Her Cinder Throne (Completed)

Chapter 86

The guards slowly, one by one, began to drift toward Cole. Their eyes kept glued to the floor, steadily not looking anywhere near Gethwine. Soon, they stood behind Cole, as if she was the owner of the castle.

Gethwine stood as still as a gravestone, her shoulders hunched around her ears, her hands balled into tight fists. Her eyes bored holes into Cole and then Tanwyn. Then, they trailed to where Cole's mother stood half-hidden behind a planter.

"You," Gethwine hissed, lunging forward. The guards drew their swords, their eyes flicking from their former queen to the one who was currently losing the crown.

"Protect Dowager Queen Aderyn," Cole said, putting all the force she could into her voice and begging in her heart that the guards were really on her side.

The guards took a few seconds, but finally they formed a circle around her mother, their swords pointing out toward Gethwine. Their wings glittered, drawing power into their blades so that flames and frost spilled from the metal.

Gethwine, now totally alone, stopped dead in her tracks. "You abandoned your people and now you want the crown back when someone else stepped up and made use of it," she growled, staring down Cole's mother through the gaps between the guards. "You've made a fatal mistake here. All of you. There are still Eldritch who will support me, and we have Thijs' entire army on our side."

"Stay and help us," Cole said, her heart beating fast. She reached out, taking the old queen's arm and holding onto it as if she was her own mother. "You don't have to go back to Thijs. Lend your support to us and you don't have to lose everything."

Gethwine stared down at her, then slowly yanked her arm free from Cole's grasp. "I fought for the crown you just waltzed into," she said. "I won't let it go without blood." She raised her hand, a bolt of light forming in her palm. Before the guards or Tanwyn could even move, Gethwine swiped through the air, launching the light at Cole.

Cole barely had time to react. Her hand clenched around the Stone in her pocket, and she thought of a shield just as the bolt of light came close enough to sear the skin on her face. A split second later and she would have caught the full brunt of Gethwine's magic, but her own magic flared and shimmered around her like a second-skin. Gethwine's light fractured and dissipated into the air in a crackling burst of sparks.

"Restrain her before she can hurt Lady Caspia!" Tanwyn shouted, already running toward Gethwine and Cole even though he had no weapons or magic.

Gethwine looked up, realizing that she was outnumbered. The guards were already calling up magic in their palms as they held their enchanted blades in their other hand. Tanwyn and Cole's mother were now a few steps away, both with eyes filled with fear. And Cole stood there, pulling the Sparkstone from her pocket and summoning up flickering flames that danced across her clothes and skin as gentle as kisses but as dangerous as death itself.

Gethwine pulled back and swept her arms in the air, summoning a burst of magic that transported her a few feet backward, out of the reach of any of the guards. She stood there for a moment, her chest heavy and her eyes wide and furious.

"I'll destroy Avallen before I let you take its crown," she shouted at Cole, fists tight. "I'll burn it all to the ground if I have to!"

Cole held up her hand, the flames dancing down her arm to pool in her palm. They took the form of a bird, gently perched on her wrist, staring at Gethwine. "Burn it," Cole said, "and the cinders will come back to kill you a thousand times over. I'm not a stranger to coming back from the bottom, Gethwine. You won't find it so easy to take me or my people down."

Gethwine bristled at the words "my people", and hot tears trickled out of her eyes. "You won't get the chance to do anything, girl. Thijs is ready to move forward with his ancient magic. He doesn't need the Sparkstone if he has my Eldritch supporters." With that, the air shimmered with a large dose of magic and Gethwine disappeared into the thin air.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, one of the guards approached Cole from the side. He looked stunning in his armor and with his wings fully extended behind him. Cole could imagine this was what Tanwyn might look like if he hadn't been caught up in this stupid fight for the throne.

"My lady, she will be heading to gather up her supporters out in the cities and towns," he said. "We'll need to gather all the guards and what parts of the army will side with us."

Cole nodded, letting the flames across her skin die away. She felt her energy leave with them, and she fought to keep herself standing. Tanwyn, perhaps sensing this, stepped up to her side and threaded an arm around her waist as surreptitiously as he could.

She took a few steadying breaths before answering the guard. "Of course. Gather everyone that will help us. We need to tell them that we are at war with Thijs and Gethwine from this moment onward."

The guard nodded, his face grim. "We'll await your orders in the main audience chamber as soon as everyone is here," he said, dipping his head. The other guards behind him snapped into attention, sheathing their swords and pressing their fists to their chest.

The guard nearest her glanced up at her. "Long live Queen Caspia of the True Blood!" he said, and his fellow guards chanted out a victory cheer that filled Cole with both fear and pride.

She gripped Tanwyn's arm tightly, and looked to her mother. The queen who abandoned her people and the queen who returned to them in the most dire times. They stood now as the guards swore their loyalty once more, and Cole wondered how in the world she had gotten out of the Sparkstone mines and found herself here, a queen.

Queen Caspia. Queen Cole.