
I can very plainly see the panic enter her body, her shoulders becoming tight, her fingers frantic.
"You forgot where it came from," I tell her.
"Huh?" She huffs.
"When you send the rain out, it comes from somewhere inside you," I tell her, stepping closer as to be heard over the pelt of rain as it grows stronger. "To reel it back in, you need to draw it back inside the same place from whence it came."
She nods, pursing her full lips, turning away. She tries again. It takes a few seconds, but the storm dissipates into the sunny day it once was. She turns to me, and I barely conceal my satisfied grin. She doesn't bother stifling a thing, grinning brightly. Beautifully. I clear my throat, recovering. "Try again, but make the storm smaller, less torrential."
She frowns. "Why?"
"It's easy to burn down an entire clearing," I tell her, letting a flame spark from my finger. "It's harder to light a single blade of grass." I say, touching the flame to my wet skin. It goes out with a hissing sizzle. She nods, turning away.
"Alright," she says, cracking her neck.
...
We come back to the palace only an hour before dinner, drenched in rain. Nephele shivers, her arm looped through mine. I wrap my jacket around her shoulders this time, waving off her chattered gratitude as I walk her back to her room. She returns it to me before she shuts her door, bidding me goodbye. Lev and Darian waited on the other side of the door as soon as it shut, leaning against the wall of the hallway.
I groan, turning the other direction as they follow up behind me. "Getting cozy?" Lev taunts. To some, it could be brotherly, but Lev certainly means it as a dig.
"Lay off him, Lev," Darian grins. "I wish father would give me a pretty bride. Eris has gotten two!" I clench my fists.
"Yes, well perhaps he is more inclined to give Eris one because he wants to make sure no one gets the wrong idea," Lev agrees, gesturing to how I dress, my jewelry, my hygiene. "Considering how... flamboyant he is."
I rub my temple. "The fact that you consider anything you're implying to be an insult says more about you than it does me, Lev," I reply.
"I just think Eris couldn't get her wet," Darian ignores me. "So he had to cheat and use the rainwater."
I laugh under my breath, disguising it with a cough. The insinuation is ridiculous.
"It doesn't matter to me if she's wet," Lev says astutely. "I'd take that bitch on the floor if I had to."
My fist clenches, but I breathe outwardly, regaining my composure. "And how upset you'd make father if you went against his orders and violated my property," I tell them, hating the semantics more than ever. I shrug. "It's your funeral."
Twin sneers overtake their faces. How they hated when I threatened father on them. I may be mother's second favorite, but I'm father's first. Not that there's much competition. But I will be his heir- that is my card to play. If Lev and Darian want to live, they know better than to anger father or me. I smile, satisfied, ducking into my own room. "I'll see you both at dinner."