Shadow of Flame

by Caitlyn McFarland

  Cadoc snapped his teeth. Unimpressed, Izel snapped back, her jaws clicking an inch below his nose. “Didn’t I tell you once? Patience.”

  She had, when he’d still thought he was clever and strong. He knew better now.

  Tender as a lover, he leaned down and clamped his jaws around her throat. “I’m clean out of patience these days.”

  When he squeezed, her words tumbled into his mind. “It’s guarded by two pairs of heartsworn dragons and layers of magical traps. I don’t know what they are, I swear. Ancients, I swear!”

  He left her there, night falling around him as he took off. He thought about bringing her—he wasn’t overly familiar with North America, and he’d need a guide. Izel could pinpoint the location of the charm, but she would also try to kill him in his sleep. Besides, she would live, so he knew where she was if he needed her.

  He cursed himself as much for leaving her alive almost as much as if he’d killed her, but those flashes of blinding violence had shaken him. Revenge would get him nothing but bloody claws, and he had enough to regret in his past.

  Flying north, Cadoc weighed his options. He could call Ashem, who was headed for Eryri, wait for the Azhdahā to get there, wait for him to send reinforcements. Or he could go and see Rhys’s mother, Mair. The Warbringer and her group of hangers-on lived in the same area as the cache. If Mair would give him a guide and agree to help him, he could have the stone in days.

  He would be halfway to going home.

  Chapter Nine

  Eryri

  The sea glinted orange in the last rays of sunset. Kai’s mind was half-numb with the endless water, the constant, rushing wind and the hypnotic up and down of Ashem’s body as he churned the air with his massive midnight wings.

  How long have we been flying? Four days? Five? Is my butt going to recover, or will it be dragon-shaped forever?

  When they’d landed to rest on a glorified sand bar a few hours ago, Rhys and Evan had unloaded and gone ahead. No one was supposed to know that Rhys had flown off to Colorado to fetch Kai—or that Kai existed at all. So Rhys would arrive in Eryri with much to-do while Ashem snuck in, dropped Kai off and then pretended to arrive the next morning.

  Apparently Eryri wasn’t ready for Kai. She was the dragon king’s dirty little secret. And not in a sexy, flattering way.

  Kai wished she still had music, but the the hidden caves they’d stopped in each night weren’t exactly wired for electricity, so she’d tried to preserve the battery. It hadn’t been too bad the first few days—flying on dragon-back was pretty fascinating, watching the land change as it slid beneath you. But the ocean, after the first twelve hours, got pretty dang boring. Her phone had died the day before.

  Juli shifted, and Kai readjusted her arms around her friend’s waist, offering warmth. For Kai, the most annoying part of the trip had been the wind and, when they were flying low, bugs—though those weren’t as bad as they could have been, because Juli had had the foresight to buy two paintball masks.

  For Juli, the worst part had been winter cold compounded by the bone-cracking chill of high altitude. They’d had to stop several times in those first couple of days so Rhys could shift and warm Juli up with his magic. Kai could have done it. If she’d known how.

  She rested her forehead against Juli’s back. Rhys had been around for a week—two days in Colorado, then three days of travel south over land then west across the ocean—and except for that first conversation, they’d barely spoken to each other. There might have been a chance while they were flying, but though Rhys could talk into her mind using normal dragonspeak, the wind snatched Kai’s responses when she tried to shout back.

  It was, however, a major relief to physically be close to him. When she’d been tired, she had lain down against his neck and traced the outlines of his bloodred scales. Even when he was a dragon, there was something about being allowed to touch him. Not sexual, just...intimate. He made her feel grounded. Safe.

  “That’s it!” Juli shouted over the rushing wind, her voice high with relief. “Thank goodness. Dragons are clearly the worst way to travel.”

  A smudge had appeared on the horizon, black and backlit by the setting sun. Despite the sudden hard pit in her stomach, Kai patted Juli’s shoulder and shouted, “We could be dangling from his claws instead of sitting on his back.”

  The bit of Juli’s face that Kai could see behind the goggles of her mask went pale. “You are not funny.”

  After about ten minutes, the mass resolved into an archipelago of mountainous islands. Color seeped into the blackness as they approached, revealing steep, green-sided peaks and white beaches.

  High above, a dragon roared. If Kai squinted, she could make out half a dozen dark forms sweeping the sky in a pattern. “Sentries? Won’t they see us?”

  Two months ago, those dragons would have been invisible to Kai. Since becoming Wingless, she was able to see through the veils dragons used to camouflage themselves from humans. To her the veils made it look like dragons flew around in giant, iridescent snow globes.

  Ashem, who heard the question through Juli’s ears, snorted. “I’m Azhdahā.”

  Kai rolled her eyes.

  They reached the central island. Inside a splotch of paler shallow water, an irregular circle of white beach and sliver of green jungle ringed two mountains, one smaller than the other. The larger mountain took up most of the island, but two ridges extended from its base on either side, forming a crescent-shaped valley with a lake at its center.

  Floating, multicolored balls of fire and lightning hung in the air between lake and mountain at varying heights. The rainbow of color reflected off the pristine surface of the water, illuminating a massive ring of standing stones between the big mountain and the lake. Hundreds of dragons stood around the stone circle, jewel-bright and toy-sized, their scales scintillating in the enchanted light. Here and there, a few dozen humans milled between dragons like ants among huge, shiny beetles.

  A portion of the larger mountain had been cut away to reveal a cross section of its base. Delicate stone pillars supported the open face, honeycombed with archways and windows.

  Rhys, still a dragon, stood brilliant and crimson at the center of the stone circle. He was bowing to a smaller, obviously female dragon with scales of purest gold.

  Kai gaped. The scene was straight from a fairy tale, and only ruined slightly by Ashem’s grim voice when he said, “Welcome to Eryri.”

  Before either Kai or Juli could respond, a shudder passed through Ashem. His flight stuttered, faltered, and they dropped twenty feet before Ashem righted himself. A word rolled from his mind like a wave.

  “Kavar.”

  Kai whipped around, expecting to see Kavar, all inky-black hide and mesmerizing silver eyes, bearing down on them. But there was nothing. Then she remembered what Ashem had said after the fire. Rhys had captured Kavar. Which meant he was here, somewhere. Kai shivered.

  Ashem soared over the higher peak and brought them down on a ledge just wide enough for a dragon or two to land. A large cave mouth led into the mountain, the archway carved with intertwining dragons, each individual scale standing out in sharp relief.

  “Ashem.” A silver dragon uncurled from the shadows just inside the cave. Her mirror-bright scales and translucent wings made her look—as Juli had once said—as if she were made of Saran Wrap and silver glitter. Always petite, Ffion had thinned in the past two months. She looked fragile. Even so, she was one of the most gorgeous creatures Kai had ever seen.

  “Ffion.” Ashem’s normally stoic voice was heavy with concern. “Where is Morwenna?”

  “She had to take care of some business interests in New York. I expect she’ll be back in a few days.”

  “You should be resting. I told you to let the Invisible handle this.”

  Ffion’s voice was quiet, but strong
. “There are too few people to trust. I assigned Tane to guard Deryn and I watched Rhys’s rooms. The rest of the Invisible—” she flicked her tail in a motion Kai had come to recognize over the past few days as a draconic shrug “—I don’t trust them like I do Tane. Too many are new. Keeping watch over empty rooms was restful enough.”

  The clink of metal against metal brought Kai back to herself. Juli had undone the buckles of her harness and was climbing down from Ashem’s shoulder.

  Kai undid her own buckles and slid after Juli.

  She jerked to a stop, the strap wrapped around her right leg. Kai windmilled her arms then flipped upside down, slamming her face into Ashem’s side. “Ow!”

  She bounced and spun, coming face-to-face with Juli.

  Her friend raised an eyebrow. “Clearly, you were born to ride dragons.”

  Kai folded her arms, her black braid hanging heavily from the back of her head. “Clearly.” She looked beyond Juli and gave a little wave. “Hi, Ffion.”

  The silver dragon dipped her head in something uncomfortably like a bow. “Kai. I’m so glad that you’re here, and that you’re well.”

  “Thank you.” Kai wasn’t really sure what to say to Ffion. The last time she’d seen her, Ffion had been sedated so that she wouldn’t lose the baby after losing Griffith. She hardly looked better now, but at least she was on her feet.

  Juli fiddled with the strap wrapped around Kai’s leg.

  “You take forever,” Kai said.

  Juli made a “tch” sound. “Personally, I’d rather not find myself—whoops!”

  “Wh—?” Kai fell. Only her childhood training as a gymnast and her new Wingless speed allowed her to tuck and roll in time. She bruised her shoulder, but didn’t crack her head on the ground. So that was a win. She found herself staring up at the tip of Ffion’s delicate silver snout.

  “Are you all right?” There was humor in Ffion’s voice.

  Kai sat up. Where Rhys and Ashem had heads about the size of cars, Ffion’s was more like a large golf cart. Tentatively, Kai reached out and touched her silver nose. “Yeah. Are you?”

  Ffion blinked ice-blue eyes the size of dinner plates. “I will never be all right. But I have decided to live.”

  They pulled the harness from Ashem and untied their bags from his side. There was a dark burst and a small rush of air, and Ashem the man appeared out of a dark mist. He handed Kai her bags, his voice flat. “You are the essence of grace.”

  Kai rose and dusted herself off, then curtsied. “Why, thank you, Commander. But my grace will never match your charm.”

  She wobbled and almost fell.

  Ashem made a half-amused, half-disgusted sound and picked up the other bags. He turned to Ffion and said, “Restful or not, I’ll be back to relieve you once Rhys is settled.”

  He headed inside. Not wanting to be left behind, Kai said goodnight to Ffion and she and Juli followed Ashem into the cave.

  It was like stepping into a scene from a movie.

  Moonlight poured in through openings Kai couldn’t quite see, reflecting off mirrors to illuminate a cavern that was a mix of natural cave and dragon-worked stone. A perfectly round white island took up most of a pool at the room’s center. The pool, in turn, took up most of the cavern’s floor. Five bridges arched from shadowed doorways spaced along the cavern’s walls, forming a star with the island at its center. Opposite what would have been the top point of the star, a dramatic, sweeping staircase led to a ledge high above.

  They crossed to the island. The white stone wasn’t flat, but held five or so massive, shallow depressions arranged around the center. They looked like giant bowls for dragon-lounging. Ashem skirted the dragon bowls, Kai and Juli still trailing behind, and crossed the bridge opposite the staircase.

  The new area was smaller and homier. Less like a dragon cave and more like a hobbit hole, Kai decided. Ashem turned through another door, and Kai found herself in a room lit by a fire, which danced in a hearth bordered by white and black stone. A gorgeous painting of snowcapped mountains hung above the mantle. Thick rugs covered the stone floor, and a handful of plush chairs and couches—enough to seat the whole vee, Kai expected—stood around the room.

  “This is where Rhys lives?” Kai trailed her fingers along the arched doorway, which had been carved in a Celtic-looking design of knots and lines. Peeking across the hall, she saw what she thought might be the kitchen, one wall entirely open to sea and night sky.

  Ashem’s eyes followed Juli as she walked to a couch and sank down. “He’ll be here in about sixty seconds.”

  Kai jerked like a badly made puppet. “Sixty seconds?” She ran a hand over her frizzed braid, then pulled out the elastic at the end and ran her fingers through the black strands trying to get them more or less in order. He’d seen her windblown and worse over the past few days, but his rooms were so...put together. So beautiful. And she was a frizzball with dead bugs on her jacket.

  “You would know if you’d open your mind to him.” Ashem scowled.

  Kai flipped him off, hiding it from Juli with the angle of her body.

  He snorted.

  “You know he tells me when you do that,” Juli said mildly.

  Despite the nerves that formed a squeezing band around her rib cage, Kai smirked.

  The sound of a door opening and closing came from the hall, and the smirk faltered. There were footsteps, then hesitation, then Rhys stepped into the light.

  He’d changed his human-passing field clothes for what looked like the love child of Game of Thrones costume designers and cutting-edge men’s fashion. Rich, dark fabric edged in gold had been cut and crafted to emphasize the broadness of his shoulders, tapering to narrow hips. The long coat-like garment had had no sleeves, and the crimson scales of his indicium curled around the cut muscles of his right arm like flames. His left forearm sported a thick band of gold. He wore several rings, and chains and pendants hung from his neck. A thin circlet of etched gold and inlaid with silver or platinum glinted against his dark red hair.

  Holy hell. He is the freaking king.

  He met her gaze, relief breaking across his face. Tenderness. Hunger. For a second, Kai thought he was going to stride across the room, press her into the nearest hard surface and kiss the living daylights out of her.

  Instead, Rhys looked to Ashem, the muscles in his forearms jumping as he clenched his fists.

  Kai bit back a moan when she realized how much she’d wanted to be tackle-snogged by Rhys. So stupid. He was a king, and she was...what? An accident. A college student who had fallen from some rocks, and he’d had the bad luck to catch her. She’d pretended that she was okay with that. She didn’t know him, so it didn’t matter if he never developed feelings for her beyond the magic.

  Now that he was right in front of her, she wasn’t sure.

  “No one saw you?” Rhys shucked off jewelry, starting with the crown, and tossed it onto a nearby table. As metal clattered onto wood, Kai put one hand to her own neck, touching the thin, gold chain of his necklace. Almost a week they’d been together, and she still hadn’t told him she had it.

  Ashem scowled. “Of course not.”

  Rhys held up a stone that looked like a fat, orange egg with fire inside. “Seren is back. She presented me with this.”

  Kai thought she saw sympathy flash across Ashem’s face. She studied the stone. “What is it?”

  Rhys weighed the egg in his palm. “It’s her latest vision. It’s my duty to watch it, so I know what might be coming.” He closed his fingers and dropped the stone in his pocket. “You two are staying here tonight?”

  Ashem gave a short nod. “Ffion is outside, but she should rest. I’ll keep watch.”

  “What?” Juli sat up, white-blond hair in crazy tufts around her head. “No, you won’t. You’ve just flown across half the globe!”r />
  A silent argument ensued. Apparently, Ashem won, because Juli made an angry sound. He scooped her off the couch and into his arms. “Juliet will sleep in one of the extra bedrooms.”

  “She’s right, Ashem.” Rhys stood in the doorway, tall and pale, and Kai realized he was ready to drop. “You need sleep. I’ll get someone else. Someone from the Invisible.”

  “No. As long as you want her to be a secret—” he jerked his head at Kai “—we can only trust the vee.”

  Kai crossed her arms. “The vee is you, Rhys, Deryn, Evan and Ffion. Two of those five people have to be guarded. One is pregnant. The other two just got back from a several-thousand-mile flight.”

  Ashem shrugged. “Cadoc will be back, once he finds out how to break the curse. And Morwenna.” He shot a significant look at Rhys. “Until then, we do what we must.” He headed for the door.

  With a gesture, Rhys extinguished the fire in the fireplace and produced a ball of bright golden flame that hung just above his shoulder. Kai felt his magic like distant heat, as if the rays of the sun moved, weaving in and out of each other, creating patterns she couldn’t follow.

  “Are you coming?” he asked.

  After a moment of hesitation, Kai nodded, trailed after him back to the moonlit atrium. The room smelled like nothing she’d ever experienced, fresh water and stone mixed with the faint tang of the sea and the not-unpleasant musk of dragon. On the staircase that led from the white island to an upper level, Rhys fell back to walk beside Kai. “I...assume you’re tired?”

  The heartswearing bond tugged at her, filled her with longing. I assume we could make out right now if you didn’t scare me half to death. Also if I didn’t need to shower. “Yeah.”

  “This is the way to the bedrooms.” He nodded up the stairs.

  “Oh. Good.” Kai wondered if he expected her to share his bedroom, not daring to examine the emotions the thought stirred too closely.