Shadow of Flame

by Caitlyn McFarland

  Evan looked from Kai to Deryn, then at Rhys. “I assume you get it.”

  Rhys flipped something with a quick, efficient movement. “Remember when siblings in the more exclusive human dynasties used to marry each other to keep their bloodlines pure? It’s like that. But everyone dies.”

  Evan made a face and Deryn waved impatiently at Rhys. “You were telling us what Harrow said.”

  Rhys shook his head, though he didn’t look up from the food he was preparing. “Too much. But the gist of it is that Ashem is sending a few members of the Invisible to check on Owain’s movements in Asia, and that it may or may not be related to human disappearances, the Sunrise Dragon or artifacts in general.”

  Deryn rolled her eyes. “The Sunrise Dragon has been missing since our great-grandfather became king. If you two would stop chasing after artifacts and allocate more soldiers to actual fighting, we might end this war.”

  The words had the ring of an old argument, and Rhys confirmed it by ignoring Deryn completely. “I’m more worried about the spy here than I am about whatever Owain is doing halfway around the globe. Not only did Kavar know where we were going to be when he and his vee attacked two months ago, a week ago Owain sent an assassin after Kai, and they had an onyx pendant that allowed her to get past Ashem. The same as the onyx charms we used to capture Kavar. I told Harrow to start monitoring all communications in and out of Eryri.”

  “You’re monitoring communications?” Deryn stood suddenly. “What are you, some kind of human dictator?”

  Rhys raised his eyebrows. “We’re at war.”

  “So that means you get to infringe on the privacy of your people?”

  Kai, taken by surprise at Deryn’s outburst, looked to Evan. He was looking at Deryn like she’d just grown two heads. “Why’s that a problem, annwyl?

  Rhys carried food over to the table and set a pot down on a folded towel. “Sorry, so I should let the spy communicate with Owain whenever they want?”

  Deryn’s face went blank. “No. But you can’t just stick your big red nose in everyone’s business.”

  Rhys shook his head. “If you come up with something better, Aderyn, I’ll consider it.”

  She pressed her lips together, but didn’t respond. Evan changed the subject, and after a few strained minutes, the rest of the meal passed in easy conversation. Kai mostly listened, content to let the dragons talk. After lunch, Deryn and Evan left, and Kai helped Rhys carry the dishes to the counter.

  “Have you seen Juli and Ashem?” she asked. “Ffion said they went to his apartment early this morning.”

  Rhys nodded. “In fact, I have a message for you. He and Juli are having a pledging ceremony. Tonight. Azhdahā ceremonies start at midnight and go until dawn, so you may want to take a nap this afternoon.”

  “What’s a pledging ceremony?”

  Rhys hesitated. When he spoke, his voice was carefully neutral. “It’s like a human wedding. Just because two people are heartsworn doesn’t necessarily mean they’re monogamous. A pledging means they intend to be.”

  Juli was getting married.

  Kai opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the opening riff of “Smoke on the Water” coming from her pocket.

  The blood drained from her face. Apparently she wouldn’t be talking to Rhys about strategy, after all. Kai snatched out her phone. The screen read, “Mom” with a picture of her mother giving the camera a dirty look below.

  Kai took a shaking breath and tapped the green icon. “Hi, Mom.”

  “Kai?” Her mother’s voice was a screech on the other end of the line. Kai winced and pulled the phone away from her ear. “Oh my—Stephen! She answered!”

  Her dad’s voice rumbled in the background. “Put it on speaker!” There was a click, and then Dad’s voice. “Kai? Sweetheart?”

  Mom gasped and sobbed. “Kai, are you all right? Where are you?”

  Kai closed her eyes and inhaled. “I’m fine, Mom. I’m sorry. I forgot to tell you that I was going camping with some friends for a couple of days. I didn’t have reception.” Yes. That was good. That might actually work.

  “Which friends?” her father demanded. “Brendan went by your apartment and Charlotte and that girl with the giant headphones said they hadn’t seen you in weeks! I thought Juli had an internship! You’re supposed to be getting things in order to go back to school!”

  Kai twisted her fingers in her drawstring. “I know, Dad. I just—I kind of need a break. I think I’m going to defer school for a while.”

  Silence for one heartbeat. Two. Three.

  “No, you most certainly are not, young lady!” That was Dad.

  Heat tingled in Kai’s palms. She closed her eyes.

  “Kai Kiera Monahan, if you aren’t going to school, you are moving back home.” Mom.

  The heat in her hands surged, and the plastic casing of the phone softened in Kai’s hand. The connection fuzzed. Swearing, Kai pulled it away from her ear and set it on the table, tapping the speakerphone icon as quickly as she could.

  “—that kind of language,” her mother said primly.

  Kai stuck her fists in her lap. The wavering imprint of her fingers was melted into her cheap cell phone case, but the phone itself looked fine. “Sorry,” she muttered. “I stubbed my toe.”

  “Did you hear what I said?” her mother asked. “If you aren’t doing anything in Boulder, you are coming home.”

  Kai’s patience snapped. “Listen, I love you guys, but let me clear one thing up right now. I am not moving home again. Ever.”

  Stunned silence, then, “Where’s Juli?” Kai’s mother demanded. “Why isn’t she there, and why hasn’t she talked you out of this nonsense?”

  “Juli isn’t my nanny! I can make my own decisions.” The fire was growing, heat warping the edges of Kai’s vision. Sweat beaded on her brow. Her blood scorched.

  Not again. Hang on, hang on!

  “I’m sorry, Mom. Dad. I really am, but I have to go. I promise I’ll call soon.”

  She tapped the red hangup icon on her phone screen as fast as she could. Her protective cover sizzled and bubbled. Her insides charred. She’d held the magic in longer than she’d managed that day at the climbing gym, but it was too much. With a cry of pain, Kai pushed away from the table and stumbled out of the kitchen.

  “Kai?” Rhys had been standing behind her silently throughout the call with her parents. Now he followed her.

  Not again. Not again. Not again.

  Kai reached the hall, slipped, fell. Flames burst from her palms as she caught herself, the beautiful mosaic floor tiles blackening. Hot tears leaked from her eyes, but they sizzled and turned to steam on her cheeks. Fire spread, haloing her body in flame. Kai pulled her knees to her chest, holding it in with everything she had.

  Rhys knelt in front of her and reached through the fire, taking her wrists the way he had the night he’d shown up at her parents’ house. The pressure inside Kai lessened, and trails of flame wound around Rhys’s arms all the way to his shoulders, blackening his white shirt.

  His face twisted. It hadn’t hurt him before, but this time, he looked like he was in pain. She smelled singed hair and burning flesh. Kai had seen Rhys play with fire like it was a toy, but now his skin blistered. Fear choked her. The flames grew. If he couldn’t stop them, what would happen to her? Would they die out, like they had at The Quarry? Or maybe she would just burn.

  Rhys gritted his teeth. “Spin it.”

  She stared at him, uncomprehending.

  “Spin the fire into a ball at your center, like the core of the earth. Imagine gravity, holding it in like it’s a sun. Spin it so it stops moving outward and rotates in on itself.”

  Kai tried, closing her eyes to focus on the maelstrom inside her. It was too late. The flames were huge and wild, completely bey
ond her control. She opened her eyes. “I can’t.”

  Sweat beaded on Rhys’s forehead, on his lips. “Sunder it!”

  He lifted her, flames and all, strode into the atrium and leapt beneath the closest waterfall.

  Steam exploded, the water shockingly cold as it enveloped Kai’s body and saturated the singed remains of her clothing. The water was deep, too deep for Kai to touch bottom, though Rhys seemed to be able to. She clung to his neck as he released her and braced his hands against the wall on either side of her, his head down as water beat over both of them, colder by the second.

  After a minute, the water had stopped making hissing and sizzling sounds against their skin. Coughing, Rhys dragged them out from under the waterfall. The entire room was filled with a dense fog. Kai’s clothes were gone again. His shirt was nothing but char.

  He cradled her against him. Soothing energy poured off him in waves. Not magic, just the profound comfort of being touched. Never had she had so much bare skin against another human being.

  Lust sparked, but it was short-lived. The shakes took over. Kai wiggled closer to him, but for comfort and warmth. With the fire gone, the water was frigid.

  “Are you all right?

  Kai nodded, but couldn’t speak.

  Relief flooded her.

  Kai blinked. It wasn’t her relief. It didn’t...taste like her. It tasted bold and heady and masculine.

  Her breath caught. Somehow, her mental shields had cracked, and Rhys’s emotions were leaking through. They were like a warm blanket on a howling winter night.

  “Rhys, is she all right?” Ffion stood in the tunnel that led to the ledge outside, concern on her silver face.

  “I think she will be.” He sounded shaken, but the response was enough for Ffion, because she went back to her post.

  Apparently unaware of what had happened in Kai’s head, Rhys lifted her out of the water, setting her on the stone, then broke contact to heave himself onto the bridge next to her. He moved to stand, and she snapped her hand out to grip his wrist. “D-don’t go.”

  “I’m not leaving you. Just breathe, George. In and out.” He inhaled, then let the breath out through his nose. Kai mimicked him. George. She’d forgotten about the nickname he’d given her after she stabbed Kavar. She’d told him to call her St. George, so he had.

  He inhaled again. “In, out. Can you stand?”

  Kai used his hand to pull herself to her feet. He put an arm around her waist, and she leaned against him. He wasn’t much steadier than she was, but they made it to the little living room, where Rhys cocooned her in a blanket before settling them on the couch, sitting sideways with one leg on the floor and her upper body resting against his.

  Just until they calmed down, she thought. Then she wondered if the thought had come from Rhys.

  “You need training.”

  She snorted weakly. “You think?”

  “We can start tomorrow.”

  It struck her that her direwolf shirt and her purple plaid pajama pants were gone. Ridiculous as it was after everything that had happened, that, more than anything, made her want to cry.

  She freed one hand and moved the blanket so her cheek rested against his bare skin, then curled her fingers and laid them against his neck. She hadn’t thought he’d react, but he tucked her head under his chin, wrapping a strong arm around her.

  He surrounded her, and it was like coming home.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Rhys intertwined his fingers through the hand Kai had placed on his neck. “Family can be complicated.”

  Kai grunted. “They thought I was dead. I couldn’t not answer when it rang.” She licked her lips. “I was coming to ask you for help.”

  The faintest hint of surprise. It was intriguing, this tiny taste of him. “Me?”

  “Yeah. You’re a king, right? You deal with difficult people all the time. My parents are difficult people. I don’t know what I’m going to tell them about Christmas.”

  He chuckled, his chest vibrating against her cheek. “We can probably come up with something.”

  Kai tightened her hand in his. “Could we?”

  He hesitated. “If you think you could trust me.”

  “I think I can...with that. I mean...I want to try.” The tension was too much, so she broke it. “I’m going to tell them you and I eloped and it’s your family’s year for the holidays. My mom thought you were hot. That will make it easier for her.”

  He laughed. His free hand wandered up from her back to touch her hair. Her beanie had also burned away, and he ran his fingers through the black waves around her shoulders.

  Though Kai had mostly stopped shaking, tremors still ran through her body a few times each minute. Sleep fogged the edges of her mind, blurring the fear of fire, the anxiety over how to deal with her parents. She concentrated on what it felt like to be touched by Rhys. Kai sank into the comfort he offered. Needing it.

  Needing him.

  Chapter Twelve

  The Sky Is Dark

  Seren folded her hands into her bell-shaped sleeves. Two Mo’o, male and female, knelt, fingertips to foreheads, on the white polished stone floor. Please don’t let them be here for the reason I think they are.

  “The sky is dark,” the woman murmured, her words nearly lost to the open sides of the chamber and the faint sound of waves far below. She was crowned with flowers, her long, thick curtain of midnight hair brushed the ground. “We seek the light of the Seeress.”

  Seren leaned forward, one hand gripping the arm of her throne-like chair. “Please, rise.”

  They did. The man was half a head taller than the woman, his hair tied in a short ponytail. His eyes were the color of amethyst. Like Cadoc’s. Both had black tattoos on their cheeks.

  The woman spoke first. “Lady, we wish to declare ourselves Unsworn.”

  Seren’s stomach dropped. She rose and lifted her golden skirts and veil out of the way—Ancients, some days she hated gold—and opened the hidden door in the lattice bubble that separated her from accidental contact. Iolani, Seren’s caretaker and the closest thing to a mother she had known, made a disapproving noise from her own chair, situated to one side of Seren’s. Seren ignored her.

  Nearly a thousand dragons supported Rhys; about the same number supported Owain. Perhaps two thousand more had opted to stay out of the fight altogether. Two kings, ten clans, rogues, Wingless...all of them were hers.

  “Mahina, my sister.” Seren grasped the woman’s hands in hers. She’d presided over the pledging of this woman’s sister about half a century ago. This man had been there, as well. Seren had to look up into Mahina’s eyes. Even for a dragon female, she was tall. “Kaho, my brother. Please don’t do this.”

  “We’ve made our choice,” Mahina said, taking Kaho’s hand. “We love each other. We won’t be sworn to others.”

  Seren resisted the urge to rub away the headache that had started at the base of her skull. As the Seeress, it was her duty to bind dragons to certain promises with magic. The oath she would seal on these two meant their early deaths. And Rhys wondered why she ran away so often.

  “The life of the Unsworn is violent and short—” Her throat closed. This was a script. Ancients, she could follow a script. “You will never be able to have children.”

  They nodded. Kaho’s neutral mask cracked, the hopelessness underneath showing for a bare moment. Seren had a flare of hatred for the ancient dragons who had bound their progeny to heartswearing and the mantle, taking away their descendants’ most basic freedoms.

  “You must move from the quarters of your clan to the barracks of the Unsworn.”

  They nodded. Tears welled behind Seren’s eyes. “The Unsworn are the first to battle, the last to leave. They have no clan. They have no family. In combat, should you hav
e a choice between preserving your own life and preserving the life of a heartsworn dragon or a dragon who could someday heartswear, you must forfeit your own. When you swear to these things, the promise will be binding. You will be compelled by magic to uphold your oath.” Power gathered around her, thick and crackling.

  They nodded.

  Seren ignored the traditional words for a moment. “Please,” she said again. “There must be another way. What will you do when one of you dies? Or both.”

  “Then we will be together in the Stars,” Mahina said.

  Seren took a deep breath, but when she spoke, her words, though layered with magic, were little more than a whisper. “Unsworn, I declare you, Kaho of the South Mo’o. Unsworn, I declare you, Mahina of the South Mo’o.”

  There was a tightening in the air, as if, for a moment, the room had compressed, making it impossible to breathe. Then the feeling loosened. Mahina and Kaho bowed deeply, backed away a few steps, then turned and left the audience chamber.

  Seren reached up under her veil to wipe away a rebellious tear. They can still change their minds and take part in the heartswearing gathering. They could. They might.

  A throat cleared, and Seren looked up. Another dragon knelt in front of her. A male. She had no idea how long he’d been there, waiting. “Lady, the sky is dark. I seek the Light of the Seeress.”

  So much trust. So much pressure to be perfect. Seren folded her hands into her sleeves and went back to her place on the dias.

  It was a busy day. No one else came to declare themselves Unsworn, thank the Ancients. They sought advice, or binding oaths, or asked her to preside over ceremonies.

  This is what I get for leaving.

  Iolani stood up sometime after sundown. There were still at least a dozen people in line outside the door. “You haven’t eaten since lunch. We’re finished.”

  Iolani nodded at the distant guard—the audience chamber was massive—and he motioned the remaining supplicants back as he pulled the delicate-looking gate across the door.

  Seren stood, stretching, and followed Iolani from the audience room down a short hall. Passing the stone archway into the huge, round cave that served as her private rooms, she stripped off her gloves and veil. Balling the sheer fabric in one hand, Seren trailed the other across the stone wall. Carved insects and flowers passed beneath her fingers, the grainy stone inlaid with smooth metals and hard-edged gemstones.