Soul of Smoke

by Caitlyn McFarland

  Dear sweet mother of holy hotness. Her stomach clenched and she had a moment of panic. She didn’t remember him being hot. She didn’t know how to deal with guys who looked like that. She would rather face Ashem. “Um, sorry. I was looking for...uh...the bathroom.” Kill me.

  Something that might have been a smile twitched the corner of his mouth. “It’s off the main cavern. Before the kitchen.”

  She knew that. Ffion had shown it to her last night. Kai had even showered. Thank goodness. “Um. Thanks.” She turned to go.

  “Wait. Come here.”

  It wasn’t a command, but it wasn’t a request. Again, there was that kind of pressure to his presence, the heaviness of air before a storm.

  Curious, Kai pulled the curtain aside and stepped fully into the stone room. The floor was dusty, though there were plenty of scuffed footprints and several large, clear spots, as if things had been hastily removed to make room for Rhys. The walls were bare, natural stone. The white fires arranged in a straight line about two-thirds of the way to the curved ceiling glinted off of something in the rocks, making them glimmer softly. There was a stone bench, a chair, and a few beanbag-sized cushions in bright blue and purple. The room smelled like earth, blood and sweat. Beneath that: wind, the barest hint of wood smoke, and something nameless and masculine that made her want to bite her lip.

  He cleared his throat. “Thank you.”

  She shook herself. Was I staring? Oh, hell. “For what?”

  One side of his mouth curved in a crooked, wry smile. His meaning dawned on her. ”Oh! Stabbing that dragon.” She reached for her carabiners, but they weren’t there. “No problem. I mean, I couldn’t just stand there.”

  His smile faded. “You could have. Or you could have run.”

  Kai shook her head, fixing her gaze on the floor to one side of his bed. “No. I mean, you guys were in trouble, and I had a sword, and it’s not like I’m a heartless monster...” Yes, genius, keep babbling. Attractive dragon-men love it when you babble at them. “Anyway, we’re all alive, so it’s fine.” She shrugged, hoping the unsteady firelight hid the blush heating her cheeks.

  “I guess this makes you my knight in shining armor,” Rhys said drily.

  A laugh escaped her, and she looked back at him. Before she could stop herself, she said, “Yeah. Just call me Saint George.”

  To Kai’s pleased surprise, he laughed. She found herself asking the question she hadn’t asked Cadoc. “You guys aren’t planning on another battle anytime soon, are you? I’m all out of swords.”

  He regarded her with those unnerving neon eyes, the almost-smile of his laugh pressed into something grimmer. “We’re not planning on it.”

  Kai licked her lips and nodded, still standing awkwardly in the doorway. “Why did they attack you?”

  Rhys shifted his right arm, blanched, then ran his left hand through his hair, mussing it before smoothing it down, making the scaled design twisting over the right side of his chest glimmer crimson in the firelight. When he spoke, his voice was weary. “We’re at war.”

  “Oh.” She digested that for a moment. Dragons flying around and trying to kill each other a few hours outside of Denver. It didn’t compute. “War over what?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Power.”

  She frowned, and his wry half-smile came back. Their eyes locked. The impending-storm feeling intensified. For a moment, she expected to be struck by lightning. Her pulse quickened, part hormones, part panic.

  Talking to Rhys was nothing like talking to Cadoc. With Cadoc, everything was a game. He smoldered because he meant to smolder. There was nothing calculated or put on about Rhys, and that made him more mesmerizing than Cadoc could ever hope be.

  Kai forced a laugh, and the tension shattered. “Yeah, well, let’s not do battle again. I’m glad you’re alive. I mean, at least if I have to be here it’s because I did something right, you know?”

  Rhys smiled. Not wickedly, like Cadoc might have. A heavier, more tired smile. She wondered how a guy who looked as young as he did—only a year or two older than her—could have such a heavy smile. Of course, he could be any age. Maybe dragons lived forever.

  Unwilling to leave quite yet, Kai reached for a carabiner, only to remember—again—that she wasn’t wearing her own clothes. “I’m pretty sure Ashem doesn’t like me.”

  Rhys smiled again, and this one wasn’t quite as heavy. “Ashem doesn’t like anyone. He loves and he hates.”

  “That’s terrifying.” Kai smiled, too, but she meant the words. She backed toward the curtain, suddenly out of things to say. She’d wanted to talk to Rhys, yes, but she hadn’t expected to be so drawn to him, or so intrigued. It might be fun to explore those feelings if she weren’t leaving. And if he wasn’t a freaking dragon. “It was good to meet you again. I guess I’ll see you around.”

  Something flickered across his blue eyes. Was it disappointment? “I guess you will, George. Thank you again. Truly.”

  She nodded. “You’re welcome.” With a pang of mixed relief and regret, Kai escaped.

  Standing in the near-darkness of the short tunnel, she rubbed her face. Her conversation with Rhys had spiked her adrenaline. That feeling was great when it came from ending a longtime climbing project or rappelling down a cliff, but with Rhys it was petrifying.

  * * *

  The following morning, Rhys woke to a scent that made him groan. Someone was cooking meat. Thank the Ancients, real food.

  Rhys threw off the covers. He’d spent enough time in bed. Using the wall for support, he managed to get on his feet.

  Cadoc ripped open the curtain. “What in the name of the sundering Stars do you think you’re doing, wind-for-brains?”

  Rhys nearly fell back into bed. Apparently, the others were back early. “What does it look like, twp?” He leaned against the wall, breathing hard and smiling. “Good to see you.”

  Cadoc grinned and offered a hand. “Ashem is going to pop a vein when he sees you.”

  Rhys took it and pulled himself upright. “Ashem can eat his wings.”

  Cadoc shifted his grip, and they moved toward the curtain. He peered into the short hall beyond. “It’s clear.”

  They made their way out into the sleeping room, which was also abandoned. “What are you doing home?” Rhys focused on not falling. “I thought you were going to be out for another day.”

  Cadoc shook his head. They got as far as the short tunnel into the cavern before they heard footsteps. Rhys let go of Cadoc. It took more effort to stand alone than he expected, but he gritted his teeth and refused to look weak.

  Griffith appeared with a bowl in his hands. His eyes widened. “Ashem is going to throw you off the ledge.”

  “Sunder Ashem,” Rhys said through gritted teeth. “If I stay in bed another second I’m going to shrivel into a husk.”

  Griffith shrugged congenially and led the way back toward the kitchen. Rhys and Cadoc followed more slowly. So much more slowly that Rhys almost forgot about his pride and let Cadoc prop him up. But he was almost to the kitchen. He would make it the rest of the way.

  “Twp,” Cadoc muttered under his breath.

  “Scalebrain.”

  Ashem, who had apparently seen Griffith return with the food, stormed around the corner. He saw Rhys and let out a long string of swear words. “Get back in bed, you idiot!”

  Rhys stood to his full height and stared Ashem down. “I don’t think I will, Commander.”

  Ashem’s lip curled, and he switched from swearing at Rhys in Welsh to swearing at him in Old Persian. Rhys exchanged a look with Cadoc.

  At length, Ashem wound down. “Get into the kitchen and eat, then.”

  “He does not lose with grace,” Cadoc muttered when Ashem had turned around.

  “I can hear you, you warbling gigolo.”


  Cadoc burst into guffaws and one corner of Rhys’s mouth turned up. They rounded the bend into the kitchen area, where everyone else was clearing up after breakfast.

  Kai sat on a cushion at the low table, prodding her food unenthusiastically. Every other face in the room was so familiar that the sight of her was a shock, but Rhys found—oddly—that he’d been looking forward to seeing her. He straightened, ignoring the weakness in his muscles and the dull agony in his shoulder.

  Kai looked up as they entered and gave Rhys a small smile before turning a brilliant grin on Cadoc.

  Rhys suppressed a grimace. Of course she smiled at Cadoc. When it came to charming women, Rhys didn’t even try to compete with Cadoc. No sane man would. Once, Cadoc had nearly drowned himself pearl-diving in the Philippines “for a friend.” He’d found a pearl—golden and perfectly round—but Rhys hadn’t seen him with a woman for months after that. Obviously his “friend” hadn’t appreciated his efforts as much as Cadoc had hoped she would.

  “Now that we’re all here.” Ashem glared at Rhys. “Griffith, why don’t you tell Rhys the news.”

  Rhys sank down onto a cushion and gripped the table to hide his shaking hands. “What news?”

  Griffith cleared his throat. “Ffion and I spotted Demba and several other members of Kavar’s vee. That’s why we’re all back early.”

  “So I was right, and you’re all grounded,” Ashem declared. “We aren’t leaving these caves until Evan and Morwenna get back with reinforcements. A week, minimum.”

  Rhys cursed under his breath. He’d wanted to spend a few weeks away from Eryri, but that was before Kavar had come across them in the middle of the wilderness. The longer they remained isolated in the cave, the greater the danger.

  There was a groan all around. Cadoc, who had sat next to Rhys, leaned over and muttered, “Deryn took down a couple of deer before we came back. The meat should last. She’s terrifying. I thought she might kill me if I startled the herd.”

  Rhys gave a short laugh and spotted a shallow bowl filled with late season berries on the counter. He glanced at Cadoc, raising a questioning eyebrow.

  “Ffion got them.” Cadoc jerked his head toward Kai.

  That made more sense. Dragons ate fruit and vegetables, but they didn’t need them as much as humans.

  Kai frowned from Ashem to Cadoc. “Cadoc said he was going to take me home.”

  Ashem shook his head. “No one is leaving.”

  Kai’s face went pale. “I have to go home. People will think I’m dead. Juli...my parents. I have work and school. I can’t be here another week!”

  “Drills,” Ashem announced, ignoring her. “We’re stuck here, but we won’t waste our time.”

  Cadoc cast Rhys a baleful look. “Lucky, boyo.”

  Rhys jerked his head at his injured shoulder. “I’ll trade you.”

  Cadoc snorted. “I’m not that witless.”

  “Wait.” Kai came around the table to stand directly in front of Ashem. “You have to take me home.” She spun on Cadoc. “You said you would fly me home!”

  An awkward silence fell over the room. Rhys looked anywhere but at Kai. She was caught up in things far more dangerous than she knew.

  “I’m the Commander of this vee. He has to do what I tell him,” Ashem snarled. “If you’re going to make noise about it, go somewhere I can’t hear you. Rhys, if you’re going to insist on being out of bed, you can watch us drill. Cadoc, take some of these into the main cavern for him.” Ashem kicked a cushion.

  Obviously uncomfortable, Cadoc ducked his head and muttered, “Sorry, brânwen, I’m just a soldier.”

  Cadoc offered a hand. Rhys took his wrist and hauled himself up, making his unsteady way into the main cavern. Cadoc gathered a few cushions from around the table and brought them to where Rhys leaned against the wall, tossing them to the ground. He glanced back. “I feel like a worm. I did tell Kai I’d fly her home.”

  Rhys shrugged with his good shoulder. “If Ashem says we’re grounded, there’s nothing we can do.”

  Cadoc gave him a look.

  “No.” Rhys shook his head, ignoring the uncomfortable prickling of his pride. “Ashem is right. If Griff and Ffion saw Kavar’s vee, it isn’t safe. Not for you or her.”

  Cadoc glanced at Kai again. “All right.” He gave Rhys a twisted smile. “Enjoy the show, my feeble friend.”

  Rhys growled. Cadoc laughed as he went to join the others.

  Kai sat back down at the table, once again staring at it with no expression on her face. Rhys watched her longer than he meant to. He felt sorry for her and her family. Everyone here had lives to get back to, after all, but at least most of the people he cared about knew he wasn’t dead.

  Shaking his head, Rhys lowered himself onto the cushions. His body shook, and he gritted his teeth at the weakness. Pathetic.

  Ashem arranged the others in a row, then separated Cadoc and Deryn when their elbowing nearly devolved into a wrestling match. At his shout, all five of them, Ashem included, sprinted toward the sleeping room. When they reached the wide tunnel, they spun and sprinted back toward the cave mouth. They ran the length of the cavern a few dozen times, laughter fading into panting, grins into determined expressions. After they had gone back and forth fifty times, Ashem arranged them in a line in the center of the cavern and truly put them to work.

  “I think this was supposed to be yours?”

  Rhys looked up in surprise. Kai stood uncertainly a few feet away, a bowl in her hands. She held it out toward him. “They forgot to give it to you. Um. I think it got cold.”

  “Thank you.” Rhys tried not to stare at her smattering of freckles, her lips. It wasn’t that she was an otherworldly beauty—there were plenty of those among dragons—but rather the openness of her expression. They’d kidnapped her, but she wasn’t afraid, or hiding, or closed off. She was offering him food.

  Rhys looked at his hands, rubbing his thumb against the tips of his fingers. “I’m sorry that you can’t go home. Tact is not Ashem’s strength.”

  “I already know he’s an ass.”

  Rhys laughed and reached for the bowl. Distracted, he realized a second too late that their fingers were about to touch. He jerked back, and the bowl fell to the floor with a crash, food and stone shards scattering everywhere.

  Kai recoiled, her cheeks turning bright pink. Her flush deepened as Ffion called over to see if she was all right.

  “Well, that sucks,” Kai muttered, waving at Ffion without looking at her. Wetness sparkled along the rim of her eyes.

  Perhaps she wasn’t as immune to her situation as he’d thought. Ancients, he was an idiot. He should have been watching her hands.

  He faked a grimace and clutched his right shoulder in response to Ashem’s questioning look. “I—ah—reached forward too far. Hurt my shoulder. My fault.” In a quieter voice directed at Kai he said, “I’m sorry.”

  Kai’s brows drew together. “Don’t worry about it.” She knelt and began to gather broken fragments.

  With a groan, Rhys leaned forward to help, ignoring the complaint in his shoulder. Neither of them spoke, and Kai kept her hands far from his, making it obvious she knew Rhys’s movement had been no accident.

  His stomach growled, and he swore. He truly was hungry, but he’d rather pull out his scales one by one than ask Kai to bring him more food.

  His stomach growled again.

  Kai stood, hands full of broken bowl, and walked to the kitchen.

  He didn’t realize he was watching her until she disappeared around the corner. Experimentally rolling his sore shoulder, he turned back to watch the others.

  They’d arranged themselves into pairs for sparring. Griffith and Cadoc faced off against each other on one side of the cavern, Ffion and Deryn on the other. Apparently Ashem was saving the real sho
w—Ffion versus Griffith, for last.

  “Here.” A bowl banged down next to him. Kai raised her hands and backed up, settling against the wall a solid five feet away.

  Rhys stared at the bowl. It was full of food. “Why—?”

  “I’m having a crappy day, but it’s not like I need to spread it around. Besides, you can’t even walk from that back room to the kitchen by yourself and I can hear your stomach from here.” She shrugged. “It’s cold.”

  “That’s...not a problem.” Ignoring his protesting shoulder, he picked up the bowl. Venison stew. He smelled it. Bland venison stew. Ashem must have been in charge of cooking. But it could have been worse. It could have been Deryn.

  Balancing the bowl on his palm, Rhys reached inside himself to the swirling maelstrom of power and pulled out the tiniest thread of magic, channeling the energy into the bowl. In seconds, the food was steaming. He picked up the old, dented spoon.

  “Won’t they cut each other?” Kai asked suddenly.

  Rhys looked back to the sparring. At some point, Ashem must have retrieved weapons from the hoard, because Deryn and Ffion each held a pair of long, thin daggers.

  “They’re doing a form.” Rhys took a bite of stew. He’d been right: bland.

  Kai gave him a sidelong look. “A form?”

  Rhys swallowed. “The moves are choreographed. We know them by rote.”

  Deryn blocked Ffion’s high, spinning kick, then used their combined momentum to throw an elbow into Ffion’s back. Ffion dropped, avoiding the blow, and swept her foot toward the backs of Deryn’s knees.

  Normally, Rhys wouldn’t have bothered keeping up a conversation. But Kai was distressed. The best thing for her would be to keep her talking. “It’s a game. See who can go faster without making a mistake. A point every time you nick the other person.”