Embraced by Embers

by Kasey Mackenzie

  I couldn’t help but gape at the sheer opulence of this suite that seemed so at odds with the rest of the monastery. Except for the room that was empty of furniture besides the throne symbolically reserved for Hikaru.

  “Is this shit for real right now?”

  Dia giggled at the incredulity in my tone. “I know, right? Who lives like this?”

  “Apparently we do, at least when having sleepovers at the monastery.”

  The fact I said we instead of I seemed to placate her. She nodded toward the entrance. “Those doors out there lead to additional suites that are slightly less fancy than this one, but still pretty damned good. Intended for your, and I quote, inner circle and honor guard.”

  She didn’t roll her eyes, but I sure heard it in her voice all the same. “Well obviously my liegesworn and bondmate qualify as my inner circle, but does that automatically make you my honor guard, too? I read science fiction and fantasy, not Knights of the Round Table.”

  “Beats me, Firebird. The Freeholders didn’t teach me a damned thing about this shit either. I’m kind of learning on the job just like you.”

  “Speaking of the Freeholders. I’m sure there’s a good reason Isaac didn’t text you directly yet. It sounded like he had a lot of unexpected shit to deal with back in St. Louis. Besides, we both know he’s crazy about you.”

  Dia sighed and nudged me toward the bedroom where my overnight bag waited. “Yeah, I know. I’m more worried about the shit he’s dealing with than the fact he hasn’t called or texted. I’m not nearly as needy now as I was at 22.”

  She leaned against the bedroom doorway with her eyes politely averted while I shucked off the robe, folded it neatly atop the fancy backless chaise at the foot of the ginormous bed, and dressed in the flowy black blouse, dressy black pants, and knee-high black boots I’d chosen for the ceremony that would officially transition Hikaru’s Own to Cassidy’s Own. It would be immediately followed by the second, which would see Clan Zi declaring war on my father and his followers.

  The clothing was stark, simple, and would allow freedom of movement during an attack. Just what every budding liegelord needed to consider. The only jewelry I wore were my birth mother’s Phoenix ring, emerald earrings Jake had given me on our first date, and a simple strand of black pearls my adoptive mother, Kari Grant, had gifted from her own jewelry box for this occasion. I was looking forward to seeing my adoptive family and best friend, Sierra “Si Si” Cruz. They’d temporarily moved here to receive more advanced training on defending themselves from Elemental attacks.

  My third and fourth liegesworn, Bianca Perez and Keith Hobart, were also currently staying here, although for different reasons. Bianca would be delivering bouncing baby twins in mere months, which meant we were under a time crunch to find a Gryphon and Selkie to finish their Quatrain. Otherwise, both Bianca and babies would perish in the magical firestorm inspired by a double Elemental birth.

  So far, things weren’t looking so good. Not that I would admit that out loud.

  “Isaac’s the best damn leader those Freeholders have ever had, and they know it. They’d be idiots to remove him as Steward.”

  “Tell that to the cockroaches who’ve crawled out of the woodwork to file those trumped-up grievances against him.”

  I ran a brush through my hair before quickly braiding it. “He tried and stripped Zoe Stephens of her Phoenix abilities fair and square, perfectly by the book. And we have plenty of witnesses to back that up.”

  “That’s not the only claim they’ve made against him.”

  A knock sounded at the main door, prompting me to finish tying off my braid with a ponytail holder and nod at my sister. We walked back into the living room, where I embraced Spirit to peek out into the hallway.

  “Speak of the devil, and he shall appear!” I announced before swinging the door open dramatically.

  Tall, Dark, and Handsome stepped into the living room; dark brown eyes zooming straight toward Dia. His body headed straight toward hers as if it were a heat-seeking missile. Given the blisteringly hot kiss he gave her right in front of me, heat-seeking missile seemed perfectly appropriate.

  “Ewww, go get a room!” They ignored me, smooshing lips and tongues together for another good twenty seconds until I borrowed Dia’s ability to send cold air rushing over them.

  She shivered and sent me a glare. “No fair stealing my power to use against me!”

  “No fair scarring your sister’s delicate brain by necking your boyfriend in front of her, either! Plus, you didn’t even say the magic words: Tall, Dark, and Handsome first.”

  Isaac shook his head, long black braids sliding over his shoulders as he folded his arms across his chest. “You two been having some sisterly chats, I see.”

  That inspired Dia to place hands on hips and purse her lips in a disapproving line. “At least someone in this room has taken the time to actually talk to me.”

  “Whoa, sounds like this is about to get a whole lot of awkward. And as much as I love eavesdropping on all the juicy stuff, we’re supposed to be getting this shindig going. So maybe you can pause the awkward for now?”

  Dia’s lips twitched, but she managed not to crack a smile. “Fine, we’ll table this conversation for now. But we’re going to come back to it after Let’s Roast Cassidy night is over. Capiche?”

  He raised two fingers and nodded. “Scout’s honor.”

  Her eyes narrowed to slits. “Were you ever even a Scout?”

  “Oh, look at the time! We better get going.”

  She nodded in satisfaction. “That’s what I thought. Now let’s get our Cinderella to the ball.”

  “Wait, am I going to an Elementals Central Roast or a ball?”

  “Both! Now zip it and let’s go.”

  Isaac and I shared amused glances. “You heard the lady.”

  “Lady?” I said with a smirk, and she smacked me on the butt with Air. Not that I could complain, since turnabout was fair play.

  Moments later found us back in the combination kitchen/lounge attached to the throne room, which was currently crawling with monks polishing the floors, tapestries, and gilded columns as if a military inspection were about to take place. The lounge had been decorated with streamers and balloons, something that had me one part embarrassed and one part pleased. I’d been thrown very few big parties as a child, so seeing the excitement this group felt to be taking oath to a new liegelord touched me.

  Mountains of food covered the kitchen counters and tables, revealing that Breena and Jake hadn’t actually had to do anything to make sure lunch was prepared. I headed straight toward the boxes of pizza on top of the oven, filling a plate with several slices and grabbing a side salad when Breena shook her head in that universal Mom way.

  “Look, Ma, veggies!” I teased with a wink.

  “We’re both very proud of you,” a feminine voice joked from behind.

  I whirled at the sound of my adoptive mother’s voice and dropped both salad and pizza on a nearby table. “Mom and Dad!” They made me the center of a hug sandwich before stepping back to examine me for any signs of injury. Apparently they’d been filled in on the fact I’d just died and been revived again.

  Si Si and my three adoptive brothers—Aaron, Bradley, and Cooper—soon bestowed hugs of their own before grabbing food and joining the rest of us at the room’s largest table. And let me just point out that Mom and Dad named my two younger brothers long before that actor got famous...

  Over the next hour, people filtered in and out as they continued preparing for the upcoming ceremonies. Most were monks who called this particular monastery (there were several throughout the world) home, but there were some from the other monasteries and plenty members of Clan Zi as well. Isaac had also brought a small contingent of his most loyal Freeholders, although he’d left his right-hand woman Avani in St. Louis to continue fighting the ridiculous grievances. None had yet stuck, and we were hoping it stayed that way—or that they would stop altogether.

  It
felt so good to just pretend this was a normal gathering of extended family and close friends as I stuffed my face full of food and caught up with those I hadn’t seen in awhile. Bianca and Keith put in an appearance, and it felt like her stomach had doubled in size since I’d seen her a few weeks ago. My gaze fixated on those two most of all, and I wasn’t ashamed of the fact I channeled Spirit to eavesdrop on their surface thoughts to make sure neither had been getting up to no good.

  Considering that she’d been a traitor to Clan Zi—even if forced into it by the actions of that prick Dorian Garcia, who’d magically seduced and abducted Si Si to use against me—and Keith was the cousin of my birth father who’d been coerced into bonding and later betraying my birth mother, my paranoia was well-justified.

  Bianca took advantage of her expanded girth to sweet-talk someone out of the seat across from me and settled in with a plate of food that made mine pale in comparison. “It’s good to see all of you again,” she managed to say between mouthfuls.

  Keith arched a brow at the guy sitting next to Bianca. “Mind if I sit next to my bondmate and across from my liegelord?”

  The other Elemental’s eyes widened and he nodded, grabbing his plate and moving to another table. Apparently the title liegelord carried celebrity-levels of status around here. I’ll have to be careful to use my power only for good.

  My lips twisted in amusement before I re-focused on Bianca. “You and the babies are looking well.”

  She rolled her eyes. “If by well you mean swelling up like a watermelon, then yes. I’m trying to remind myself I voluntarily signed up for extreme water retention and repeated bathroom visits. Plus, these sweet babies will totally be worth it, right?”

  Keith opened his mouth as if to reply but seemed to think better of it. Smart man.

  I pasted on a big smile. “Of course they will. You’ll get your own body back if nothing else.”

  Bianca blinked and then let out a belly laugh. “I like the way you think.” Her expression sobered as she caressed her baby bump, worry chewing lines in her face. “We haven’t found any appropriate Selkies and Gryphons while here. Most are already bonded or too weak for our purposes. One couple seemed promising but...they’re worried about bonding with someone bearing the children of the Mindbender seeking to conquer our world.”

  The whole world, but who’s counting?

  I kept that sarcastic (and scary) thought to myself. “Isaac’s still working on a few possibilities among the Freeholders, and we’ve passed on the word to some other Clans here in the States. Our next step is to extend the search circle even wider. Ju Hai thinks there could be some great potential bondmates among Clan Zi offshoots in China and Japan. Breena is also reaching out to her original Clan back in Ireland. Don’t give up hope, B.”

  She smiled at my use of Colin’s nickname for her. As if that had summoned him, he wandered into the lounge by way of the throne room. Similarly to Isaac with Dia, he honed in on Bianca in 3.5 seconds flat.

  Bianca leaned up so Colin could plant a kiss on her lips. Their love was written all over their faces. Not once had he ever looked down on Bianca for bearing another man’s children or bonding to yet another to help protect those children.

  That other man’s body tensed but otherwise showed no reaction. I would have felt sorry for Keith’s being directly confronted by the fact his bondmate loved another man instead of him if it weren’t for the fact that he had betrayed his own bondmate. My mother. Garrett may have Mindbended to manipulate him, but still. It also wasn’t Colin or Bianca’s fault that they had fallen in love before realizing that he was a far stronger Mindbender than Dragon. Meaning he was too weak in Earth magic to help buffer the magic from a twin childbirth.

  I used humor to cut through the potential awkward. “Don’t make me set a No PDA Allowed rule around here.”

  Bianca narrowed her eyes in mock fear. “Can she do that?”

  Colin cast a sardonic glance from me to Jake. “I think the better question is ‘Would she do that?’ Considering how many times I’ve caught those two sucking face when they thought nobody was watching, I’d put my money on hell no.”

  Snickers echoed along the table, and among a few of the other tables, but I merely smiled since that had been my goal. Even Keith had a grin on his face now.

  “Hardy har har,” I pretended to grouse. “Are you guys ready out there or what?”

  Colin’s expression became more businesslike. “They’re almost ready for the ceremony in the throne room, but we’re going to handle the mass revival outside in the main courtyard. That’s all good to go once you’re done eating.”

  I stared down at the last remaining chocolate chip cookie on my dessert plate, debating whether its ooey gooey deliciousness was worth a potential bellyache. As if that were ever actually in question. Snatching up the cookie, I rose to my feet and nodded around the table. “Who else is ready to raise some zombies?”

  That inspired more snickers, since there were no such thing as zombies. Revived Elementals were the exact same people they had been before death. No decaying flesh or terrifying need to consume human brains.

  Colin turned to lead the way, and most of the room’s occupants fell in behind us. We stepped out into late summer sunshine that was made bearable by the fact the hottest part of the day had passed a few hours ago. I closed my eyes to momentarily soak in the rays before focusing on the ceremonial circle at the center of the large courtyard the monastery’s main buildings opened onto. An eerier circle of body bags had been arranged around the outside of that inner ring. The body bags had been spell-worked with all four physical elements to prevent more spontaneous resurrections from occurring. They also helped delay the inevitable decay that faced us all at some point.

  The bags had already been zipped open and peeled back just far enough to reveal the reposing face of each one of Drew’s fallen minions. I found myself staring at each of the feminine-seeming faces intently, trying to identify the delicate features and blonde hair that would mark Lily Barden, my father’s favorite daughter and the sister I’d not yet met. Her telltale eyes would be impossible to discover without stepping over to peel back each woman’s eyes.

  That thought had me shuddering slightly. Jake settled an arm around my shoulder and whispered, “You okay?”

  I resorted to the snark that got me through the bizarre and often shitty situations that often threw themselves in my path. “Oh yeah, peachy. Just another day where I find myself staring at a circle of dead bodies, some of whom I probably had a hand in killing.”

  Jake rolled his eyes with a grin. “Sympathizing with the enemy?”

  “Hell no. Doesn’t mean I take pleasure in death, though.”

  He sobered. “Sorry, I sometimes forget you weren’t raised around this like the rest of us. We’ve grown pretty numb to this, at least when Elementals are the dead bodies in question.”

  I kept my gaze focused on the outer ring we were growing closer to. “That’s my main problem with this. One day the bodies we’re left to take care of aren’t going to be Elementals we can revive, Stalkers who were trying to kill us, or mortal minions of my father doing the same. The fact I’m going to lead in this war means I can’t let myself grow numb to this. Those deaths are going to be at least partially my responsibility, and they’re going to hurt like hell.”

  Especially if, God forbid, any of them turned out to be the adoptive family or best friend whose mortal lives I treasured.

  His lips opened as if to argue, but Colin reached the lone figure standing around the circle to keep watch on the fallen captives. That figure turned and we recognized Riku; the Marshal of Hikaru’s Own. Ju Hai’s brother, long believed to have fallen in the same war that claimed his own father’s life centuries ago. Also the strongest living hybrid Mindbender alive besides me. He was also a Phoenix like me; although not nearly as strong channeling that element.

  Riku and Colin exchanged a few words before they beckoned my liegesworn, my bondmate, and me closer. Mome
nts later, we were joined by the Clan Zi Firsts, Breena and her Quatrain—with Breena leaving as much space between Ju Hai and her as possible—and several other senior Clanmates. The Firsts took their places inside the inner ring at all four cardinal points of the ceremonial circle. Jake, my liegesworn, and I took our places around the outer ring of bodies; leaving Breena’s Quatrain, Colin, Riku, Isaac, and a few of his Freeholders to fill the other empty spaces. One of us for each of the captives about to be revived. Just in case.

  Everyone else stood in carefully-arranged groups around the courtyard, standing ready in case the captives revolted or an outside attack occurred when the rest of us were most vulnerable.

  Jake’s grandmother Li Ming glanced at me. “Are you ready, Cassidy?”

  I let out a deep breath and nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”

  She nodded and then the Firsts raised the inner circle of all four elements customary in major ceremonies like this one. After it winked into existence, Li Ming signalled me to summon a second-level firewall around their inner wall, and then another around the bodies to keep them penned inside that larger circle. This meant they theoretically would be unable to harm either the Firsts or anyone else. Except maybe each other.

  Li Ming spoke into the silent courtyard, “Let us now revive these fallen Elementals that they may make the choice set before them. Pay for their treason against their own kind by taking oath to Cassidy Grant, chosen liegelord of Clan Zi and Hikaru’s Own, and serving her in whatever capacity she deems most appropriate; or pay for that treachery by facing permanent death to be dealt here and now.”