by Alicia Wolfe
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Dragon Knight
Reclaiming the Fire #2
Alicia Wolfe
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Dragon Knight
Reclaiming the Fire #2
by Alicia Wolfe
Copyright 2018
All rights reserved
Cover image used with permission
Chapter 1
I was plotting murder in the palace tower when Jessela popped her head in and said, “Davril wants to see you.”
I blinked tiredly at her. Opened books surrounded me. More waited on the shelves, all handsomely bound volumes with vellum pages and florid ink writing, far and away from anything I was used to in the human world. But I was in the palace of the Fae Queen now, and I would have to get used to it.
“How’s it going?” Jessela asked.
“Not great.” I shoved away the current book I was working my way through, yawning. I’d been cooped up in the records department of the Fae Knights for days, and I was stiff and cranky. I probably didn’t smell great, either. “Vincent Walsh is as far away as ever, damn it. I’ll never find him at this rate.”
Find him and murder him, I added to myself.
“Tell me on the way,” Jessela said. “Davril says you’re late.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, in that case, if the high and mighty Lord Stormguard is inconvenienced in any way…”
After I stood, I shrugged into my cute black leather jacket, going just slow enough to show that I didn’t care what Davril thought or wanted. As if.
Jessela, the pretty Fae Knight I’d kind of made friends with over the last few weeks, switched back to the topic of my research as we made our way down through the halls of the Tower of the Shield, which was what the knights’ spire at the Palace was called. The Order’s records office was located near the top, but we were going to the bottom, and there were a lot of stairs. A lot. Why couldn’t the Fae install an elevator? Then again, electricity didn’t always work around magic, and there were epic amounts of that here.
“How’s the translation spell working?” Jessela asked.
“Okay, I guess.”
“Not great?”
I rolled my shoulders. All the books in the Knights’ records department were in Faeish, of course, which I didn’t read, and the best translation spell I had, provided to me by Jessela, was only half working. “Better than it was before,” I assured her. “Hell yeah! Before then, I was ready to set the whole records department on fire.”
“Don’t do that.”
The books I was forcing myself to go through were accounts of various investigations and intelligence gatherings by the Fae Knights since their kind had arrived in our world ten years ago: the Fae-rival. Some of the accounts had even been written by Davril himself. He had surprisingly good penmanship.
Heh-heh. Davril’s pen. I bet it was a big pen, I thought, feeling my cheeks burn.
I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror we were passing. Sheesh, I looked bad, my eyes bloodshot, my clothes rumpled, my long black wavy hair with its purple highlights disheveled. I raked my fingers through it, combing it back, and blinked rapidly to moisten my eyes.
Jessela caught me primping and smirked. “You look just fine, Jade.”
“What? No, it’s not like that,” I protested as we trotted down yet another flight of stairs. We were just passing one of the pegassi stables. I saw a gorgeous white horse with white wings nuzzling the hand of a Fae, who was smiling and stroking its neck. “I mean, barf,” I added. “Davril is a total flaming asshole. I don’t even.”
She only looked more amused. “Oh?”
“He, like, arrested me twice.”
“True.”
“That’s like two more times than is allowed,” I said. “And he doesn’t trust me!”
“Also true.”
“And he’s been no help at all in finding Walsh.”
She nodded. “Completely true.”
“And…and…”
“Yes?”
I sighed. “And I don’t think he likes dragon shifters.”
She started to open her mouth to reply, but just then we reached the huge training room near the base of the tower, and the sounds of grunts and steel ringing on steel surrounded us. As we entered, Fae Knights both in and out of armor were sparring with each other, their shining blades ringing against each other, their clean sweat flying. As a shifter, I could smell their adrenaline, and at the scent my own pulse spiked.
Davril was in the center of it all, sword in hand, his steel-blue eyes gleaming. Eschewing his armor, he wore only the tight white cotton undergarments the knights wore beneath their metal plates when they did wear armor. Sweat had stuck the fabric to his muscular chest, arms, and thighs, and I felt my belly flutter at the sight.
He was sparring with another knight, this one shorter of stature but broad and strong, and his opponent drove in, sword striking right toward Davril’s face. I gasped. They weren’t even using magical shields! That blade could kill Davril.
Laughing, Davril merely batted it aside, then lunged forward. His sword struck swift as lightning. The other Fae reeled, frantically trying to ward off the barrage of blows. At last he tripped and sprawled backward. Davril’s sword leapt in, then paused an inch from his opponent’s throat.
“Yield?” Davril said.
“I yield, damn your hide.”
Davril laughed again, helping him off the floor.
“You’ll get me next time,” Davril promised, and his opponent swore good-naturedly and ambled away. His short blond hair damp and spiky, deep chest heaving, Davril turned to regard me. “Well well,” he said. “Finally got around to finding the practice hall, did you?”
“I…” I swallowed past the lump in my throat, trying not to stare at his chest. “I … er, I guess?”
Jessela saved me. “I found her in the records department. Again.”
Davril let out a breath. “Jade, you know you need to practice. You’re a Knight of the Order of the Shield now. Yet you ignore most of my summons.”
“Is that why I’m here?” I said. “To practice? Because I was just reading this one account that…”
Davril threw his sword at me. With a start, I caught it by the handle, nearly falling face-first as I did. Davril grabbed another sword from off the wall and approached me. His eyes burned, and his ridiculously handsome face with those chiseled cheekbones and strong jaw was still flushed from sparring with hi
s previous opponent.
Jessela stepped back, her face watchful.
“What do I do?” I asked her.
“For starters, raise your sword.”
Good advice. Davril stalked in, his own blade slicing toward my shoulder. Gasping, I knocked the blow away and stumbled back. My black leather jacket pinched under my arms when I brought my sword up again. The weapon was heavier than I thought it would be. Luckily I had shifter strength, even if I could no longer actually shift.
“En garde,” Davril said. He lunged again, this time aiming for my thigh.
I swayed aside, just barely avoiding him, then danced back.
“Wait! Wait!” I said. “These are my good clothes. I can’t fight in these. Let me run up to my room and put some jogging—”
He slashed at my elbow. I knew he was moving at half-speed, if that, but to me it seemed as if he struck like a cobra. With a strangled cry, I parried the strike, but that blow really did unbalance me. I hit the floor.
I rolled onto my back to find Davril straddling me, his cold blade biting into my neck. One of his feet had trapped my sword. I have to admit, seeing him over me like that, his skin shining with sweat, his face commanding, his frame so huge and powerful … heat surged through me.
I blinked sweat out of my eyes. “Yield?” My voice came out as more of a squeak than I’d intended.
He glared down at me, the humor draining from him. “Jade, you’re abusing my good nature and that of the Queen. You’re using us for your own ends without upholding your end of the bargain.”
He stepped back, withdrawing his sword, and I stood shakily, my hand going to my throat. I half expected to feel blood, but there was nothing. He better not have ripped my jacket.
“Well, I am a cat burglar,” I said. “You didn’t really expect me to give back equally, did you?” Even as I said the words, I knew what I sounded like. But there was some truth to it. I was a criminal and they knew it, had known it all along. Did they expect me to act like anything else?
“You swore an oath,” Jessela said.
“E tu, Brutus?” I said.
“I don’t…”
“Never mind. My point is, I’m not a knight. I mean, I appreciate that you made me an honorary one so I could help you and work with you, but the way I see it, the emphasis is on the ‘honorary’. Not the ‘knight’.”
Davril put some gravel into his voice. “You swore an oath.”
“Broken record much?”
Davril and Jessela exchanged a glance. I felt a nervous prickle along my arms. This doesn’t look good.
“Ha ha,” I said, smiling widely. “Just kidding, guys. Of course I took an oath. Of course I’ll practice more. Jeez! It’s not like I’m shirking my other duties. I mean, we’ve gone out on several missions, right, Dav? Just let me read a few more accounts and—”
“No.” Davril’s voice was firm.
I felt my jaw drop. “What?”
He crossed his muscular arms over his chest. I could see his eight-pack clearly with the cotton clinging to his drenched skin. “You will no longer have access to the records department until you fulfill your oath and pull your weight.”
Feeling suddenly cold, I flashed an accusing look to Jessela. “Are you in on this, too, Jess?”
“Davril’s right, Jade. You are abusing our trust. You need to live up to your oath. This is the Tower of the Shield, not a public library.”
I growled in impatience. “Walsh is out there! He attacked your Queen! He’s a threat to you as well as me. Let me find him for you. Let me deal with him.” I felt myself balling my fists at my side and tried to uncurl my hands. They were shaking. I was shaking. Jesus.
“Lord Vorkoth is our main enemy,” Davril said. “Along with Mistress Angela and her people. Walsh is just a distraction. We need to find Angela. We need to find Federico, whom she’s holding captive, if you’ve forgotten. That’s what you need to help us with, Jade. That’s why you’re here. You’re a Knight of the Queen’s Court, whether you like it or not, and you will protect that court. Or…”
“Or what?”
His voice was flat, but his eyes still burned like a setting sun. “Or you’ll be cast out.”
Suddenly I felt weak. “You … you can’t…”
“He can, Jade,” Jessela said quietly. Cautiously, she came and touched my arm. “He will. And he has every right to.”
“But … but … if you do that…”
“If you do that,” Davril said. “It will be your choice, not mine. Your human police departments don’t just allow people off the street to pillage through their databases, do they?”
The world tilted. My mouth was dry. Anger flared through me, and I wanted to lash out at Davril and Jessela. Somehow I held my tongue. The damned thing had a mind of its own sometimes, but this would be absolutely the wrong time to give it free rein. Besides, damn it, part of me knew they were right. It was annoying, more than annoying, but there it was.
“Well?” prompted Davril. Obviously, he wanted me to admit surrender.
I wasn’t sure if I could do that. Even if he was right, I was too proud to say it out loud. But if I don’t … I pictured Dad and Gran. I pictured their graves. The images called out for justice.
Could I string Davril along a little longer? And did I really want to do that? He didn’t deserve to be used by me, after all. He deserved … well, a lot more. And a part of me, a strong part, wanted to give it to him. Using him like I’d been doing was wrong on too many levels to count.
Before I could come up with a game plan, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Angrily, I yanked it out and scanned the message.
“Just got a text,” I said.
“Don’t try to change the subject,” Davril said, but I held up a hand, forestalling him.
“It’s from Gareth,” I said.
Davril paused. “Your latest contact?”
I nodded. Feeling emboldened—Saved by the bell, I thought; Or at least the buzzer—I flashed them a superior smile. “See, I don’t need your practice. I don’t need your rules. I produce results, sword or no sword.”
Jessela’s face shone with hope. “You really think this Gareth could have some information on Federico?”
The truth was I had no idea, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to cop to that.
“Sure,” I said. “Why not? It’s as good as done.” I turned to Davril, who was watching me with an inscrutable expression. “Well, hotshot? You ready to saddle up and go interrogate a bad guy? You’d better step lively, because where we’re going it could be dangerous.”
Chapter 2
You’re not off the hook,” Davril said.
Wind tore through my hair, and I tilted my face up, relishing it. We were riding in Davril’s flying car with the top down. I love the Fae, I thought.
He called his car Lady Kay, and she looked like a suit of gleaming armor crossed with a 1960’s muscle car, only she had gorgeous white wings sticking out to either side. They pumped the air slowly yet powerfully. Around us, the skyscrapers of New York scrolled past, many of their tips bristling with fantastic castles—the homes of the Fae Lords. One of those castles was Davril’s. The grand structures sprouted from the towers’ tops like flowers, sticking out wider than the skyscrapers were broad. In the rearview mirror, I could see the Palace looming majestically atop its own skyscraper, slender white towers glinting with Fae lights, reminding me of an angel’s hand reaching up toward the stars. It was night, and the sky was gorgeous.
“How’s that?” I asked Davril. I turned my head to face him, almost daring him to confront me, but he only spared me a quick glance before turning back to the wheel.
“You must practice, Jade. You must become a true knight.”
“Why?”
“For starters, if we’re going to be working together, I need to know you can take care of yourself. If we get into a scrape, you need to be able to defend yourself from any attackers.”
I threw my legs up on the dash. I kne
w Davril hated that. I laced my fingers behind my head, sticking my admittedly small chest out as I did, but if I was hoping for a reaction, I was disappointed.
“I can hold my own,” I said. “You’ve seen that already. Why waste time learning to fight, which I can already do, when I could be using it to find Walsh?”
Davril sucked in a breath, and I could sense his frustration. “Jade, this isn’t just about you. Ruby let you go too far down that dark path, but I won’t.”
“I thought you Fae were hip to revenge and blood feuds and stuff like that.”
“Only if done responsibly. Not by shirking your duties. Which you are, Jade, whether you pretend otherwise or not. It’s that selfishness that’s the dark path, not righteous revenge.”
I shifted in discomfort. The wind was starting to feel cold. I removed my legs from the dash and hit a button. Instantly the top closed, sealing us in together. My ears no longer roared with the sound of the wind, but an echo of it still rang in my drums.
Sounding sulkier than I’d intended, I said, “Walsh killed my father and grandmother, Dav. He stole my fire. I can no longer shift because of him. I will find him. I will steal back my fire. And then I’ll use it to burn the fucking son of a bitch to a crispy critter.”
Davril let a beat go by, as if acknowledging that I had a right to my revenge. The car thrummed around us. “Fine,” he said, “but that can’t consume you, Jade. You have to have a life beyond it. And don’t call me Dav. It’s Davril.”
My fingers itched. For the thousandth time, I wished Ruby hadn’t made me quit smoking last year. I wondered what my hell-raising, redheaded witch sister was up to at the moment. I missed her. Sure, I still saw her once a week, but that was a far cry from before. We used to live together before I took up with the Fae and became Davril’s partner a couple of months ago. Together we upheld the laws of the Queen’s Court in the world beyond their castles and palaces—that was, the human world. My criminal past was an immense help in this, since I knew the underworld intimately, but I was all too aware Davril and the other Fae were relying on me to help them turn up some sign of their real enemies.