Legacy of Fire (The Blaze Trilogy - Book #1)

Chapter 6

I stare down at my necklace, my eyes focused on the pendant that hangs from it.

Mendell, the Elder of the Citizen’s Collective, is my grandfather. 

I replay the information again and again in my mind, but it doesn’t seem real. The feeling disbelief is paired with something else - resentment.  

Why didn’t they tell me? All my life I craved a piece of my mother, anything, to bring me closer to her. And it turns out I have more pieces of her than I’d ever known. But the answer appears. My father and Mendell must have decided to keep the knowledge from me, in order to protect me. Protect me from being used.

Clearly that didn’t work.

I play back the last hour in my head, and something doesn’t make sense. Kathu didn’t know what the connection was between Mendell and I. He suspected it, as he picked up on the pendants, but he didn’t actually know why. But it was only a matter of time.

I tell Martem to return to the Rosentar manor – I have to see my father one last time, now that I finally understand why he acts the way he does; as though I’m too fragile to involve. He’s suffered far too much loss.

Martem pulls up to our driveway, and I can see him looking back at me, his expression concerned.

I glance at myself in the mirror, and I feel like laughing. My eyes are puffy and swollen from crying, and my braids have loosened, with pieces falling haphazardly around my face.

Pretty rough.

The car rolls to a stop, and I hurry towards the front entrance. I knock, expecting one of the servants to come to the door. But no one does.

I knock again. But again, no answer.

Martem pulls out an emergency key, and a small keypad screen by the side of the door lights up. I tap in the code, and I hear a loud click. The door swings open, and I step into our foyer. 

The first thing I notice is the silence. A house with over twenty servants is never silent.

I feel Martem tense beside me, and I can tell he feels uneasy as well. “Martem, where has everyone gone?”

He looks downcast. “Your ladies were sent away a little while after you left, daughter.”

My heart sinks. They were sent to the East. 

“What of the others? Rita? The kitchen staff?” I press. 

Martem shakes his head. “I don’t know, daughter. They should be here.”

“I guess everyone is out,” I say slowly. “Martem, would you mind starting the car? I think my father might have gone back to the Consium complex.”

Martem looks reluctant, but he does as I’ve asked. 

I pace through the foyer, the sound of my shoes echoing through the house. I survey the darkness around me, then tap my fingers on the keypad attached to the wall, to turn on the lights – but they don’t work. Maybe the generator has broken. I try again, this time accessing the backup generator. Still nothing. 

So I reach the closet and find an emergency lantern, lighting it. The oil candle within flickers, casting a dim glow around me.

I step into the living room, and I see all the screens in front of me are turned on. They are tuned in to the Consium information feed, a feed that only my father can access via his password. If the feed is running, it means he’s here. 

“Father!” I call out, my voice cracking slightly. No response. Something is definitely wrong. 

Then I hear it. A faint chuckling behind me.