1. CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1

B lood matted her hair, staining the already red strands even darker as it dripped down. She flicked it out of her eyes as she strode through Light's Tower, her face covered in ash and soot, bleeding from various cuts and wounds—but still, she was smiling. Beaming.

"You look pleased." Aris fell into stride beside her, his handsome face a cool mask of neutrality. Only Val could see the shadow of a smile on his lips.

"You would be, too," she replied. "Especially if you had just enjoyed a lovely barbeque of Praiton soldiers. How could I not be in a good mood with the smell of burning flesh still in my nostrils?"

Aris let out a bark of laughter. "You Manielians truly are bloodthirsty wretches."

"And you Ganieans are pathetically passive," Val retorted, with a sickly-sweet grin, which he returned.

The Pillar Legion's general was clad in his usual gold armor—a relic from his time as a captain of the King's Guard in Ganiea. It was old and tarnished, with only hints of its former glory. She supposed some would say the same for its owner, but General Aris Calatos was far from being past his prime.

"Can you two stop flirting for once?" Katia appeared on Val's other side. The young female was also charred and bloodied, but her smile was as wide as her own.

"Trust me." Aris leaned past Val towards her smaller friend and smiled. "If I were flirting, Katia, you would know it."

Val rolled her eyes and shoved the philandering general aside, causing him to chuckle and Katia to flush.

"Can you please refrain from harassing my soldiers, General, " Val demanded, putting on her best High Lady voice that had been drilled into her since birth.

Aris just winked at her, making her stomach flutter in the most obnoxious way.

The Pillar Legion was returning from battle and, for once, they were victorious. It had been a small skirmish—an interception of supplies from the coast of Zulon—but it had still been a long, bloody battle. Val was relieved that her regiment—led by her elite unit, the Fireflies—had not had any casualties. All of her soldiers were returning home; bleeding, bruised, and burnt, but otherwise alive.

Just then, a group of those soldiers staggered into the antechamber, carrying several large crates of supplies, which they dropped proudly at Aris's feet.

"Well done," the general remarked, shooting a look at Val. "I dare say this is enough weapons and herbs for the whole legion."

" And ," Val said, grinning broadly, "we took out a very large squadron of Praitonian soldiers. Not to mention a few Manielian stragglers." She blew a singed piece of red hair out of her face, the smoldering scent making her nose twitch slightly.

Aris gave her his patented crooked smile—one that was always imbued with charm and confidence, yet never quite met those hazel eyes of his.

"This calls for a celebration," he announced. "Alert the kitchens! We have a feast to partake in."

The atrium of Light's Tower erupted into cheers and whistles, the smell of burnt flesh and singed clothing momentarily forgotten as the soldiers took the time to appreciate their victory. They all took off towards the dining hall, laughing and talking, filling the large, cavernous room with echoes of joy and merriment.

"Go get cleaned up," Aris said to Val, giving her arm a small squeeze. "You know where to find me if you want to have our own little celebration," he added in a whisper in her ear, giving her a lecherous wink that caused Val to gag and shove him off again.

"Honestly," Katia said, grabbing Val by the arm and ushering her away from the obnoxious general. "He truly has no shame."

"No," Val murmured distractedly. "He really doesn't."

This was Aris's way, though. And while the flirtations never amounted to anything—not with any of them within the Legion, at least—the healers and priestesses were another story. It seemed as if Aris's conquests were always tiptoeing down the stairs right when the rest of the Legion were waking for early morning training.

The other captains, Elric, Saros, and Lycas seemed to find this endlessly amusing. Val, however, always thought it to be in poor taste.

"He is the general, though," Katia added thoughtfully. They ascended the steps of the Tower towards the residential wing, the winding and twisting staircase an exhausting inconvenience after the day's events. "I suppose he can talk to us any way he wants."

"Are we talking about Aris?" Atria appeared out of nowhere, sprinting up the steps from behind and shoving in between them. The small, scrappy female shook back her short, pixie-length yellow and orange hair, smoke still unfurling from the burnt ends of her braids.

"Who else?" Katia huffed. "He tried to take Val to bed."

"He always tries to take Val to bed," another voice said, and Val flushed, opening her mouth to rebut this mortifying statement.

From behind them, Val's second, Lucia, stomped up the steps, cutting off her protests. Where Atria was petite and scruffy, Lucia was tall and willowy. Her features were much more feline than the others, accented with a shock of gorgeous, tawny hair. Between the four of them, Val's hair was the darkest, the reddest, the most pronounced red of all. A ruby amongst amber.

Lucia bumped in between Katia and Atria, pushing her way past all of them. She was the only one who wasn't covered in blood and soot, only sporting a few scratches and scuffs of dirt in places.

"He does not try to take me to bed," Val mumbled.

All three girls snorted at that.

"He definitely tries much harder for you than anyone else," Atria said with a snicker.

Katia hummed and Val shot her a warning look. "I mean, would it really be so bad?" Katia asked. "To bed him, I mean?"

Val and Atria both let out gags which caused Katia to look aghast. " What?! Atria, I know he's not your type" —Atria laughed at that. Her type was strictly more female than anything— "but Val, c'mon. You know he's attractive."

"Ugh, cut it out," Val moaned, giving an exaggerated shudder. "He is our general. Nothing more."

Though Lucia remained silent, Val knew she was secretly amused by it all. As one of the few Manielians who also came from a noble family, Lucia's mysterious, reserved nature only melted on the battlefield.

As the staircase leveled out, Lucia seized Val's arm and flicked a wrist at the other two, shooing them off.

"Get cleaned up," she commanded them, before she steered Val towards her room.

"What, are you going to bathe with me?" Val teased.

Lucia scoffed. "Wouldn't be the first time. How many creeks have we had to share after so many years in this blasted unit?"

"Too many."

Val's room was devoid of any personal touches—no trinkets on the desk, no decorations on the wall. The only sign this was actually her room were the many, many clothing items strewn about the small space. Armor, tunics, a few older, fancier dresses she never wore drowned all the furniture within the room.

" Home ," she groaned and made to collapse, face-first on the bed, when Lucia's arm shot out and seized her around the middle.

"You are filthy," she reminded her. "I think there's still some brain matter on your shirt from the Praiton commander. Bath. Now ."

Even though Val moaned in complaint, she knew Lucia was right. And when she dove, headfirst, into the deep, stone bathing pool it felt almost as good as the bed. Almost.

When she surfaced, it was to find Lucia sitting on the small stool by the pool, picking off her gloves and examining her chipped nails.

"Aren't you going to clean up?"

"Later," she said. "I did not get nearly as disgusting as you lot."

"That's what happens when I make you the rear guard," Val said, squeezing out a large dollop of soap into her grimy hair.

Lucia did not speak for a moment, picking dirt from her nails, until, "You blush every time Aris flirts with you, you know that, right?"

Val froze, her face heating.

Lucia pointed a chipped nail at her. "Yes, like that."

"I do not!" The mortification threatened to choke her. Did she really blush every time Aris joked around with her? Did he ever notice? The very thought made her want to plunge her head into the water and never resurface again.

"Oh, you definitely do," Lucia replied, smirking. "And I hope you know how much of a horrible idea it is for you to even consider—"

"I have never considered such a thing!" Val cried, half rising out of the pool before remembering she was naked and plunging back down. "How can you even think—"

"Because I know you hear the rumors, Val." Lucia's golden gaze cut through her protests. "The other captains, the soldiers . . . they do not like you. They do not like us. "

Val sank further into the tub, the heat from her face beginning to trigger her Ember Magic, causing the pool to bubble slightly.

"Well, I know that already." She had not missed the whispering and the rumors. No one dared to say it to her face, but they all disparaged her. As the only female captain in the whole Legion, she expected backlash. But expected or not, it never failed to make her blood boil. With Maniel's alliance with Praiton and all its destruction, it was not uncommon for those aligned with the rebellion to hate Manielians just as much as Praitonians. But to be female and Manielian nobility was a double sin in the Legion.

While most kingdoms allowed female fighters, it was not very common—especially in Maniel. Most went to temples to become priestesses, or else preferred a more docile approach to life. Val, on the other hand, preferred to fight. It was all she had ever known.

"Do not give them any reason to doubt you, Val," Lucia said softly. "You are a powerful warrior. The Fireflies are strong because of you . You deserve to be a captain." She rose from the stool. "And besides, Aris is a lout," she added, and left the room, leaving Val to chuckle to herself.

The feast was in full swing by the time Val descended from her room. It felt odd being clean after so many days locked in battle, living in her own filth and blood. She couldn't lie, it was amazing to have her hair feeling so soft and smelling like jasmine.

Lucia, Katia, and Atria were already seated in the dining hall, all with full plates of food and large mugs of ale. Val plopped down in front of them, scanning the hall for a familiar glint of gold, but Aris was nowhere to be seen. Feeling Lucia's gaze on her, Val averted her eyes, tucking into her own plate of steaming beef and potatoes.

Across the room, the other captains were holding court. Lycas—the only other Manielian captain—had a priestess sitting on his lap, tittering at something he had said. Val resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Lycas was her least favorite captain. As a Manielian commoner with little magic, he had somehow excelled as a fighter—mostly from getting into petty tavern brawls back home. Hardened and smarmy, Lycas was the leader in her ridicule and never missed an opportunity to put Val down in front of the other captains and soldiers.

Val knew if ever given the opportunity, she would roast him alive like a pig on a spit.

Katia noticed Lycas and the priestess as well and scoffed disapprovingly. "She should be chucked out of her temple for that," she muttered.

Val couldn't help but agree.

As the ale flowed, the soldiers got rowdier and rowdier. Even Katia and Atria were getting a little tipsy, banging their mugs on the table, joining the others in raucous songs from across Krigor. Lucia, however, sat calmly in her seat, nursing her mug of ale, watching the chaos with a sharp, golden eye.

Finally, Val finished her second mug of ale, feeling full and content—and a little woozy. The alcohol soothed her sore muscles, and quieted her spinning mind that wouldn't stop replaying the battle over and over again. That was the curse of a seasoned warrior. Every strike, every death, her mind parsed it over and over for ways to improve.

She had been forced to train in combat from a young age by her brothers. Her parents had hired a retired Master of Arms from the Red Citadel to train the older boys. While it wasn't expected for a daughter of a noble family to train, her eldest brother, Lorenzo, refused to be associated with the weak.

So Val trained, too.

After years of hard, brutal lessons which often left her bruised and beaten, she was now a master of the Manielian sword art. But all of that experience came at a cost.

Val stood from the long bench, and looked down at her unit. The Fireflies had been her lifeline since she had been cast out from Maniel. As the captain of the twenty-second regiment of the Pillar Legion, Val had not expected to form an elite unit. But the Fireflies had given her more than just a powerful extension of the rebellion . . . They had given her a family.

"I'm going to bed," she announced.

"Boo," Atria moaned, throwing a piece of potato at her, her eyes glazed and body swaying. "The night's still young, Val!"

"And you are very drunk," Val admonished, but she smiled at the small female, who seemed to have a hard time focusing on her. "And I am very tired. It has been a long few days."

Atria began to protest again, but Lucia stopped her with a stern, motherly look.

"Goodnight, Captain," Lucia said, giving her a small, rare smile.

Katia bid her another rather clumsy goodnight, and, with one last lazy wave over her shoulder at her sisters, Val left the dining hall. But instead of heading for the stairs towards the residential wing, she headed back to the kitchen and piled a plate full of hot food fresh from the pots over the fire.

When she hadn't seen Aris in the dining hall, she already knew where she would find him. Sure enough, as she walked down the darkened hallway of offices and studies on the lower floor, she saw the flicker of torchlight coming from the general's quarters. She knocked, waited for his call to enter, and pushed open the door.

Aris was sitting behind his desk, maps spread across the surface, a surprisingly worn look on his face. He had removed the gold armor, and was dressed in a plain, white cotton tunic that made him look more casual than she had ever seen him.

"Valeria," he said, looking up and giving her that same, vaguely friendly smile, the tiredness she had noted gone in an instant. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Did you decide to take me up on my offer to have a more intimate celebration?"

Val narrowed her eyes at him. "Very funny." She stepped fully into the room, and placed the plate down on the one empty bit of desk she could find. "I just wanted to bring you this."

Aris's eyebrow rose at the plate, and a small, crooked grin crossed his face.

"Thank you, Valeria," he murmured.

It was rare to see the general alone, and Val did not fancy leaving quite so soon. Removed from an audience for him to perform to, she found Aris to be strangely subdued. As if his true self was within reach for the first time.

She moved into the room, sitting down in the high-back chair across from him. "You did not want to join the feast that you so benevolently called for?"

Aris let out a tired sigh, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Unfortunately, I had some work to attend to first. I thank you for the food, though. I was rather hungry."

"What work possibly takes precedence over our victory today, General?"

Aris moved a piece of paper free of the map he had been pouring over and pointed towards a spot on the eastern side of the continent. Val leaned forward and looked up at him, her brow furrowed.

"Bridah," she said.

Aris nodded. "Bridah."

"And what is it about Bridah that troubles you, General?" she inquired. "Out of all the kingdoms, it is the most insulated. Surely, it is the least of our worries."

"This is true, it's protected by its fjords," he agreed. "However, what kingdom borders Bridah?"

She knew already, but still, her eyes moved inadvertently to Bridah's neighboring kingdom.

Maniel.

Aris saw it in her face. "Now, tell me. What is the one thing that can thwart ice?"

Looking up at him slowly, the answer they both knew remained unspoken. "They can't," she breathed. "They have tried multiple times. The fjords stop them, and if they don't, we do."

Aris did not respond. His finger traced the shape of Maniel on the map, his gaze lingering on it. "This is true," he said again. "But still . . . I worry they will conquer the fjords. And if they do that, we may not stand a chance."

Val did not speak. She knew the Manielian army well—had trained with them, even fought with them in the times before the war. Titus had ensured the strongest fighters, both magically and physically, were heading his army.

"Titus is the strongest Ember Magic user in almost a millennium," Aris said. "If there was somebody who could melt the entire fjord surrounding Frostheim, it's him."

Val knew this was true. She had seen Titus do awful yet incredible things in her long life. She also knew his son, Lynos, to be of the same, horrible power. The thought of Lynos made something run cold inside of her, and she fought a small shiver.

"What are you thinking of doing, then?" she asked. "What precautions?"

Aris sighed, the cool, confident ease slipping again, showing her just the tiniest hint of exhaustion behind those hazel eyes. "Possibly setting up a post within Bridah to guard against any potential Manielian invasions. I have a contact within Bridah who may be willing to help us find someplace."

Val studied Aris carefully, taking in the bags under his eyes, the shadows on his defined jaw. As the founder of the Pillar Legion, Aris had every right to be considered the Knight Commander, but he had insisted on only being a general. Val had always wondered why. Aris was charming and cocksure, never one for modesty or humility, and yet he insisted on staying at a lower rank than he deserved.

"You know, we can help you with this," she told him softly. "You don't have to bear it alone." She leaned over the desk towards him and gave him a gentle, teasing smile. "That is why you have captains, General."

Aris smiled, his gaze roving her face curiously, leisurely. She never knew what it was about Aris's lingering glances—how they made her feel exposed, as if he were devouring her slowly. Even though everything told her to look away, she didn't.

"Are you offering?" he asked, his eyes still doing their slow, casual feast of her.

"I am always at your service, General."

A lazy, cocky grin spread across Aris's face. "I will definitely remember that."

And just like that, the spell was broken. She rolled her eyes, and Aris laughed.

Val got to her feet and made towards the door, pausing to look back at Aris one more time.

"Eat," she reminded him. "We cannot defeat Maniel in a night, and neither can you."

Aris chuckled as he refocused on her again. "Thank you, Valeria," he murmured.

Val nodded and turned to go, feeling her heart beat fiercely in her chest, and no doubt making her turn a bright, ridiculous red.