“Thank you,” she said and cuddled up against him, her arm across his chest.
Sami didn’t think he’d be able to sleep with her so close. Her touch, her hand that lightly traced circles on his chest, her sweet fiery scent, everything about her drove him wild. He ached to taste her, to feel every inch of her, to make her his for now and eternity. But he couldn’t. So, for now, for her, he pushed it all aside. He listened to the sound of her beating heart and her breath tickling his skin. He let his eyes close and within minutes, they were both asleep.
HELLFIRE KNEW SHE SHOULD keep her distance, but that was becoming increasingly harder to do. She should be terrified of Sami, and part of her still was, but the other part wasn’t. That part just couldn’t bring itself to push him away any more. Even her brutal past experiences along with her dream vision couldn’t quite hold her back any longer.
This is wrong.
She repeated the words in her head. Anything between them would only end in heartbreak and death. Only, not even that seemed to matter anymore.
Back at his village, she’d wanted to tell him how sorry she was for pushing him away. Every fiber of her being screamed out to touch him, hold him—to tell him how she felt. She hated herself for how badly she’d treated him when they first met. It was just that she’d been so incredibly attracted to him right from the beginning, so much so that it had terrified her. Because when she looked into his eyes, she felt like she could see into his soul.
No, it was safer to make him hate her. She didn’t care if she died, but she couldn’t be responsible for another person she cared about dying.
She tried to take comfort from Sami’s reassurance that Nix would be okay, but it was a struggle to believe. Too much had happened in her life to let her think that things would be fine. Still, she held Sami’s words close to her heart, knowing if she didn’t, she’d break down. She needed to be strong to get through this.
She thought about what Samuels had told her in the forest not so long ago. About how valuable her sister was, and not just to her family, but to so many others.
As if to remind Hellfire of all she stood to lose, the dream came back to haunt her. She and Nix were fleeing the enemy. Bodies were scattered everywhere, some dead, others hurt or dying. Nix was running beside her when she cried out and suddenly dropped. Hellfire turned to help her sister and something hit her in the back of the neck. Pain blinded her and she crumpled to the ground beside her sister. She heard her name shouted along with her sister’s, but she could only stare in disbelief at Nix. Her sister lay so still that Hellfire knew that this was it. This was the end. Then everything began to blur.
Someone was calling her name, but she couldn’t respond. Suddenly, a large hulking figure loomed over her and it took everything she had to focus. What she saw next hit her like an arrow piercing her heart. Once more, betrayal surrounded her.
Hellfire gasped as she tried to breathe, to cry out. The angriest, scariest eyes she’d ever seen stared down at her, and they lived in a face she knew. Before she lost all consciousness, a crimson knife entered her vision. Then her vision blurred again. A loud, devastated roar echoed in her head.
When she managed to pry her eyes open, it was to see the hilt of a shiny dagger, the blade dripping with blood. From the pain coursing through her body, Hellfire knew the blood was hers. As her vision began to dissipate, Hellfire held the gaze of the man standing over her. Hatred shone bright in Sami’s eyes. Then she died.
“Hellfire.” Someone lightly shook her while calling her name.
Hellfire snapped awake, drenched in sweat and shaking Nausea churned in her gut. She glanced at the window. Dark orangey-pink rays seeped through the slats of the shutters. Someone was attempting to comfort her. With fear pumping through her veins, she glanced back to see Sami.
“Hellfire, you were dreaming,” his soothing voice said.
Hellfire jerked out of his arms and sat up on her side of the bed.
Sami reached for her. “Hey, are you okay?”
Shivering uncontrollably, she stood up in the tiny space and pulled her leggings back on. “I’m fine, we need to get going.” She pulled the soft leather tunic over her head and then without another word, hurried out of the room.
Chapter Eighteen
Not as it Seems
SAMI FLOPPED BACK on the bed, listening as Hellfire opened the outside door and then closed it behind her as she headed to the outhouse. Was it just the dream that had spooked her, or had she regretted waking up in his arms?
Sami climbed wearily from the bed and dressed. When he reached the kitchen, he found that once again Hinah had made breakfast for all of them.
“Will Julie or Orion be joining us?” Hellfire asked Hinah when she came back inside.
“Orion is already gone. He’s in training to take over for Drakayeh,” she said.
Sami wanted to ask if Drakayeh was planning to retire or something, but the look in Hinah’s eyes stopped him from asking.
“Julie will meet you at Isoul’s wagon,” Hinah said, avoiding Sami’s gaze as she set plates of food on the table.
Hellfire also avoided him as she sat down and slowly began to eat. They were just about finished when Drakayeh walked in looking a whole lot better. Hinah gave him a little smile and set a plate of food in front of him while Sami, Hellfire, and Brimstone got ready to leave.
“I will be right behind you,” Hinah said as she hurried into her and Drakayeh’s room.
“She’s coming with us?” Brimstone asked with raised brows.
Drakayeh nodded. “She is. She has a vested interest in seeing your sister free.”
Hellfire swallowed and nodded.
“Don’t worry, she won’t hold you up. Go on ahead and I promise, she will be there in no time,” Drakayeh said, but Sami knew that wasn’t what worried Hellfire.
She wasn’t as hardhearted as she pretended and Sami knew she likely felt guilty. Hinah, Drakayeh, and Julie had been good to them, given them shelter, food, and help in finding Nix. Yet he knew she still did not intend to allow Nix to go through with her sacrifice for the wolves. Sami watched her expression turn blank as she attempted to harden her heart.
“How are we getting there?” Brimstone asked.
Thanks to Genna, Sami knew how to draw his power around himself in order make his scales invisible, and while he hadn’t had a lot of practice, he’d done it a couple times.
“Well, Hellfire and I can both fly invisible, so I guess I can carry you,” Sami said. Brimstone stared at him for a moment then started to laugh.
“Yeah, right.” Brimstone stopped laughing and shook his head, “Not happening buddy.”
“Hey,” Hellfire smacked her brother in the head.
“Aw, what the? Why’d you do that?” Brimstone said, holding his head.
“We need to get Nix out of that place, would you stow your pride for a minute?” Hellfire said, glaring at him.
With a growl, Brimstone stood up. “Fine, whatever. She damn sure better appreciate what we’re going through to free her.”
When Hellfire threatened to whack him again, Brimstone held up his hand. “Okay, sorry.”
Sami grinned and after thanking Hinah for breakfast, they filed out of the little cabin.
They shifted and rose into a dark orangey-pink sky. With the moons even closer to eclipsing Tartaria’s three suns, the world was drenched in dark shades of red and orange.
Trepidation filled Sami at the thought that all wasn’t going to go as planned. He tried to stow the feeling of doom and it wasn’t long before they landed near Isoul’s wagon to find him chatting with Julie. By Julie’s grim expression Sami knew the news wasn’t good.
“What did you find out?” Hellfire asked without even saying good morning.
“It is not going to be easy,” Julie replied.
Remembering the night before at his village, Sami watched Isoul carefully but the guy didn’t look at all nervous. Maybe he was wrong. Still, he’d keep an eye on the
guy.
Isoul shook his head. “She’s right. My, ah … mate mentioned that they have tightened their security. Now there are at least fifty of them in there at any given time—”
Hellfire cut him off. “What about Nix, is she even here, how is she? Is she hurt?”
“Have they hurt her?” Brimstone asked at the same time.
Isoul shook his head. “That’s the only bit of good news. Your sister is here and she’s fine, so far. Although, they do have plans for her.”
“What plans?” Hellfire asked.
Brimstone growled. He’d been a captive of the Ilyium recently and knew some of the stuff they were capable of doing.
“I don’t think you want to know,” Isoul said.
Hellfire shook her head. “Yes, I do. Tell me.”
“Hellfire—” Sami began, but she shook her head and glared at him.
“I need to know.”
Isoul sighed and Julie touched his arm. “Tell her.”
“As soon as the Super Eclipse is over, they plan to use her to breed with, adding Phoenix blood to the Ilyium bloodline,” Isoul said, looking disgusted at the lengths his people would go.
“We need to get her out of there,” Hellfire growled, eyes flashing silver as she turned to head towards the fortress.
Sami grabbed her arm. “Wait, we need a plan.”
Brimstone, who was vibrating with rage, nodded his head in agreement. “As much as I want to storm in there as well, Sami’s right.”
Hellfire growled and yanked her arm away. “Don’t. Touch. Me.” Then she stalked away to pet the horse.
Sami felt his face heat. Apparently, their truce had ended.
“She’s just scared and worried,” Julie said softly, trying to make him feel better, but Sami knew the truth. Last night had been a brief moment in time without the hatred that he’d have to cherish, because things were now back to normal.
“Shift change is at three in the afternoon and three in the morning. Lewta once mentioned that after the old shift leaves, the new ones have a brief meeting, which lasts about twenty minutes. I remember him saying that during that time the prisoners are left unattended and there are no guards on the wall for about five minutes,” Isoul said.
Hellfire had wandered back over to listen. “Then we go at three this afternoon.”
Isoul shook his head. “No, we need to go in at three in the morning when it is still dark. That shift is barely awake. Lewta often complained that if they were attacked, the fight would be over before they knew what was going on.”
Hellfire looked about to say something, but Isoul held up a hand. “I know it won’t be that easy, but we need every advantage we can get.”
Hellfire wasn’t ready to give up. “But if they are in a meeting, we can get in and find Nix. I’ll be able to scent her. We don’t need your friend. We can go in the afternoon.”
Isoul shook his head. “The building is warded. You won’t get in unless someone lets you in.”
“So how are we going to get in? It’s not like they are just going to let us in,” Hellfire said, frustrated.
Isoul nodded. “No, I will slip up to the gate as soon as Lewta leaves and while the shift changes. I’ll say Lewta hasn’t come out yet and I need to talk to him. They’ve seen me before, they know who I am, so it shouldn’t be a problem to get in. Then, when they go to their meeting, I’ll let you all in.”
“Fine, I guess that could work,” Hellfire growled and began to pace. “I just don’t like it, anything could go wrong. They could change their mind about waiting till the eclipse is over before they start to—” What they planned to use Nix for, went unsaid.
“I don’t believe they will,” Julie said. “They won’t chance anything going wrong during that magical time.” She looked at Hellfire with understanding. “I know you’re anxious. We don’t want to wait either, but it is our best opportunity to get her out and get out ourselves,” Julie said in a soothing voice.
Hellfire looked at her and sucked in a deep breath. Then she glanced at the rest of them. No one was particularly happy about waiting but they hadn’t any other choice. Finally, she sighed.
“Fine. We go in at three in the morning.”
They all sat down to wait and it wasn’t long before Hinah showed up with a basket of food. They filled Hinah in on their plans and she asked some questions, and then proceeded to eat in silence, each lost to their own thoughts and worries.
When it was close to three in the afternoon, they silently made their way through the forest to where they previously watched the fortress the day before. Men in black robes, swords visibly hanging from their sides, walked up the road.
“Is Lewta there?” Hellfire asked.
Isoul nodded. “He’s the one near the back, a little taller than everyone else,” Isoul said and pointed out his mate.
They watched the men walk through the fortress gates while another bunch in the same garb emerged from the fortress and began to head down the road. The gates closed. A few seconds later, the guards up on the parapets disappeared from view, proving that Isoul’s mate was correct. Sami began to breathe a sigh of relief, when suddenly four new guards popped up.
“What the fuck?” Brimstone whispered.
“What’s going on?” Hellfire asked.
Isoul shook his head, worry in his voice. “I-I don’t know.”
“He lied to you,” Brimstone snarled.
“He’s Ilyium,” Hinah said bitterly.
Isoul shook his head. “No. He wouldn’t lie. I trust him. Something must’ve happened.”
“Maybe he was compromised,” Sami said, watching the rest of the guards’ head into the building. “Or they’re expecting us.”
He glanced at Brimstone and Hellfire. In unison, they all turned to Isoul. Julie and Hinah needed Nix out. Isoul, however, they were just taking Julie’s word that he was a good guy. They really didn’t know him at all. “They may be expecting an attack, but they’d have no way of knowing about us,” Julie said adamantly.
Hinah gave her a piercing look, but Julie just shook her head, refusing to let her mother sway her about Isoul.
They watched the fortress for a few more minutes, and then made their way back to camp. One by one, they sat down, each pondering aloud their differing ideas of what might have happened to change things up.
“Well, one thing is for sure,” Brimstone said. Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to continue. Brimstone gazed around. “This just got a whole lot harder.”
“How are you going to let us in with the guards watching?” Hellfire asked.
“Once in, are you able to drop the wards?” Sami asked.
Isoul nodded. “Yes, I just need to be on the inside.”
“Okay, so we need to take the guards out from the air. Then you can lower the wards and let us in,” Sami said. Grim expressions met his.
“Is it even possible to take them out from the air with the wards up?” Julie asked.
Isoul shrugged. “I don’t know. I think so.”
Everyone went silent as each thought about what needed to be done.
A little later, Sami stood up. “I’m going for a walk.”
No one paid him much attention as he left the group, everyone too busy talking strategy. Sami moved deeper into the forest and a moment later, found Hinah keeping stride beside him.
“Thought you might like some company,” she said.
Sami glanced at her in surprise and she smiled. “Besides, it doesn’t hurt to take another look as well.”
Sami nodded. “Yeah.”
“So, your mate, her name suits her,” Hinah said with a grin.
Pain lanced Sami’s heart and he shook his head. “She’s not my mate. But yeah, Hellfire’s name definitely suits her.”
“I used to be like her, a long time ago,” Hinah said wistfully then she reached out, and touched his arm. “She’ll come around.”
“I, ah, I don’t think so. She’s made it pretty clear how she feels about me.
”
“Yes, she is very hard-headed, just like I used to be.” Hinah pulled Sami to a stop and her stare made him shiver. There was so much sadness and loss in her eyes. “She’s been hurt, badly I think. Don’t make the same mistake I made.”
Sami frowned. “What mistake?” He had no idea what she was talking about.
Hinah just smiled sadly. “You will need to go to her, when the time is right.”
“Do you have the gift of foresight?” Sami asked. Tierney’s mother used to have that gift.
Hinah shook her head and continued past him. “No and yes.”
Now he was even more confused.
Sami and Hinah studied the fortress from three different angles. The only side they couldn’t see was the farthest side, as they had no shelter to hide them from prying eyes. Finally, they started back towards the others, silent as they contemplated what they’d learned. No matter what they planned, Sami knew in his heart that they wouldn’t be able to take the guards out while the wards were up.
There was something else weighing on his mind as well. “Hinah,” he began. “Hellfire will kill me when she finds out I told you, but …” He hesitated.
Hinah smiled and shook her head. “It’s okay Sami, I know.”
Sami frowned. “You know what?”
“I know that Hellfire will try to stop her sister from fulfilling her destiny,” Hinah said.
Sami shook his head. “How?”
“It’s okay. It is Kharhon, er, Nix’s destiny. She will either succeed or not, but I don’t think Hellfire will be able to stop her.” She continued to walk, leaving him standing where he was.
Sami thought about her words, wondering if she was right. He turned and looked back along the trail towards the fortress. Then he glanced up through the towering trees at the darkening night sky. It was a deep, dark blood red. A moment later, he turned his gaze back on the trail. Hinah was nowhere in sight. With a sigh, Sami headed back towards the camp.
He had just reached the outskirts, when a familiar voice reached his ears.
“—was told the Ilyium might be willing to trade Nix for a dragon.”
Dracones Boxset Books 1-5 Page 73