Chapter 3 of The Seasonal Debt

The basement of the Obsidian Spire did not just hold the Forge. It held the silence of a thousand years. I stood before the massive iron structure and felt the cold biting into my marrow. The air here was different than in my rooms. It was heavy and stagnant as if the oxygen itself had frozen in place. Silas stood behind me. He did not offer words of encouragement. He stood like a shadow cast by a dying world.

"Touch the iron." Silas commanded.

His voice was a blade of ice. It cut through the thick air of the chamber. I looked at the dark metal of the Forge. It was covered in a layer of permafrost that shimmered like crushed diamonds under the faint violet light of the wall sconces. The machine was a mountain of jagged edges and ancient runes. It looked hungry.

"It will drain me Silas." I said.

I did not turn to look at him. I kept my gaze fixed on the frost.

"A forge of this size requires a massive tithe of spirit. If I give too much too fast I will collapse." I explained.

"Then do not collapse." Silas replied.

I felt him move closer. He did not touch me but I could feel the vacuum of his presence. He was a void that wanted to be filled. He was a predator waiting for the first sign of a wound.

"You were sent here to serve a purpose Elara." Silas whispered.

His breath was a ghost of white mist near my ear. It made the small hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"My city does not pay for ornaments." Silas continued. "It pays for results. The Council is watching the meters. The grid is failing in the lower sectors. Now light it."

I gritted my teeth. I reached out and pressed both of my palms against the freezing iron.

The shock was instantaneous. It felt like a thousand needles were being driven into my skin. The Forge was a hollow vessel and I was the liquid fire it had been waiting for. It felt my heat and it began to pull. It was not a gentle draw. It was a violent suction that tugged at the very center of my chest. I felt the amber spark in my core flare up in a desperate attempt to defend itself.

"Argh." I gasped.

My knees buckled. I felt my energy flowing out of my arms and into the dead machine. A dull orange glow began to throb deep within the iron belly of the Forge. It was weak. It was pathetic. It was a flickering candle in a vast dark cathedral.

"Is that all you have?" Silas mocked.

I looked up at him through the strands of my copper hair. He was watching me with a look of bored detachment. He did not care that I was shaking. He did not care that my skin was turning a sickly pale shade of grey. To him I was a utility. I was a tap to be turned until the water ran dry.

"I am trying." I wheezed.

"Try harder." Silas said.

He stepped forward and placed his hands over mine. He pressed my palms harder against the biting iron. The combination of the hunger of the Forge and the unnatural cold of Silas sent a jolt of pure agony through my nerves. It was a collision of extremes. I was caught between a frozen god and a starving machine.

I screamed. The sound echoed off the obsidian walls like a wounded animal. I pushed every bit of my will into my hands. I stopped trying to hold the fire back. I let it flood outward.

Suddenly the orange glow brightened. A roar of heat erupted from the center of the Forge. The chains rattled against the stone floor. The very foundation of the Spire began to vibrate with a low rhythmic thrum. For a single second the room was filled with a blinding golden light that chased away every shadow.

Silas did not pull away. He watched the light with an expression of hungry fascination. The heat should have blistered his skin. It should have turned his fine wool coat to ash. Instead he seemed to drink it in. He looked like a man who was seeing the face of a god for the first time.

The light died as quickly as it had come. The Forge went back to a low steady hum. The golden glow faded into a dim copper pulse.

I fell back onto the cold stone floor. My lungs burned as if I had inhaled smoke. My hands were red and raw from the cold and the friction. I could feel the fire in my core flickering like a candle in a hurricane. I was empty. I felt like a hollow shell washed up on a dark shore.

Silas looked down at me. He did not offer a hand to help me up. He did not even look concerned. He looked at the Forge which was now radiating a faint dormant warmth. He looked at his own hands. They were smoking slightly from the contact. He flexed his fingers as if feeling life in them for the first time in centuries.

"It is a start." Silas said.

He adjusted the cuffs of his shirt as if he had just finished a mundane chore.

"You will return here every evening." Silas said. "You will feed the Heart until the city streets glow. You will push until the frost on the Spire melts. If you fail to meet the quota I will find other ways to extract what is owed."

"You are a monster." I whispered.

I managed to push myself up into a sitting position. My arms felt like lead. I glared at him with every ounce of hatred I could find in my depleted soul.

"I am a King." Silas corrected.

He stepped closer until the toe of his boot brushed my skirt. He looked down at me with a cold pitiless gaze.

"And you are my property until the debt is settled." Silas continued. "In the Summer Court you were a princess. Here you are a spark in the dark. Do not forget your place again Elara."

He turned and walked toward the stairs. His coat swished against his boots with a crisp sharp sound.

"Mina will bring you something for the pain." Silas said without looking back. "Be ready for the gala tomorrow night. I want the aristocrats to see exactly what I bought. I want them to know that the winter is ending because I willed it so."

I watched him disappear into the shadows of the stairwell. I touched the stone floor and felt the lingering warmth I had left behind. It was small but it was there.

I lay back on the cold floor and closed my eyes. I was not just a debt. I was a weapon. Silas thought he had bought a battery but he had brought a sun into a house made of glass. One day I would find the strength to turn this heat into a fire that would melt his frozen heart into nothing but a puddle of regret. I would burn this city to the ground before I let him take everything I was.

I waited for Mina in the dark. I listened to the Forge. It hummed a low dark song that sounded like a warning.

I was a Summer Elemental. I was built for the light. But as I sat in the darkness of the Spire I realized that fire did not just bring life. It also brought destruction. I looked at my red raw hands and made a silent vow.

I would give Silas his warmth. I would give him all the heat he could handle. And when he was finally warm enough to feel pain I would show him exactly what happens when you try to cage a star.