Ashes to Ashes | ✓

24 || The Weak Flame

The ear-splitting cry brought Felix's mind to a screeching halt. Aiko's distress pricked his skin with thousands of tiny needles; it twisted his heart and stirred some deeply suppressed instinct within him to protect at all costs. Before he could even fully acknowledge it, his hands were moving of their own accord. He tucked Aiko against his chest, kneeling between her and Dinah. With one arm wrapped around her shoulders, he brought his knife to the ropes binding her wrists behind her back. A thin slit broke apart the shimmering veil that suppressed her flames, and beneath it, fire licked at the ropes. He stiffened.

Though Ameris had failed to cut the binds, he had severed Dinah's suffocating hold on Aiko. Maybe that had been his intention all along, or maybe it was a lucky coincidence. Either way, Felix silently thanked him as he dragged his knife up the slit until it dissipated with a whirl of cold air. It didn't stop Aiko's screams, but it did allow her flames to breathe. They quickly leapt to her aid, eating away at the ropes until her hands dropped free and fell in place at her sides. The heat beneath her skin seared his body where she touched him and he flinched away, dropping her in the dirt. She clamped her jaw shut and cut off her cry, though the twist in her brow still hinted at her pain. The cracks reached her face and she sucked in a sharp breath as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"Please," she choked out in a whisper, her voice teetering on the edge of breaking. "Please, make it stop."

He shot to his feet and whirled around to face Dinah. She paid him no mind, her gaze locked on the Core, her hand still outstretched toward it. The blue glow on her chest had brightened while the Core had dimmed significantly already. His shoulder burned, his head spun, and his palm ached, but his feet moved him without his command. There was no time to think.

Don't hesitate. Just kill.

"Please, make it stop."

Dinah's gaze snapped to him the moment he was within inches of her, carried by the rhythm of his master's old words and the burning desire to fulfill Aiko's request. Her smile climbed higher and she raised her free hand. Silver entwined her wrist, humming with the familiar lull of magic's presence, and she snapped her fingers. His body jerked to a sudden stop, frozen with his blade a breath away from her neck. All it took was the flick of her pointer finger and the invisible force slammed him against the ground. A cloud of dust flew up around him.

Stabbing pain laced up his back as the force pressed him to the ground. Dust stung his eyes and dirt burned the back of his throat as he gasped. Ice raced through his veins, no longer chased away by the Core's fading heat. There was nothing to keep away fear's frigid claws, and they sank deeper into his heart as Dinah stood over him. Her skirt brushed his leg. He gritted his teeth and shoved against the force, but his body refused to move.

"So persistent," she chided him, green eyes glinting maliciously in the orange light. "All it takes is a pitiful look from Aiko and you throw your life away. You've changed so much in such a short amount of time, and for what? It's pitiful." She dropped her hand and the pressure of her magic vanished. "At least you no longer regard everything with that emotionless expression of yours. Weak and controlled as it may be, there's life in your eyes when you look at her." Pursing her lips, she turned back to the Core.

"I hate it, Felix. It's creepier than your blank. When I kill her and take the Ember Core for myself, you'll go back to the way you were. The way you were designed to be."

"I won't let you. I'm never going to be your tool again," he spat.

Dinah chuckled. "Do you still believe it's your choice? You were created to obey—that's what blank, weak flames are for. You mean nothing to her; you don't mean anything to anyone. Only I can wield you properly, so you would do well to stay with me."