King of the Flame

by Elizabeth Frost

  Drake whirled and spread his fingers wide. Flames shot toward her like arrows. Shockingly, the woman dodged them with ease. She rolled to the bottom of the creature’s chin, then released the grip of her legs.

  Somehow, she disappeared again.

  Where the hell was she going? And how was she doing that?

  He let out a snarl and sent more magic pulsing through the room. It spread along the floor of the trophy room in tiny darts of magic. They should have pierced her flesh. Instead, he found nothing. Not even a portal that would have allowed her to disappear.

  A warm, velvety voice caressed his ear. Hot breath fanned across his cheek and she said, “The darkness does not scare me.”

  He spun, reaching his hand out for her throat only to find nothing there. Just air and the heat of her body where she had once stood.

  He turned slowly this time. Not chasing her. Not trying to catch her. Just waiting for the moment when she would make a mistake. “So you aren’t human then.”

  Her laughter fluttered in the air like a starling he couldn’t catch. “No, I’m not human.”

  “Can you see in the dark?”

  “Not quite.”

  Another lie. She could see in the dark just fine, or she wouldn’t be able to flit from wall to wall.

  He let out a huff of laughter. “Don’t make me chase you, thief.”

  “Why’s that?”

  He turned toward her voice, this time hidden behind a curtain to his left. She wasn’t as sneaky as she thought she was. He took a step toward the curtain. “Because I like to chase things. And you don’t want to know what happens when I catch someone who steals from me.”

  Something rustled behind him. Something like the sound of leather against leather. Before he could turn around, he felt the sharp brush of claws at the back of his neck.

  How many times was he going to spin around? Instead of doing what his entire body wanted to, Drake remained as still as possible. He stood frozen and allowed the creature to touch him as she pleased.

  “I’m not easy to catch,” she murmured, her voice little more than a moan.

  Did she think to distract him with her flesh? She’d be sorely disappointed if that was her plan. Drake hadn’t found himself attracted to a woman in centuries.

  “Oh, I’ll catch you.”

  “How are you going to manage that? You haven’t been successful so far.”

  Because he wasn’t cocky like so many of the faeries in this realm. Because he didn’t care how unexpected she thought she was, the thief had gotten too close. Now he had her scent, and he wasn’t about to let her escape this time.

  Drake flexed the magic deep inside him. The elemental unfurled its flaming wings, roaring to the forefront and controlling his body with unnatural speed. If she thought she was fast, then she was about to see the real speed of an elemental.

  He closed his hand around her throat and released all his power at the same time. The torches burst into life. Fire reached the ceiling and set a few of the curtains ablaze at the front of the room.

  Now, he had all the light he needed to see her. To see every single feature he held in his hand.

  Drake was rendered speechless by the sight of her.

  The raven haired beauty in his grasp was far more than he could ever have imagined. Her porcelain skin glowed in the flames, too pale to have been touched by the sun. Her eyes were golden brown, as though there were chips of metal inside them. Even her face was perfect, heart shaped with bowed lips as red as blood. She was everything he’d ever desired and more because the glare on her face made his entire body burst into flames.

  By all the faerie realms, she was magnificent.

  He was in so much trouble.

  6

  Did this asshole not realize he was squeezing her throat hard enough to crush it? If she’d actually had to breathe, she’d be dead already. As it was, she didn’t even feel a blush staining her cheeks yet. That would take a while. Still, she didn’t want someone manhandling her right now.

  He stared at her like she was some kind of monster who had invaded his home. When in reality, she was just a petty thief who had stumbled into the trophy room.

  At least, that’s what she would say. This was all a huge misunderstanding. She didn’t know how she’d ended up here, but the knife looked expensive and she was just a poor vampiress. She’d put it back if he would let her go.

  He had to let go of her soon, right? His eyes widened staring at her and his hand squeezed a little tighter.

  In ordinary circumstances, she might have enjoyed this. The man sure was handsome enough for a snack, and she didn’t say that often about people who weren’t vampires.

  His caramel colored skin was burnished by the sun. Dark hair flopped over his forehead in a way that made her want to push it back. Black eyes and a hawk-like nose made him just imperfect enough. She’d call him unconventionally handsome. Long features, tall, broad, the man was a wet dream for women and men she was sure.

  But weren’t all faeries? Especially the faerie kings. They were the biggest and the baddest of the bunch.

  Now if only he would drop her, she could explain her way out of here and stop her heart thudding in her chest. The damn thing was already drooling over the man choking the life out of her.

  Typical. She always went for bad boys.

  Lilith reached up and tapped her hands on his wrists. With the last bit of air in her lungs she grunted, “Too tight.”

  He released his hold on her. She dropped from his grasp and landed lightly on her feet. Ouch, her throat hurt.

  She touched a single finger to her neck and shook her head. “Dude, you’ve got a strong grip.”

  The faerie blinked at her. “Excuse me?”

  “Oh right. Faerie. And you’re the king who owns all this so you haven’t been out in the human world for a while, have you?” With a mocking grin, she dropped into a curtsey. “Your Majesty, it’s a pleasure to be within your esteemed presence.”

  Maybe she was coming on strong. The man was open mouthed staring at her, although the heat in his eyes was still there. Maybe it always would be. “How did you know I was the king?”

  “I highly doubt the king lets just anyone into the trophy room, so it makes sense you’d be the one to come running.” She straightened and rolled her eyes. “I see sarcasm also falls flat in your presence.”

  She hadn’t meant her first words to be taken in such a stride. Obviously she wasn’t the type to bow to a king. She hadn’t been when she was a human, part of the reason why she ended up as a vampire, and she certainly hadn’t become one in her undead life.

  He didn’t respond. Instead, he just kept staring at her.

  Right. Joking wasn’t his strong suit. She liked the handsome and dumb ones, though. They were far more entertaining.

  Lilith licked her lips and backed a step away. “Listen, I just happened to end up here. I didn’t know where I was going, and I definitely didn’t know this place was yours or I wouldn’t have stolen anything.”

  “You just said you knew the faerie king owned this trophy room.”

  Shit, she had just said that. Damn, the man was handsome and smart. That would make everything more difficult.

  Lilith tried to backtrack, but she couldn’t quite remember all the words of her lies. So she tried to play dumb. “I mean, I had an idea. Look at the place, obviously this isn’t just any faerie’s... room.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “Trophy room, is what you called it.”

  “Right. That. Not just any faerie will have heads like this everywhere. So obviously this must be the Autumn King’s place of residence. What other faerie king would keep trophies like that one?” She pointed at the giant and hoped he got distracted enough for her to step a couple more feet away.

  Just a bit of space, that’s all she needed. If she could back away then she could reach into her bag and get that damn knife that could probably slice through his skin like butter. If he thought tracking her i
n a dark room was hard, he should try getting a knife out of her hands. Lilith knew how to fight and she was scrappy. He wouldn’t find it easy to take her down.

  Except, the king didn’t look at the giant. His eyes never strayed from her.

  “How did you get in here?” he asked.

  “Uh...” What was the story she was supposed to tell? Something about a book? Or was it that she happened upon the portal? “I found a portal under a bridge in the human realm and stepped into it.”

  There, that was close enough to the truth. That’s what she lived by. If she had to tell a lie, then it needed to be as close to the truth as possible. If everything else was true, then she didn’t have to keep track of anything other than the one thing she wasn’t telling them.

  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

  His lips tilted up at the edges. And they were pretty lips. Really unfairly pretty lips, with a big cushy bottom one and a thinner top lip that made him look mean but also hot.

  It was the fire. Heat always made her brain do strange things, since she was always worried about dying. Nothing else. She wasn’t attracted to this very pretty faerie king who had somehow pinned her down when no one had done that for hundreds of years.

  No, not that at all.

  He took a step toward her, eating up all the space she’d worked so hard to gain. “A portal under a bridge?”

  “Yup.”

  “Really?”

  Lilith gulped. “That’s what I said and I’m sticking to it.”

  He reached out and touched a finger to her chin. Every nerve ending in her body fired, screaming that a handsome man was touching her, so maybe she should try climbing him like a tree?

  Apparently his brain wasn’t in the same place. He took his finger away and rubbed something off on his shirt. “Then why is there portal residue on your skin?”

  Residue? She’d never heard of such a thing. Lilith curled her lip. “First of all, ew. Second, I don’t know what you’re talking about, that only proves what I’m saying is the truth. I went through a portal, and I didn’t know I’d end up here.”

  “You only get portal residue from casting the spell to create it.”

  Eh, she doubted that. Faeries couldn’t lie, but they bent the truth in whatever way served them best. She doubted residue was from casting portals, but maybe there just wasn’t any on her skin.

  She had to distract him. The gears were turning in his head, and she had a feeling that was a terrible thing for her.

  Lilith leaned close, making sure her breath would fan over his lips that were just a hair’s breadth from hers. “What does that residue feel like?”

  It was her sexiest voice, and she hoped like hell he would fall for it. Lilith had a lot of years under her belt to learn the art of seduction. She knew what voice to use for men to fall at her feet.

  But this was a faerie. He also had a lot of years experience in avoiding women’s wiles.

  Yet again, this faerie king bested her. He leaned away from her to arch a thick brow. “Like slime, actually. It’s disgusting and proves you’re lying to me.”

  “Lie?” She pressed a hand dramatically to her chest, pressing down on the globes of her breasts so the indents would catch his attention. “I’d never.”

  He sniffed the air. “Another one.”

  Faeries could smell lies? Why didn’t anyone tell her? She could have used the damn information a long time ago. Like before she was standing in the faerie king’s trophy room looking like a complete idiot about to lose her life.

  Lilith met his gaze with false bravado before she let out a brief laugh and darted to the door. Maybe if she could leave this room, she could lose him in the halls. Or whatever this place was. For all she knew, the trophy room wasn’t attached to anything at all.

  If she had to run across whatever hellscape he’d built for a realm, so be it. She’d rather take her chances than wait to see if he would kill her after he was finished toying with her.

  “Thief!” he shouted.

  Nope, not a chance. She wouldn’t stop for all the gold in the world. She still had the knife in her bag. All she had to do was get away from him. That’s it. Lilith knew how to escape, she’d been doing that her entire life.

  Her shoulder connected with the door and it should have slammed open. It didn’t even budge. Nothing. Not even a shake from the hinges.

  Vampires were strong. She might look like she didn’t weigh much, but she had the power of an elephant in her body. And the door didn’t even move?

  She stood in front of the great wooden monolith, frantically trying to think of another way to get out of this place. He could kill her. She’d seen how he wielded fire like it was a weapon. She only had a few chances to get through this situation.

  Giving up the knife was the first option. She didn’t want to do that, though. If she could keep it, she had leverage to get herself out of further situations.

  “Look, Mister.” She cleared her throat, purposefully keeping her back to him. “I don’t want to hurt you. You don’t want to hurt me. Let’s just part ways and pretend this never happened.”

  Heat pressed against her spine. “What makes you think I don’t want to hurt you?”

  Yeah, that’s what she was afraid of. He was a faerie king, and he’d already tried killing her. She had a feeling he very much enjoyed inflicting pain on other people.

  Time to switch tactics. Yet again.

  “Well aren’t we just two peas in a pod? I happen to also like hurting people, and I’m very good at it. Are we both just going to stay in this room until one of us decides they’ve had enough pain for the day?”

  His chuckle echoed. How did a man sound like melted chocolate pouring into a bowl? How did he smell like the most perfect glass of blood she’d ever had?

  His hand came down on her shoulder and it was warm. So warm when all she remembered in her life was the cold of graves. “I know you expect me to consider that a waste of time, but I can think of nothing else I’d rather do.”

  Fuck.

  Her legs shook with desire and every part of her body fired to attention. She could feel every whorl and callous where his fingers were touching her. Even her black top was suddenly too tight because she couldn’t take in a deep breath, and she didn’t even need to breathe.

  Lilith tried to get control. She squeezed her legs together and forced her mind down a different path.

  She hissed, “You have no idea what I am, faerie. That could be a much longer fight than you’re expecting.”

  “Very few creatures can keep up with faeries.”

  Her tongue raced before her mind could tell her to shut up. “I don’t need a lot of sleep. You’d be surprised how long I can last.”

  The faerie king groaned in her ear, and the sound was magic. Pure, raw magic that fed her senses almost as much as his blood would have. “Don’t tempt me, thief. I might just stay a while and see if you’re telling the truth.”

  No, Lilith, she thought. You cannot entertain sleeping with him just to get out of here.

  But what better way to get what she wanted? Him and freedom. Done. Boom.

  Bang it out and then everyone was happy. Wasn’t that how she always lived her life?

  She turned around in his arms, ready to throw herself at him and hope like hell he caught her. Who wouldn’t? She was an attractive woman in leather with a lot of skin showing. He’d have to be crazy to turn down her advances.

  Which, apparently, he was.

  The faerie king took a step back with an evil grin on his face. “Oh no, I don’t think we’ll be doing that.”

  “Excuse me?” She crossed her arms over her chest, making sure the girls were pushed up. “I don’t know what you think was about to happen, but I’m not that type of girl.”

  “Then why are you upset?”

  She blinked, then waved her hand for him to explain.

  He mimicked her posture, crossing his arms over his chest. “If you weren’t that type of girl, you wouldn’t hav
e any idea what I just thought you were about to do.”

  His logic was sound, although he’d gone about it the long way. Lilith rolled her eyes and cocked her hip out to the side. “Fine, whatever faerie. I’m that type of girl. I just want to leave this stupid trophy room, get my jollies off, and then forget this ever happened. Sound like a plan to you?”

  “No.”

  A shriek of rage pushed from her throat. “Then what do you propose we do, King of the Flame? Sit here until I rot?”

  He reached out, gripped her shoulder and shoved her across the room.

  Lilith hit the floor hard, hip first, then skidded all the way to the podium at the back of his trophy room. She struck it with her back and the velvet pillow fell down on her head. Growling, she flipped her hair out of her face and shouted, “What the fuck, faerie?”

  The faerie king touched two fingers to his forehead and saluted her. “Yes, I expect you to rot in here. I told you, I don’t take kindly to thieves. This room is warded a thousand times over. The only exit is through this door, and I’m the only one with the key. You can portal into the room, thief, but you can never leave.”

  And then he shut the door.

  Lilith waited until she heard the telltale sound of a lock turning in place, then she released a scream of rage.

  7

  How the hell did she even get into the fortress? It was supposed to be impossible, and yet, this woman had done something no one else had ever managed.

  Drake leaned his forearms against his knees, pressing his steepled fingers against his lips. His private quarters were the only place he could sit in silence and think about what had happened. Otherwise, the faeries of his court would want to know why the trophy room rang with a woman’s screams.

  She had a powerful set of lungs. He’d give her that. He had to wonder just how loud she’d be in bed, and that wasn’t helping anyone.

  “You need to clear your mind,” the elemental said.

  “Yes, I’m well aware of that. The woman is a distraction.” And Drake didn’t have time for distractions. He needed to continue feeding all the creatures he’d created in this realm.