by Liliana Hart
When he witnesses injustice in the form of a misshapen baby gryphon kicked out into the cold, he cannot remain in the shadows and watch the child suffer. All he can hope for is that his act of kindness will go unnoticed so his mission can continue.
But someone does notice. When Lera cautiously approaches Hugh, she is drawn to his strange, foreign magic. She is entranced by its irresistible allure—until assassins come calling and reveal her true identity.
She is Valeria, queen of Helios, Keeper of the Flame. And she has been betrayed. Together they must risk everything to uncover the traitors and reforge the alliance between their lands. Yet beneath their blazing passion, both are still keeping secrets. Secrets that the Sacred Flame will reveal—if their love survives its cleansing fire.
Warning: When a dragon prince and a Flame Keeper come together, the conflagration is definitely too hot to handle!
Enjoy the following excerpt for Keeper of the Flame:
“What’s wrong?” she asked in a low, urgent voice.
“Good question.” The words, spoken in an unfamiliar voice, made them both whip around to the left.
A black-clad man stood there, in the dark shadows of the vines. How had he approached without Hugh sensing him in some way? The lady shrank back in terror, crowding Hugh. Then he saw it. The snake eye tattooed on the stranger’s forehead and the deadly gleam of blackened steel in his hands.
“Eyes.” Hugh didn’t need to hear the lady’s frightened gasp to know what they faced. Another assassin. “Why didn’t you just stick her with your blade while you had the advantage?” Hugh stood in the darkened field between the rows of vines to face the man and put some space between himself and the lady. He needed room to maneuver.
“Terms of the contract,” the man replied offhandedly. “My employer wanted her to see it coming. There’s a bonus for terror. Plus, I find it personally more entertaining to make the target suffer.” He looked around at the dark vineyard. “And on her own land too. She’ll like that, she will.”
“In my land, assassins take pride in their silence.” Hugh tucked away the news that the lady’s cousin had put out the contract on her life, though he could tell by the way her face drained of all color that it came as a shock to her.
“It must be a very boring place, then.” The tattooed man moved, closing in as Hugh drew a short blade that had been sheathed in the leather strap over his chest.
“I would call it civilized,” Hugh replied with a small amount of disdain.
“I see you plan to act the hero.” The assassin sounded almost bored, but his eyes—the real ones, not the tattoos—missed nothing, actively watching Hugh’s slightest move. “I’m only being paid for her, but I suppose watching you die first will garner me that bonus.”
Without warning, the man engaged, closing with Hugh in a lightning fast move. Had Hugh been any less alert, he would’ve been dead within seconds. But he was a dragon and had supernatural reflexes even while in his human form. He could see better in the dark than a regular person and had the advantage of dragon magic that allowed him to harden his skin against the sharp metal blade.
While not exactly as strong as his dragon hide, Hugh’s unique magic allowed him to take blows that would leave normal people slashed to ribbons. The assassin moved like lightning, but few of his strikes landed and those few that did didn’t draw blood.
Eventually the man changed tactics, maneuvering Hugh around the darkened vineyard, almost herding him. Hugh tried to keep himself between the assassin and the lady at all times, but he hadn’t counted on there being more than one attacker.
A gasp from behind made Hugh spin. The lady was in the grip of a second assassin, this one with a matching snake’s eye tattooed on his forehead, directly between his real eyes. The blackened blade gleamed to Hugh’s sight as the assassin pressed it against her throat.
“That’s right, boyo,” said the first man, closing on Hugh’s unprotected back. Hugh could take him, but his partner would kill the lady without a second thought before Hugh could get to her. “Now, do we get one eye from this or two? Your choice.”
“You get an eye for each person you kill?” Hugh was sickened by the macabre practice.
The man nodded with seeming pride. “Twenty-seven I have today. My master there has double that number.” From the corner of his eye, Hugh saw something move in the darkness to the left. Something that blended with the night in gray and black stripes. “My master can make it quick for her or make her suffer. Which would you prefer?”
“Neither, actually,” Hugh said conversationally to the man. “We need your help, sweetheart.” He directed his thoughts toward the baby gryphon. “Remember how I told you about your claws? Unsheathe them and sink them into the man holding the lady. I will take care of the rest.”
A split second later, as if he’d timed it perfectly, though luck had more to do with it than planning, the gryphlet erupted from beneath the vines as Hugh sprang into action. Miss went for the man holding his knife at the lady’s throat, claws bared, sharp teeth flashing in the night as she hit the man from the side, raking his arm. She jumped upward, using her wings to bat him with air and feathers, claws and teeth, blinding him and making him let go.
But not before the sharp blade cut into the lady’s neck.
Hugh saw it in the split second as he shifted shape and slashed out with his much bigger claws, killing both assassins at the same time—one with his right hand, one with his left.
The lady was bleeding, but still standing when he dropped the lifeless men to the ground and beckoned to her.
“Get on my back quick as you can. We dare not tarry. There may be more of them.”
The lady climbed aboard and Miss bounded up right behind her. Hugh lurched into the air with less grace and even more speed than before, heading out, over the hills, toward the sand flats beyond. He needed a place to take them where they’d see an enemy coming. Someplace safer than the city or its environs. Someplace close.
The sandy wasteland beyond the foothills was the only place he could fly to fast that provided some of those tactical advantages. And it had to be quick. The lady was bleeding. He had to see how bad it was.
“How are you holding up back there?”
“All right,” she said in a weak voice. Was the weakness from shock or blood loss? Hugh needed to land in order to find out.
He looked around for a likely spot and found something usable not far. He landed more rapidly than before, with less finesse, but more speed, absorbing the shock of meeting the ground with his elbows and knees. The lady tumbled from his back, followed by the gryphlet who glided downward using her fluffy, baby wings. She would be fledging before long, Hugh thought absently as he shifted form and knelt at the lady’s side.
She was pale, blood flowing down the front of her dress. Hugh cursed and examined the wound, glad to see it was not as deep as he’d feared. He could heal this and in time, she would regain her strength.
All dragons had magic. Most had healing abilities. Hugh had trained his healing powers so that he could help humans and dragons alike should there be need. He blessed his teachers now for their preparation as he laid his hands over the lady’s neck, summoning his power.
A fog surrounded them as the Dragon’s Breath came at his call, enveloping her and healing her wound. Miss was sitting at her side and batted at the magical fog in curiosity but didn’t back away. She seemed to bask in the magic that Hugh called and he was glad for it. He hadn’t had a chance to see if any of the blood on the kitten’s fur was her own. He thought not, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
If she was injured, the Dragon’s Breath would work to heal her as well. If not, it would still be good for her to bask in the magic he’d been feeding her in much smaller doses since they first met. As a growing creature of magic, she should have gotten such influxes of magical energy from her parents. Hugh had been acting as a surrogate of sorts until finally the baby gryphon’s energy level was just about where it
should have been for her age.
At length he drew back, recalling his healing power. The lady’s eyes blinked open and she stared up at him with confusion.
“Are you feeling better, milady?” Hugh asked with a small grin, hoping to calm her and ease the shock of the startling news she had learned in the vineyard.
“A little dizzy, but better. What was that?”
“The Dragon’s Breath. It is a healing mist most dragons can call. Some stronger than others.” He tried to shrug off his very potent ability.
He was very close to her. So close, he had only to lean in a little farther in order to touch his lips to hers.
Following the impulse he’d had since almost the first moment he’d seen her, Hugh did just that.
Breath of Fire
Liliana Hart
Born to be mates…destined to be enemies.
A Rena Drake Novel
Since the Banishment, Rena has become the Drakán Enforcer, cleaning up the messes her dragon brethren make in order to keep their presence in the human world hidden.
When a group of rogue Drakán begins killing dragons who refuse to join the army of the Destroyer—the dragon they believe will become their true king—Rena has no choice but to take action.
Special Agent Noah Ford appears, seemingly out of nowhere, to offer his assistance and protection. Protection, from a human? Hell, no. But something about him draws her hypnotically, erotically close. Some secret he refuses to reveal.
Every clue Rena uncovers indicates Julian, leader of one of the five clans, is the Destroyer. But when she confronts Julian, the blue mating fire—a phenomenon that hasn’t been seen since the Banishment—engulfs them both.
Burning with need for two very different men, Rena must choose to kill the one destined to be her mate. Or see her people’s dreams of home turned to a pile of ashes.
Warning: This novel contains high-speed car chases, crackling thighs, magic duels, naughty words, and sex on ceilings, tables, high in a tower, in the shower and—you get the drift.
eBooks are not transferable.
They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B
Cincinnati OH 45249
Breath of Fire
Copyright © 2013 by Liliana Hart
ISBN: 978-1-61921-601-3
Edited by Jennifer Miller
Cover by Kanaxa
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: June 2013
www.samhainpublishing.com
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
About the Author
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