the last wish

chapter 9

The fire lord's office was his throne room, it was a dark room with four red pillars on each side. Dark heavy curtains covered the windows. A pattern I could not see covered half the floor. A dark stage stood in front of the door, the fire lord climbed it and bent some fire before him, in a small yet wide pit. The whole room lit up with the fire, the pattern on the floor became a map of the world, the curtains were pinned to the floor, as to not bring in light from outside.

"come up here, I do not feel like yelling today"

I nodded and walked to the stage. There were stairs on both sides, I chose the left one and climbed the six stairs. On the stage were a few red pillows for sitting, the fire lord sat on one, I sat on another, the furthest one from him. he smiled, a smile that chilled me to my core, and pulled the pillow closer to him.

"Now, shall we begin?"

He took his red robe off, under it he was wearing almost nothing, only shorts. I looked away; I did not want to do what I assumed was coming next.

"do you have an ideal type?"

Yeah, I thought, someone with enough social consciousness to not strip in front of a girl he's not married to.

"a kind man that will respect me and my ideas"

"Does this man look a specific way?"

He looks like Zuko, I thought. I looked to the closed door, hoping someone would come and save me from the fire lord. He turned my face to him, his amber eyes staring at me, they seemed wicked and ill-intentioned.

"He has brown hair and brown eyes"

Knowing how hard it would be for the fire lord to find a man with brown hair and eyes made me feel hope that he will give up on trying to find me a man and leave me be. I was wrong. He grabbed my hand, smiling wickedly, before using the other hand to grope my ass. My free hand hurried to my back to get his hand from me, but he was too strong. He took the other hand and pinned me to the floor of the stage. I screamed now, as loud as I could, knowing that what I feared would happen if no one walks in right now. No one did, and I was kissed. He took both my hands in one of his and lifted my dress above my chest. I was crying as he settled, sitting on my legs and removing his shorts from his...

"get away from her!"

Both the fire lord and I turned to look at the owner of the voice, he let me go and I stood up and ran away from him, down the stairs, into Zuko's arms. Iroh stood next to us, he was the one who called out to the fire lord. The fire lord raised his shorts slightly and wore his robes again. He went down the stairs with a furious look on his face.

"Why are you two here? I ordered the servants and guards to not let us be disturbed"

"you were going to rape her!"

"Zuko. Brother, I understand you feel lonely since Ursa disappeared, but taking it out on a girl, not from the fire nation is making you seem a bit hypocritical, don't you think?"

The fire lord stopped, a surprised look on his face. Zuko covered my shoulders with a red robe he took from himself, he was still wearing a shirt. Mai was also there, looking as furious as ever, but she did nothing. The fire lord looked at Zuko, Mai and I before smiling.

"If I did that to a fire nation girl it would have been fine?"

"if you were married to her"

The fire lord approached Mai, Zuko got up and stood in front of her. the fire lord took her hand and slid the ring off her finger, he then knelt down in front of me and showed me the ring.

"you will marry Zuko or you will marry me, I suggest me. Zuko will be the next fire lord so I do not have to worry about the next fire lord not being pure fire nation. If you choose Zuko, remember that you can never have any children with him, at least not until he has a kid with a fire nation girl"

I looked at Zuko and Mai, both looking furious. Iroh put a hand on my shoulder, when I looked at him, he waved his head, trying to get me to not marry his brother.

"if I choose Zuko, what will happen to Mai?"

"Katara, no"

Mai knelt down next to me and took the ring from the fire lord.

"I will marry the fire lord"

The fire lord smiled and got up.

"that is a very nice gesture for a friend, but I did not ask you, I asked her"

He took the ring from Mai.

"if you choose Zuko over me Mai will simply be a mistress of his, and the mother of the next fire lord after him. I will not touch her"

He looked at Mai, his lips curled into a disgusted look.

"I do not want my son's leftovers"

Mai scoffed and got up. the fire lord threw the ring to me, it hit my forehead, but I didn't dare to take it.

"you have a few seconds to decide, Zuko, or me"

Zuko knelt down next to me and whispered in my ear.

"you cannot choose him; he will humiliate you daily"

I swallowed and got up, holding onto Zuko's red robe.

"I choose Zuko. I will choose him over you any day after what you tried to do to me"

I held Zuko's hand and pulled him with me out of the room, grabbing Mai on the way and leaving the fire lord with his brother.