Blue Fire

by Amity Thompson

  I ceased the spell. The entire room went dark. I blinked, made a Light. Rose still breathed, but I could feel her scales were already cooling. If I wanted to keep her warm, I’d have to use the sapphire.

  I filled the gem with my Gift; it trickled out, slow but steady. Then I tried holding it there, like blocking a hole in a cup with my thumb. In fact… Zoland had taught me how to ‘tie’ my magic to one place. If I ‘tied’ my Gift to the gem and immobilized it—

  My suspicions of Thorkel’s method proved true. The sapphire filled with magic until it filled to overflowing. It wasn’t a lot of magic; he’d need many, many gems for a massive Illusion spell, but with enough mages and enough gems it could be done. With a mental nudge, I eased my magic out of the sapphire. In a controlled burst, the room blazed.

  Just like a crystal can concentrate light, the gem makes it so that not one scrap of magic goes to waste. Brilliant. This is how a handful of mages makes an Illusion large enough to cover dragons. This is how a red mage defeats a black.

  For now, though, I simply needed to keep a kit alive. I settled against the wall and filled the gem. With more precision than I could ever manage on my own, I cast the spell. It didn’t take much effort to continually fill the sapphire nestled between my breasts. It took so little concentration, I began to yawn…

  Heat vanished. No heat, no cold, an endless blue sky instead of blue fire… the world was bathed in sunshine, yet no sun hung in the sky. The colors—grass greener than green, flowers of vibrant gold, purple, scarlet—all glowed strangely, like a rainbow upon the ground.

  What happened to the storeroom? All around, the strange, endless meadow. I still wore Shamino’s clothes, but they looked dull and dead against the surreal color. I didn’t reek of vomit, either. In fact, the meadow didn’t have that smell of grass, the rainbow flowers gave off no perfume. Somehow the place I stood was both more real than anywhere I’d ever been, yet it was not real at all.

  “Adara! Wake up! You need—smoke and fire—cancel—”

  I spun. The familiar voice came from far away, but I saw no one in the distance. “Hello?”

  “You’re too early,” answered a different voice. The words vibrated in my bones instead of entering my ears.

  I spun again. A glare, too bright, rimmed in rainbows. I shielded my eyes.

  “You need to go back,” the Voice said.

  “Who are you?” I said.

  Far away: “Byron, help me with a shield. Mettalise says—”

  Mettalise? I knew that name. She… she was a dragon…

  “Hiding is not the solution,” the bright figure said. “And yes, dying qualifies as hiding.”

  “Dying?” I said. The word triggered something else. “Rose! Is she—”

  “She will survive. Cancel the spells.”

  Spells? Oh, magic. I’d been casting Fire—my Gift. There was no giddy ball of energy inside my chest. There was barely a spark.

  I grabbed my seeping Gift and yanked as much as I could back into me.

  Darkness replaced the light.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Singing. A woman with the sweetest voice sang a song of love lost to death. I drifted in the darkness, floating in her emotion. The sorrow, the loss, the beauty.

  The singing abruptly ended. “Finally. I thought I’d sit here forever.”

  Wait. I knew that voice. Lately, I didn’t care for it.

  “Go on, open your eyes. I saw you twitch.”

  My heavy limbs felt drained of blood. How I had twitched, I didn’t know. It took draconian effort to crack open my eyelids.

  Tressa scowled at me. Behind her, on the wall, rainbows. The room… the bed was softer than mine, and it smelled of soap… and dragon… and man. My neck creaked as I turned my head. The portrait of Shamino’s mother smiled at me.

  I must have mumbled, because Tressa made an impatient sound. “Yes, that’s Shamino’s—wait, you have no idea who she is, do you? Ha! Poor, ignorant Adara.”

  In the painting, the auburn-haired woman continued to smile with confidence and… determination? She looked as if she could not only take on Tressa in the Game, but crush her.

  I decided to try speaking. My lips split as I spoke. “Why am I here?”

  “The healers didn’t want to move you, so everyone gently carried you by litter to the closest bed. Shamino’s bed.” For a moment I thought Tressa would cry. Instead, she hissed, “You ruined everything.”

  Dull triumph buzzed in my head. Or maybe it was simply my head buzzing. “If you had pretended to care about Shamino and let him do his duties, nothing would have been ruined. Although it’s nice for everyone to see how demanding you are.”

  She stiffened.

  “You can’t touch everyone in the Kyer and make it better.”

  Tressa blanched. Then her eyes narrowed. “I see I’ve misstepped in more ways than one. Let me tell you, Adara, Jeweltongue accusations are hard to prove. When it comes down to it, whom will a tribunal believe? The daughter of Blackveil, or a halfblood?”

  She whispered in my ear as she caressed my cheek. “Leave, Adara. Forever. And if you dare threaten me again, I will not only tell Shamino your secret, I will tell the court as well. Cross me, and I will make you wish they had done their job and put you to death as a baby.”

  This time, I noticed her magic washing over me. My Gift tried to flare, but it sputtered instead. It didn’t matter. I had ample terror of being found out without her Talent.

  Tressa straightened as footsteps approached the door. “Smile, Adara, and be careful.”

  Shamino entered. He was careworn, like he’d been of late, but when he saw me, something sparked in his eyes which made him as handsome as ever. He rushed to the bedside, lifted his hand as if to take mine, dropped it.

  “You should have told me she was awake,” he said to Tressa.

  Her gaze lingered on his empty hand. “I’m sorry, my dear. I was telling her of how we’ve been watching over her, Paige and Zoland, you and I. Byron purchased the crystals.”

  At the mention of my friends, I was able to think past Tressa and her threats. “Mettalise?”

  “Worried,” Shamino said. “No telepathy until you’re stronger. And before you ask, Rose has recovered.”

  The First One had told me so, but to hear it aloud made it more real.

  “Thank you for saving her life,” Shamino whispered.

  The world stopped as forest eyes met my sapphire ones. He admired me, he respected me. He loved me.

  But it didn’t matter.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Tressa studying us both. She cleared her throat. “Her medicine?”

  “Yes,” Shamino said. He tore his gaze away from me. “One moment.”

  He left the room. Tressa still studied me.

  “You love him back,” she murmured. The hardness had left her features, making her tender and lovely. And sad. “I knew he loved you, but I thought you merely saw him as a friend… I guess we each have our romantic tragedy.”

  “Jerroth loves you,” I said.

  Bitterness hardened her once more. “I will never love anyone again, so my only course is that which I have chosen. I’ll promise you this, Adara. Out of regard for lost friendship and lost loves, I will take care of Shamino and make his house great.”

  Something told me she was being sincere, that she honestly thought her words soothing. They weren’t. “Shamino doesn’t want greatness. He wants to stay with his dragons.”

  She shook her head. “The Game is everywhere, whether you wish it or not. It is something you can never understand.”

  Shamino returned with a potion and a steaming cup that smelled of broth. He set them on the table and kissed Tressa’s cheek. “You’ve been with her all day. I can stay with her now.”

  Tressa’s jaw twitched. Surely she didn’t want to leave us alone, but she bid me a sweet goodbye. The moment Shamino didn’t look her way, she mouthed to me, I will tell.

  As the door clicked, the ten
sion seeped from Shamino’s shoulders. This time he took my hand. He bent at the waist and brushed my knuckles with his lips. “I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry. You nearly died because I—”

  “Was an ox-brain,” I said softly.

  Tears filled his eyes, and he gave me a small smile. “Yeah. An ox-brain.”

  “Don’t do it again,” I said. “The dragons are furious?”

  “Very.” He straightened, but his hand didn’t release mine. “I’m not sure any Seneschal in history has messed up as badly as I have. I should be banished from the Kyer. That’s what I deserve.”

  “But the dragons know your remorse,” I guessed. Neither people nor dragons needed telepathy for that. They only needed to know Shamino, and once they did, they’d love him. “You haven’t been sleeping.”

  He rubbed his eyes. “Enough about me and my stupidity. You haven’t eaten for days.”

  At his words, my stomach rumbled. I tried to shift. “I’m not strong enough to sit.”

  “I’ll help you.”

  He pulled back the blankets, revealing that someone had put me in a nightgown. Judging by the intricate embroidery on the cuffs, Paige’s. He slid his arm behind my back and eased me into a sitting position. Then he climbed on the bed and rested me against his chest and shoulder. I trembled inside. If Tressa knew—but I was too weary to protest, and my body sank into his.

  “Here.” He held a cup to my lips.

  I drank, but I didn’t taste it. Shamino held me, just like he did in my dreams, but it couldn’t last. Tomorrow, I’d be stronger. Tomorrow, I’d be alone. And any day now, I’d get Merram’s permission to leave the Kyer.

  I finished the broth and put leaving out of my mind. For now, I needed to warn Shamino about Tressa. I risked her wrath, but I couldn’t let him be a puppet all his life. “I need to talk to you about Tressa. Her magic—”

  “Zoland told me.” His lips brushed my forehead as he spoke. “He and I are trying to come up with a way to untangle her from me. Until then, I’m going to keep my distance from you.”

  My heart stopped. “You kissed her cheek, but you didn’t mean it?”

  “Yes, it was an act. But this is real.”

  Before I realized what was happening, Shamino had shifted and his lips were on mine. Warm, soft. I tensed, and he responded by tightening his arm around me.

  “Don’t run away,” he whispered against my lips. Fingers tangled in my hair and the touch made me sigh.

  “I… can’t…”

  “You saved a baby dragon with a spell more powerful than anyone’s ever seen. If you can do the impossible, you can kiss me.”

  He pulled me back into the kiss. This time I gave up.

  I kissed him back.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  *He kissed you and you kissed him and everything is perfect!* Mettalise danced around her cave, making rainbows shimmer against her scales.

  “No, it’s the furthest thing from perfect.” I curled up on her most comfortable sofa. After another day of sleeping, the healers had sent me to my own bed. I’d hidden there for two days before finally getting the courage to tell my dragon what had happened. “If Tressa believes I took him from her, she’ll not only tell him I’m of mixed blood, she’ll tell all of Drageria.”

  Mettalise stopped dancing. *Awkward.*

  I leveled her a Look.

  *Catastrophic. But you know what?* Mettalise snaked her head between two chairs to regard me with a midnight eye. *Tressa will always have power over you as long as you have a secret. Bet she loves the idea of keeping a blue at her beck and call.*

  I hadn’t realized that. But. “You’re saying I should go to court and declare that I’m the bastard daughter of a noble and a lady’s maid?”

  *That’s an idea, but I was thinking of starting with Shamino.*

  Blessed rain, the thought made me ill. “It doesn’t change the impossibility of us.”

  *Everything already has changed!* Mettalise exclaimed. *Shamino kissed you. He won’t stay with Tressa much longer. Tressa will tell, Adara. You need to act now.*

  My heartbeat quickened at the memory of his lips against mine. I wanted it to happen again so very, very much. I didn’t see how it could… but Mettalise was right. I’d lied to him for too long. Hadn’t the First One told me to stop hiding?

  “I suppose it’s best if he finds out from me. First One, I may be sick.”

  *Vomit over the platform, brush your teeth, and go tell him.*

  In the end, I obeyed my dragon.

  Twenty minutes later at the Dragon Quarters, Byron told me that Shamino had gone to his rooms to get something. My nerves steadied a fraction. There was little chance of interruption in his living room. I went to his apartment, rang the bell. Fretted when he didn’t answer, thought about returning. Rang the bell again—three urgent tugs, because I didn’t want to be a jittery mess for days.

  Shamino opened the door. His eyes widened. “This isn’t a good time.”

  “Ineedtotalktoyou.” I swallowed and tried again. “I need to talk to you.”

  Shamino glanced over his shoulder. “Really, this isn’t—”

  “Please, I—I have to tell you—”

  Tressa’s angry voice silenced us both. “Her! You bid me farewell and welcome her in the same breath?”

  Shamino closed his eyes and took a step aside. Tressa strode toward us in beautiful fury, her full skirts swirling as if she rode a cloud of anger.

  It wasn’t a good time. “I’ll go.”

  “You don’t want to see his reaction?” Tressa asked before the Transportation spell began.

  I froze. I couldn’t breathe. Mettalise buzzed in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t even manage telepathy. Every thought, every fear, focused on Tressa.

  Shamino stepped toward her, deeper into his rooms. “Tressa, she has nothing to do with this. I told you, our agreement isn’t compatible with the Kyer.”

  Tressa didn’t seem to hear him. Her smile was all for me. “Did you know, dear Shamino, that our Adara is not a Threepines after all?”

  “No,” I mouthed to her.

  “I do know,” Shamino said through clenched teeth. “She told me herself. She’s adopted. Her blood doesn’t matter to me.”

  Tressa laughed so hard she had to put a hand on a chair to steady herself. “Adopted? That’s the story she told you? Oh, you poor, poor thing.”

  “Tressa, please,” I said. “I’m here, let me—”

  “She’s a halfblooded bastard, the mistake that was never erased,” Tressa spat. “Her mother was a lady’s maid, her father an unknown pureblood. Adara lived in filth as a farmer until her manifestation.”

  “But that’s impossible.” He frowned, turned toward me. “Adara?”

  My panic told him the truth. He didn’t have a chance to think through what my tainted blood meant. Tressa grabbed his hand.

  “She lied to you,” Tressa said. He winced—from her touch or from her words? “You do not want to play the Game, but that is the only way she has survived. She rose from the pigs to the Kyer, and now she hopes to rise higher.”

  “No,” I said, “I never meant—”

  “She rejected you before.” Triumph shone on Tressa’s face. “Just like Jesimi rejected you. It’s only after inheritance that women want you, and Adara needs you. If she can fool the Duke of Evenspire into marrying her, then her past will never matter. She will be safe.”

  Pain and loss filled Shamino’s eyes. And horror—horror that didn’t even touch my own. Duke? Of Evenspire? My heraldry tutor droned in my mind: Evenspire. Tower and three stars. One of the strongest duchies, often intermarries with the royal family. Current duke is Arlin, widower of—

  “Princess Cailin,” I whispered. The hallway’s wall struck my back as I staggered. Shamino’s mother—the woman in the portrait—she had been Princess Cailin. Shamino had respected his uncle’s wishes to attend his father’s deathbed because his uncle was King Irian.

  I had to leave. Now. Befo
re I fainted. Tressa flung more accusations, and Shamino broke further. His betrayal blurred as the Transportation spell took me away.

  *Mettalise!* I cried with my mind. *We’re leaving. Now.*

  *What?*

  I explained as I ran to my rooms. By the time I was tossing clothing in a pack, Mettalise had finally made sense of my jumbled thoughts.

  *Running is not the answer,* she said. *Give him time to sort it out. He knows she’s a Jeweltongue.*

  *Jeweltongues don’t create feelings, they amplify them.* I removed a book from my pack and tried lifting it again. Better. *Shamino felt everything I saw on his face. He thinks I’m exactly like his former fiancée—a liar.*

  He was right.

  Mettalise tried again. *When he calms, you can talk to him. I’ll ask Raul to tell me when the time is right.*

  I reached into my wardrobe for the travel boots. Thorkel’s letters tumbled out.

  My panic vanished.

  A heartbeat, two. Mettalise came into my mind, more upset than when I’d been half-crazed. *Your emotions just snapped like deer bones. What is happening?*

  *I’m thinking.* I picked up the directions, smoothed them out. From the other boot, I removed Mother’s letters. A quick glance. Never did they say Merram’s name, nor Krysta’s. The Dragonmaster would have to return when Tressa made her accusations public. If I showed him the letters, it’d be simple for him to deny them.

  *Thinking what? I’ve never felt this from you before.*

  I put the letters away, but I slipped Thorkel’s directions into my pack before going to Mettalise’s cave. “I’m thinking it’s time. Thorkel promises to tell me the truth.”

  Mettalise switched from almost-pouncing to deathly still. *That’s a trap and you know it.*

  Rainbows from her crystals danced on her opal scales, rainbows upon rainbows. They filled me with hope. “Tressa won’t rest until I’m back to living in the dirt. There’s nothing for me at the Kyer, or anywhere, as long as I’m just some halfblood. But if I have proof, real proof…”

  *You… could be with Shamino?* she guessed.