Burnt

by Lyn Lowe

  Burnt

  Blood and Fire Saga #1

  By Lyn Lowe

  and Michelle Wheet

  Text copyright © 2012 Lyn Lowe

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover Illustration by Bobby Esckelson

  For more of Bobby’s work visit his Etsy shop, Apartment22Art. http://www.etsy.com/shop/Apartment22Art

  The author is deeply grateful you took the time to read this book. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review wherever you bought the book, or telling your friends or blog readers about it to help spread the word. Thank you for your support!

  Learn about upcoming books in the Blood and Fire Saga, as well as other things Lyn is currently obsessed with:

  http://lynlowe.blogspot.com/

  Blood and Fire books on Facebook

  @Harleyquinn2222 on Twitter

  Author’s Note

  The first version of Burnt was not the polished piece I wanted to show the world. That might be an understatement, actually. I learned a lot from that experience, lessons I carried on to Forgotten and everything I’ve written after. As I’m sure my co-author Michelle will tell you, my red pen gets a LOT of use now.

  But it’s always bothered me to have Burnt suffer from my inexperience. Not to mention the cover…

  So I set aside some time to fix it.

  I haven’t changed the content. The story is still the same one that first went on sale June 1, 2012. In fact most of what I’ve done is remove the multitude of commas. That’s right, I admit it: I’m a comma junkie. But I’m trying to practice moderation. I’ve also fixed a bunch of typos and done what I could to make the whole thing more polished. That’s not to say this new version is perfect. I expect that, two minutes after I release version 2, I will find six or seven mistakes I failed to notice. Because, it turns out, there is no such thing as perfect.

  But I hope this all makes Burnt an easier, more enjoyable read. And I know that the new cover is beautiful. So overall, I’m going to chalk this one up as a lesson well-implemented.

  To my Uncle Bruce

  Because you always treated me like an adult, whether I deserved it or not.

  I love you.

  Thank you.

  “The world was born in fire,

  And so it will die.

  A thousand deaths,

  A thousand births,

  Each painful and pointless.

  Where he walks, all will burn.”

  - Excerpt from “The Book of Endings”

  One

  The air was crisp and smelled of fall. Normally he would be down in the orchard bringing in the apples with the rest of the tribe. Instead he was lying in the soft grass, savoring the feeling of one of his mother’s sweet rolls dissolving on his tongue. On his right Sojun and Amorette wrestled playfully. He thought about joining in but found he wasn’t really in the mood. Today was special.

  He sighed happily and finished off the last of his sweet roll. “The only thing better than good food is making love to a beautiful woman.”

  The scuffling beside him stopped and Amorette’s soft features appeared over the top of the grass. Her hazel eyes narrowed even as her lips twisted into a smile. “Kaie, what are you talking about?”

  His smile vanished and he set his jaw. The words were out before he thought about them but now he was stuck defending himself. Amorette took too much joy in making him feel foolish. He didn’t put up much of a fight most days, but he wasn’t going to give any ground today. It was his day. “You heard me.”

  Sojun laughed loudly. The stocky boy sat up a minute later, brushing stray grass out of his light brown hair. “Yeah, we heard you Rosy. We just know better than to think you know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t be jealous, Jun. Maybe someday Amorette will grow tired of her chastity and take pity on you.” Sojun laughed so hard he started coughing, and fell backward, clutching at his side dramatically.

  Amorette glared at them both. “I know you think you’re impressive, Kaie, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us buy into your bullshit.”

  Both boys stopped laughing, staring at her. He was surprised by the venom in her voice. Kaie knew she didn’t like when he teased her about her relationship with Sojun but he thought he was being careful not to say anything to make her angry.

  After a second Amorette dropped her scowl and rolled her eyes. Kaie let a small breath of relief slide out between his teeth as she let the friendly teasing continue. “No woman here is so devoid of morality that she’d bed a bratty virgin on the wrong side of his sixteenth year. And no woman here is so desperate that she’d take up with you, regardless.”

  He was relieved and it made him a little reckless. Kaie scowled at her. “Just because you’re a cold, deprived shrew doesn’t mean the rest of the tribe suffers under the same affliction.”

  That time he definitely went too far. The second the words were past his lips, he knew it. Her jaw clenched and Kaie was certain that this time there would be no eye roll signaling it was still all in fun. He did take a small amount of satisfaction from being the cause of the red creeping up into her lightly tanned cheeks but not nearly enough to make up for the tears that would come after her anger cooled.

  Sojun’s hand dropped onto her shoulder. Its effect was instant and dramatic. All the fury leaked out of her eyes and the red retreated just as quickly as it arrived. “Don’t let him get you all worked up, Ams. We both know he heard his dad say it. Just like last time.”

  Now it was Sojun’s turn to be on the receiving end of Kaie’s scowl. “Don’t make me regret rescuing you from harvest duty, Jun. I can always take it back.”

  Amorette snorted. “Who else would you find to witness for you?”

  Kaie tilted his chin up defiantly. “Esme and Miette.”

  Her eyes widened and, by the way her jaw worked, the anger was threatening to come back. “My sisters?”

  Sojun chuckled. “Good call. Those two might just be desperate enough for you, bratty virgin and all.”

  Amorette made an odd squeaking noise and smacked Sojun’s arm hard enough to make Kaie flinch. It only made the bigger boy’s smile widen.

  “Exactly,” Kaie agreed. The glare Jun got was different than the one he did. It was softer, more playful. He tried not to let it bother him. “Then you two would have to find some other time for your mating games.”

  Sojun laughed again. “Now who’s jealous?”

  There was no good answer to that question. Rather than try Kaie joined the laughter and dropped back into the grass, folding his arms behind his head. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for this day my entire life.”

  “You have, idiot.” Amorette said with an eye roll. Her anger was gone again, no doubt because of Sojun’s hand on her knee.

  “No, I mean…” He paused, trying to sort out some way to explain it.

  Sojun scooted closer so that he could elbow Kaie lightly in the ribs. “I know what you mean.”

  Amorette scowled again from above them but not with anger. “Is this some boy thing? Because I don’t get it. How could you not be waiting for any birthing day your whole life? Isn’t that the whole idea?”

  Sojun shook his head and tugged her down. She resisted just enough that she ended up rolling over top of him, landing in between the two boys. Her head dropped softly onto his arms and her legs entwined with Sojun’s. Kaie’s smile grew. Things were changing. There was tension growing between them. More and more, she belonged to Sojun rather than to the both of them. He missed the days when he was allowed to touch her without things feeling awkward. He missed her. Just as much as he missed the days when Sojun was more concerned about making them both laugh than playing the peacemaker. It felt good to lie like this, the three of them pressed so close that not even the ants would bother trying to
get between them. It wouldn’t be possible much longer.

  “It’s not a boy thing,” Sojun explained, drawing him out of all the moments they were leaving behind and back to the current one. “It’s just hard to explain. Like the world is holding its breath and, once the moment comes, that air will come out in a great whoosh that will change everything. Good, bad, it makes no matter. Life will be different. And everything that came before that moment, it’s all just been getting you ready to stand against that gust of air and keep it from breaking you. Does that make sense?”

  She shook her head and chuckled lowly. Kaie couldn’t help but notice how husky it was. He loved the sound of her laughter all the more for its rarity. He wished he could get it as easily as the anger. “No. But I’m used to it. Nothing you two idiots say makes much sense. Honestly, I don’t know why I bother hanging out with you.”

  “Because no one else would tolerate such willfulness from a bratty virgin on the wrong side of her sixteenth year?” he teased. She elbowed him in the same place Sojun had the moment before.

  “I was going to say that you enjoy the sense of superiority,” Sojun said amicably. “But I think Kaie’s answer is more entertaining.” Amorette snorted, apparently deciding that was response enough for the both of them.

  “Do you wonder?” he asked, his attention drifting back to the ceremony that waited for him down in the valley. “What the Lemme’s seen for me?”

  “No,” Amorette replied readily. “I know exactly what she’s seen.”

  He propped himself up, careful not to dislodge her. He stared into her bottomless eyes, trying to comprehend the mysteries floating in them. “What do you mean?”

  She shot a quick glance at Sojun, who smiled and gave her the slightest nod. Then she smiled and lifted her hand to run two delicate fingers down the side of his face. “She’s seen strength in your future. And greatness. So much greatness, it was likely blinding. Just wait and see.”

  Her strawberry hair was like dying flames rippling over his forearm. Her skin was warm tea, and she smelled of pine. More than anything in the world, in that moment, Kaie wished Sojun was not just on the other side of her, smiling with love for the both of them. For a second, just the barest fraction of a heartbeat, he thought he saw the same desire mirrored in those mysterious hazel eyes.

  “Ams is right. The Lemme’s seen you leading the tribe. Everyone knows it. It’s probably the worst kept secret in history. There’s no need to worry over it. We will all support you when the time comes.”

  The moment shattered with the sound of Sojun’s deep voice. No one who didn’t know them would believe Sojun was nearly a full year younger than Kaie. Everything about him – broad shoulders, height, stubble across his square chin, even his newly deep voice – seemed to say he was a man. Kaie couldn’t seem to shake loose the boy. Was it any wonder Amorette preferred Sojun?

  Jealousy was becoming a part of his relationship with Sojun more in the last few months than the all the rest of their lives put together. Still, Jun was the best friend anyone could ask for. Better. He couldn’t let it wreck everything, just like he couldn’t do anything about Amorette.

  Maybe thinking something similar, Amorette stood. Winding her long hair up into a knot with ease and grace that was the well-voiced envy of both her sisters, she quickly set herself back to right. In a matter of seconds she erased all trace of tumbling around in dying grass and was every bit the proper woman of the tribe. Her own birthing day was just a few weeks away and she already managed to look the part just as well as Jun without much effort. When she was done repairing her appearance, she offered them both a hand up. “Come on. The Lemme won’t wait forever. If Kaie’s ever going to be able to speak about things he knows, rather than repeat things he doesn’t, we’re going to have to get him to her.”

  Sojun took her hand happily, his face reflecting no awareness of the wicked thoughts souring Kaie’s enjoyment of the last moment of childhood the three of them would share. His trust was as absolute as always.

  Kaie hesitated a fraction of a second. When they returned to the valley and went to the Lemme for his destiny, it would make him a man in the eyes of the tribe. He wanted that for as long as he could remember. But Sojun was right. It meant an end to things. Amorette wouldn’t be lying down beside him again. It would cast a cloud of suspicion over the two of them. When Sojun joined them in adulthood it would risk dishonoring them both when they were wed. But more than that, it would mean an end to their time together.

  All three of them were apprenticed at the age of fourteen. Kaie and Amorette spent hours learning the hunt, Sojun the shaping of metals and stone. After today he wouldn’t be an apprentice any longer. Next week he would spend his days in the woods providing food for the tribe instead of creeping up to their hill. No more hot afternoons sneaking off to go swimming or lazy evenings skipping stones and contemplating the clouds. Such activities belonged to children. There would be days he was free to do such things with them again, until they all got around to starting their own families. But somehow Kaie knew that this was it. This was the last day on their hill.

  This one perfect moment was an ending. Whatever waited for him in the valley, even if it was the greatness Amorette predicted, he could not be sure it would match what he was leaving behind on this hill. Part of him, one not entirely separate from the wicked, jealous one, wanted desperately to stay here with the two of them and cling to his childhood for a little while longer.

  He took her hand with the biggest grin he could manage. “That’s right. Amorette is just dying to hear all the details of the sexual exploits I’ll be having. I don’t want to keep her waiting.”

  Two

  The village was quiet as the trio made their way to the hut positioned at the point furthest north. Only those too young or too infirm were excluded from helping in the orchard. They were as close to alone as any in the village ever were. Even the chickens seemed to be occupied with something that kept them silent and out of sight. It was eerie, like the life drained out of the world he knew so well leaving it strange and still.

  Though he wouldn’t admit it out loud, he wished it was his mother and father with him. He appreciated Sojun and Amorette, but they weren’t his parents. He already missed the way his mother hummed and ran her fingers through her curly red hair. He missed how his father, constantly munching on peanuts, would toss the shells at him whenever his attention drifted. And the way his mother’s humming always seemed to lead to the two of them singing together as they cleaned up dinner. He was so embarrassed by those things when Sojun was visiting but now he couldn’t imagine what life was going to be like without them.

  They were not allowed today though. This was his rebirth as an adult in the eyes of the tribe. His parents could not be part of that. His father built him a home of his own, at the southern-most side of the village. Once his time with the Lemme was complete, he would go straight there. Everything his parents thought he would need in his new life was already there. He would spend two days in near isolation, not even leaving for food and water, contemplating the destiny the Lemme laid out for him. Only Sojun and Amorette, his witnesses, could see or speak to him.

  His parents would be at the ceremony, after the two days. They would listen, with the rest of the tribe, as he shared what understanding he gained from the Lemme’s words. They would celebrate his future and say goodbye to his past. And if his friends were right and he was to lead the tribe, he would spend much of the time he wasn’t hunting learning how from his mother. But it would never be the same. His life with his parents was over the moment he stepped outside the door that morning. Now he wondered why he never took time to appreciate it.

  This wasn’t stuff he could admit to his friends. Not even Sojun. He loved them both, but Kaie wouldn’t give either one of them the chance to see him as a mewling baby, clinging to his mother’s skirts. So he smiled and laughed at Sojun’s corny jokes. He teased Amorette and kicked at the stones in the path as though it were just
another day. Until they were standing in front of the Lemme’s hut, he thought he managed to be pretty convincing.

  They all stopped at the entrance. Clinging desperately to what he hoped was a casual grin, Kaie stared up at the door and waited for the eagerness he felt all morning to return. A cool hand slid into his own. With surprise he looked down to discover Amorette’s fingers lacing through his. He dared a glance up to her eyes and saw an understanding that lanced through his pride and bolstering. A second later Sojun’s hand dropped firmly on his shoulder.

  A wash of gratitude nearly swept him away. He blinked back the tears threatening to unman him and swallowed words that would shame him. Neither was needed. They both knew already. They weren’t the parents he longed for, but they were still his family. He could never find better witnesses than the two at his side. Letting the fake one drop, he gave them both a true and shaky smile and then pushed open the door.

  The smell hit him first. It reeked of incense, herbs and all matter of other things he couldn’t identify and made his head spin. According to his father, it was all to facilitate the Lemme’s visions. So far as Kaie was concerned, it did far more to ensure her isolation. It was starting to make him feel like his mind was so light it might float away. Who would want that sensation more than was absolutely necessary? He knew his mother visited regularly, but few others were interested in anything more than what tradition demanded. Underneath it all, so faint he almost missed it entirely, was the smell of sickness.

  The woman crouched in the far corner, just outside the arch of light from the open door. She was every bit as intimidating as the cloying stench. Kaie heard the stories of the beauty she once was and his mother was not the only one to tell them. There was even a rumor that many hearts were broken when she declared the Lemme line would continue through his mother rather than her. It was hard to believe seeing her now.