Legacy of Flames- The Complete Trilogy, page 66
part #1 of Legacy of Flames Series
“That, and they live in the middle of nowhere,” I said. “Also, the hunters have had a grip on them for most of my life. It’ll take a while to sort out. I’m not sure if they’ll be welcoming. But I’m glad to have the chance.”
I didn’t know who’d take their leader’s place. Malkin had controlled them for years—he’d been in power as long as Cori and I had lived in London. Maybe they’d never accept us. So many of them had died due to Malkin’s plans, but they might as easily blame Cori and me for upending their lives. Even Lorne’s supporters might have lived, though apparently some of them had disappeared, and others had died in the fighting. They’d been the first to sacrifice themselves for the hunters’ cause. It made me sadder than I could describe, and the only person who understood was Cori. But we’d at least get to see them again, even if they wanted nothing more to do with us.
When Cori and I met the representatives of the other dragons on the other side of the mirror, I’d rarely been so nervous. My hands trembled at my sides, and irrationally, I wished we could communicate in dragon form. Two had been chosen as leaders, both female. Not Lorne’s people.
“Ember,” said the woman on the right. “I’d like to formally thank you for removing Lorne’s influence from us.”
“I—it wasn’t just me,” I said clumsily.
“We’re grateful regardless. You’ve made this village safe again for those left behind.”
She indicated the door behind her, and several other people came in, all children. I nearly cried there and then. Of course Cori and I hadn’t been the only ones.
“The League took them,” said the woman on the left, her face pinched. “I had to—I had to pretend to cooperate with them otherwise they wouldn’t give the children back. It’s not an excuse—”
“No, I get it,” I said. “Really. What he did was terrible. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted nothing to do with my sister and me.”
“You saved us from him,” she said. “Maybe not directly, but we wouldn’t be alive if he’d stayed in power.”
“Some of you might have.” Madison’s face flashed before my eyes. “I’m sorry—so sorry for those of you he killed.”
“They died resisting him. They’d have preferred that to giving in. It was their choice, as you chose to fight.”
“I was never put in that position.”
“When you saved me, you were,” Cori said to me. “You’d have died to protect me. Don’t undermine your own achievement.”
“The Moonbeam did most of the work,” I admitted. “The mages have it now. I—I don’t think they’ll give it up. The power inside it wore down anyway.”
“That’s fine,” said the new leader. “We’ve managed without it, and as long as the hunters no longer have it…”
I nodded. “Okay. Just one thing, though… do you know who took our memories?”
The woman shook her head. “You were taken away one night. Madison never told anyone. If I had the ability to help you recall that time, I would. I did know you as a child. Both of you. I wish this had been a safe home for you.”
Tears pricked my eyes.
Cori sniffed, too. “Thanks for telling us.”
I blinked hard. “It’s okay. London’s our home now, but if you’d like us to come back and visit…”
“You’d be most welcome.”
We went back at least every other day from then on, with the Mage Lords’ permission, to help the other dragons rebuild. To learn about their lives, and any memories they had of our parents and other relatives. They’d lost so much. They’d been forced to turn on one another, any outright dissidents executed—if not before, then when Lorne had done his final purge of the village before bringing them through the mirror to Malkin’s ship. He’d wiped out whole clans, more than this one. The survivors bore scars, and had lost so much to the hunters. But they’d survived, remained loyal, and were ready to rebuild. Whatever happened, I was grateful to know the truth.
When Cori and I returned from our third visit, a week following the battle, it was to find Astor waiting on the other side.
“Hi,” I said. We’d spent time together after the battle, but he’d been preoccupied a lot lately. Maybe he’d been annoyed because I’d spent so much time with the dragons.
“I did some digging,” he said. “And I found… I found the contact details of the person who erased your memories.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “The record was in Samuel’s home, hidden away. I didn’t tell you I was searching in case it came to nothing, but—it’s there. If you’d like to find the person yourself.”
Cori and I looked at one another.
“Yeah,” she said. “Of course.”
I was less certain. I might not be proud of everything I’d done, but I had a life now. Contradictory memories of a time I’d never have back seemed an unnecessary complication. I’d built a whole life since then. But maybe this would bring some much-needed closure.
“All right,” I said.
We flew over the Scottish mountains and valleys, after using the mirror to reach the village again. I didn’t tell the villagers my plan, but took flight with Cori on my back—and Astor. He hadn’t said why he’d wanted to come along, but I appreciated the company. And the views were stunning. This was a world the faeries hadn’t got to, a place where nature had ruled long before the Sidhe came.
The small village was tucked out of sight, almost unnoticeable. Right away, the magical aura of the place hit me, and I had the odd sense of looking at several places at once—a village, and a valley with no buildings in sight.
Then I blinked and it was just a small village, not unlike the dragons’ home.
“From what I can work out,” Astor said, “this village is pretty isolated.”
It really was. Mountains cut it off from the rest of the country, meaning it’d be impossible to find. I landed in a patch of trees, hoping nobody had looked up and spotted me.
Someone waited for us in the field bordering the village as we approached. In the midday light, she looked unnervingly like Madison, down to the silvery hair.
Cori stopped. “Wait. Are you Madison’s twin?”
“She was my sister.” She nodded to me. “I sensed you coming.”
They did look unnervingly alike. Cori, Astor and I followed—she didn’t make any comments on Astor’s presence—and we entered a home not unlike the village the dragon shifters lived in.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“My name is Agnes.” She regarded me with raised eyebrows. “You’re a dragon shifter. I can’t say I’ve been visited by one of those in a long time.”
“But you’ve seen me before,” I said. “Even though I don’t remember you.”
Understanding cleared her eyes.
“I apologise,” she said. “It wasn’t your parents’ decision to make, but I felt obliged to follow through, as your life was in danger. Your sister’s, too.”
“Is this another shifter community?” asked Cori.
“It’s a supernatural one, but no dragons,” said Agnes. “Madison and I were born part-witch, part-mage, with added gifts.”
“You don’t seem unhappy she died,” said Cori. I elbowed her.
“She planned to go out on her own terms. What she did was risky, but she felt it was worth it.”
I looked down. “She did it for us.”
“She did it for the others,” she said. “Our opinions differed, but we both sought to use our abilities with purpose. As for me, perhaps I made the wrong choice. Are you sure you want me to undo the spell?”
I nodded. As did Cori. And she raised a hand.
Light flared up—like the Moonbeam’s light—and my mind fractured in a manner similar to a mirror breaking. Double memories rocketed through my head—running through the village, playing with Cori, talking to people I’d met—who knew me, and yet who I hadn’t remembered.
My memories.
Cori’s eyes met mine with the same confusion, the same sadness—and hope. The past was whole, and it was on us to make the future the same.
Neither of us spoke on the flight back to the village. Astor remained quiet, too, sensing I needed space. It’d take a while to sort through the memories and work out how they related to the present, but it’d help us rebuild our connection with the others. Memories of chasing other dragon shifter children in the woods, of watching the adults take flight in a magnificent display over the village… they seemed at total odds with a lifetime of being hunted for who I was. Maybe I could finally reconcile the two.
Cori turned to me after we walked through the mirror, into the living room of our new shelter. “So that’s that.”
“Got your memories back?” asked Will, who sat with Becks and Kit beside the mirror.
I nodded.
“And?” asked Becks.
“It’s like weird déjà-vu,” I said. “I’ve spoken to some of these people before, yet I had no memory of when I first met them. But I’ll get used to it, I guess. What’s the latest?”
“The mages are being surprisingly helpful with arresting those gargoyles,” said Will. “I doubt they’ll start a turf war anytime soon.”
“And the half-bloods are starting to move back to the park,” added Kit. “I won’t be joining them, though.”
“Why?” asked Cori.
“Yeah, you don’t have to live with us annoying humans,” said Becks, with a grin. “Even if there are perks.” She eyed Will, who made a great performance out of staring at the mirror’s fading light.
“Well,” said Kit, “we did kind of accidentally turn one of their parks into a giant summoning circle.”
“Technically, the League did it,” said Becks. “But I can see how that might make things awkward.”
“We’re all misfits who don’t want to live with our own kind,” Will said. “That’s how we wound up together.”
“True,” I said. “Cori and I—we’ll still visit the village, but we’re living here. Whatever we did in the past, this is our home.”
“Good,” said Will. “Because we’ve grown attached to you. I’d hate to have to follow you through the mirror and haul you back.”
“Ha.” I smiled at my friends. “I’m not leaving, don’t worry. Thanks to that mirror, I’ll always be able to come back.”
As to the Moonbeam—we’d deal with that later. It technically belonged to the dragons, but considering what Lorne had done, I didn’t blame them for being suspicious. As long as we didn’t cause trouble—
Okay. Maybe it’d take a while. But as long as Cori and I were together, nothing else mattered.
The door swung shut as Astor left the room. Frowning, I followed him outside. “What is it?”
“I thought I’d check on Giselle.” The grumpy ex-hunter had stayed in her broken-down flat rather than moving with us to our new rental, and Astor split his time between the two of us. I figured he thought she was lonely, though she’d said she’d happily avoid interacting with anyone again as long as the bloody Moonbeam stayed where it was.
“Guess she’ll want the details,” I said.
“I won’t tell her if you don’t want me to.”
“No, go ahead.” I looked at him. “Seriously, I’m not moving to Scotland. It’s nice, but kind of isolated. I’m not used to it.”
“You’re used to too much excitement.” A smile tugged at his mouth. “No—I thought you’d like to be alone with your memories. It can’t be easy to remember.”
“I guess not. Like when you left the hunters.”
“No. I remember it all. Maybe I can’t atone for it.” He ran a hand over his collarbone, where the tattoo marks remained, though hidden. “I have aliases. I could build a whole new identity now, but that person will always be there.”
“The past is past, Astor,” I said. “You’ve already proved a hundred times you aren’t one of them. I thought I was the one who was supposed to be hung up on it, not you.”
“The mages won’t let me forget.”
“They won’t let me forget I could burn the place down if I get angry. It’s what they do. We’ll be okay.”
“Yeah. We will.”
If there wasn’t a space for us dragons in the modern world, then we’d carve out our own. And if the hunters rose again—then so would we.
***
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If you want to find out what’s next for Ember and her friends, Cori will be appearing in her own trilogy very shortly. Just sign up to my author newsletter to be notified when Ignite, Book 1 in Cori’s trilogy, is published on March 5th 2019.
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Other books by Emma L. Adams
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When faerie-killer Ivy is hired to find a missing child, replaced with a changeling, she’s forced to team up with the seductively dangerous Mage Lord, at the risk of exposing her own dark history with the faeries—and this time, running won’t save her.
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If you like your urban fantasy packed with demons, warlocks and supernatural action, you might like Celestial Magic, Book 1 in the Celestial Marked series.
Devi Lawson, former demon hunter, is drawn back into the celestial guild when a demonic killer starts targeting the other celestials. To gain vital information, she's forced to ally with an immensely powerful warlock who knows too much about her, and if the netherworld holds all the answers, the price might just be her soul.
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About the Author
Emma is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of the Changeling Chronicles urban fantasy series.
Emma spent her childhood creating imaginary worlds to compensate for a disappointingly average reality, so it was probably inevitable that she ended up writing fantasy novels. When she's not immersed in her own fictional universes, Emma can be found with her head in a book or wandering around the world in search of adventure.
Find out more about Emma’s books at www.emmaladams.com.
Emma L Adams, Legacy of Flames- The Complete Trilogy
