Page 22 of Hero of Havoc

“Oh,” he mumbles, clearing his throat before he dances across the room, gliding gently before stopping a few feet away from me. “Sorry about that, Ivy.”

He’s quickly joined by the other sprites.

“I’m Clay, nice to meet you,” Sax’s land sprite says, and I smile.

“You too.”

“I’m Crush,” the bright-blue sprite says before somersaulting through the air.

“I remember.” I can't stop the grin on my lips as he spins around the other two sprites.

“She remembers me!”

“And I’m Coal,” the red sprite states, inching closer as he clears his throat, uncertainty flashing in his wide eyes. “Do you think she's ever going to forgive us? It's not our fault. These are the fools,” he insists, and I smile wider.

“Have a little patience. Ember is not going to respond well to you pressuring her.”

“Excellent advice,” Clay says, spinning in place, an earthy scent in his trail, before they all disappear, dancing through the door just as quickly as they came.

Each of us blink at the wood in disbelief, when a sudden flash of blue returns, coming to a halt in front of Teddy's face once again.

“If you fuck this up, there will be consequences,” he barks, and Teddy rolls his eyes.

“I heard you.”

“Loud and clear?”

“Loud and clear,” Teddy repeats, satisfying Crush, who turns to wink at me before disappearing once again.

We all remain frozen in place, waiting what feels like forever, making sure they’re not going to return before our attention drifts elsewhere.

Archer clears his throat, cutting through the silence as he drags a hand down his face before sucking in a sharp breath. “Where do you want us to begin, Ivy? Answers, groveling, or torture?”

I cock my brow at the last option, my arms folding over my chest in a defensive manner once again. “What does the torture involve, exactly?”

“We're already in it,” Baron grumbles. “Not being able…” His hand lifts as if to reach for me, but quickly drops to his side, saying what his words can't.

“Torture has already been ticked off the list, Princess. Answers or grovelling?” Teddy offers, and I gulp.

“Answers,” I breathe, and Archer nods.

“Do you have your own questions or should we just free ball it?” he offers, and I find my teeth sinking into my bottom lip.

I can’t decide if the questions are freeing me or irritating me.

“How about you start at the beginning?” I offer, all four of them nodding in sync, an air of guilt and nerves flooding through the room.

“Do you want my magic?” Baron offers, and I shake my head.

“I don't want any magic, I just want the truth. If it's there, I'll see it in your eyes,” I decide, taking the few steps over to the desk to lean back against it for support.

A look shifts between the guys before Sax stuffs his hands in his pockets as he rocks back on his heels.

“We arrived at the ball two years ago, unaware of one another. Well, except for Baron and me, of course.” His smile is nervous. “It wasn’t our first time at the ball, but the second Professor Viola saw us, we were called into a room. We had no clue what was going on, but she wasn't alone; Professor Carbon and Hugo were there too.”

Archer sighs, eyes dipped toward the floor. “Viola explained that they knew who our mate was, and that it was the same person for all four of us. She didn’t go into much detail but it was clear something magical and world-changing was coming, and we had a part to play.” My chest feels heavy at his words, my pulse ringing in my ears, making it almost impossible to absorb what he’s saying. “They carried on to explain that our mate would eventually hold the power to be a phoenix, and that it required the four of us to ground her,” Archer states, continuing the explanation. “They promised that grounding her would be to balance her, which was paramount, but along with it, we would be elevated, not that we knew what that meant at the time, but it was clear that it was essential if we wanted to protect the kingdom, ourselves, and our mate.”

Emotions claw inside of me, unshed tears burning in the back of my eyes with the reality that I am finally getting answers and they are falling so freely.