Fanning the Flames

by Chris Cannon

  “Yes, but if you’d like to talk privately with your grandmother, I could go visit with another table.”

  Maybe she’d leave out the gory details. “I’m considering releasing Valmont from our bond. He’s been missing his family a lot. Since my marriage contract was approved, he feels like I don’t need him anymore.”

  Lillith blushed. “I have to confess, I suggested to Valmont that after your contract was approved he should bow out of the bond. I’m sorry. I think I was feeling fiercely maternal that day, and I felt the need to protect Jaxon’s future interests.”

  As if Jaxon was interested in her in that manner. “Valmont mentioned that, but it’s not the reason we’re considering breaking the bond now. It seems like our relationship has run its course.”

  “And I could post a guard outside your room,” her grandmother said. “You’d have a lot more privacy.”

  “I don’t need a body guard. I can take care of myself.”

  “You’re the only granddaughter I have. Security will be assigned to you whether you want it or not.”

  “Can it be security that I don’t see and that others don’t see? I don’t want to appear weak.” Holy hell. She really had turned into a Blue.

  Her grandmother sipped her coffee. “When you put it that way…I see your point.”

  On the drive back to Fonzoli’s, Bryn tried to bolster her courage. She could do this. She could set Valmont free to go back to his normal life. He deserved to be happy, though she resented the hell out of the fact that he didn’t think he could be happy with her, and given the chance she’d blast a small non-lethal fireball at his grandmother. That might be immature, but she could only take the high road so far.

  If she could make Ferrin disappear, life with Jaxon wouldn’t be so awful, because it wouldn’t really be life with Jaxon. It would be life with Rhianna and Lillith and Asher, too. Maybe Asher would calm Ferrin down, or at least distract him enough to keep his attention off of her.

  And one thing she knew for sure. Her parents would be welcome in her stupidly large home whether Jaxon felt that way or not. She wished she could speak to her mom. Knowing her parents were out there brightened her depressing life, but that wasn’t the same as having them where she could talk to them or ask for a hug.

  When they pulled up to his grandparents’ house, Bryn heard laughter and loud voices. It sounded like Valmont’s lunch was ongoing. Should she go back to school and leave him here? A knot of unease grew inside of her. She wanted to say good-bye…not that she really wanted to do it, but she needed some sort of closure.

  “Instead of releasing him, you could tell him you don’t need a bodyguard anymore,” Lillith suggested.

  That sounded a lot less painful, but was it the right thing to do? “What do you think?” Bryn asked her grandmother.

  “Well,” her grandmother pursed her lips like she wasn’t sure what to say. “You have two choices…you can sever ties completely, or you can keep him as your knight until you’re married—with the understanding that he would not have to be your guard 24/7 and he could live in Dragon’s Bluff.”

  Maybe if he was out of her personal space they could move toward being friends. “I guess I should go talk to him and ask him what he wants.” And pray she could avoid crying or blasting him with a fireball while she did it.

  When she knocked on the back door, Megan answered it. Bryn stomped down on her resentment and did her best to fake civility. “Hello, Megan. Can you ask Valmont to come outside for a moment?”

  Disappointment was clear on the girl’s face. “Does he have to leave?”

  “No. I just need to speak with him for a moment.”

  Megan practically bounced with excitement. “Would it be wrong of me to tell you how wonderful I think he is?”

  Bryn imagined shifting and biting the girl’s head off. After a calming breath Bryn said, “No, I’m glad you like him.” LIAR! Her subconscious screamed.

  “I’ll get him for you.” Megan ran off.

  This was totally going to suck, but it was the right thing to do. If he didn’t want her, she didn’t need him.

  Valmont’s smile faded as he came toward her. “Is it time to go?”

  “No. Can you come outside with me for a minute? I think we need to talk.”

  His brow furrowed. “I’m not sure I want to hear what you have to say.”

  “Hear me out before you object.” She walked over and sat on the porch steps and waited for him to join her. He hesitated, glancing back into the house before joining her.

  “We have two choices. I can release you or you could remain my knight, but do it from a distance. You can stay here and live your life… Be happy with your family. If I need you, I’ll call.”

  Valmont frowned.

  “I am trying to be the bigger person. And like you said before, our relationship might not have turned in the direction it did if you weren’t living with me. I’d like to think we can be friends, once I no longer want to set Megan’s hair on fire.”

  Valmont grabbed her hand, sliding his warm fingers between hers. The familiar gesture shredded Bryn’s resolve. Her chest ached. She closed her eyes to try and stem the tide of tears.

  “I’m sorry about all of this,” Valmont said. “I never meant to hurt you.”

  She couldn’t talk without crying or setting something on fire, so she just nodded and exhaled smoke as the taste of ash filled her mouth.

  “I can follow you back in my car and pack my things,” he said.

  Focusing on snow, she tamped down the fire inside of her. “Unless there’s something you need immediately, I’d rather mail it to you.”

  “You could come visit me in a few days and bring my stuff,” Valmont said.

  “I might need more than a couple of days to get past this,” Bryn said. “Right now I’m practicing my Blue dragon social skills, pretending to be fine with all of this, but I’m not. So a visit will have to wait.”

  “You can’t avoid me forever,” Valmont said. “You like Fonzoli’s food too much.”

  She laughed, and it came out as a half sob. Why had she thought this was the right thing to do? And why did the right thing have to hurt so much?

  “You’ll always be my dragon,” Valmont said.

  She almost said, You’ll always be my knight. But that was a big fat lie.

  Some day in the not too far off future, she’d become a Westgate, and now that he was no longer required to be her bodyguard, he’d go back to being a waiter. He deserved to live his life with the family he loved…find a normal girl who could make him happy. All of these random thoughts led her to one sad conclusion. “Valmont, I release you from our bond.”

  He gasped like someone had stolen the air from his lungs. She clutched at his hand as her heart constricted and missed a beat. It felt like someone had piled weights on top of her chest. She fought to breathe, and then her body relaxed.

  Dropping her hand he pushed away from her. “Why did you do that?”

  “Better now than a few months from now.” A strange icy calmness flowed over her. “What’s done is done. Take care, Valmont.”

  “Wait.” He undid the scabbard holding the sword etched with fire and ice and held it out to her. “You might have another knight one day, and he’ll need this.”

  Was he trying to be honorable, or was he trying to hurt her? “Keep it as a parting gift. If I ever need it, I’ll know where to find it.”

  Numb. She felt numb as she stood and headed for her grandmother’s SUV. Whoever had come up with that ripping-something-off-like-a-Band-Aid-to-get-it-over-with idea had forgotten to mention that you shredded part of yourself in the process. That’s what it felt like as she climbed into the SUV and the driver headed back to school…like some of her magic or Quintessence had been stripped away.

  “Bryn?” Her grandmother sounded concerned. “Are you all right?”

  “No.” Why should she lie? “I feel like I lost part of myself.”

  Chapter Eighteen

>   Thankfully, both Lillith and her grandmother let her be on the ride back to school. She wasn’t up for one of those, this-was-for-the-best speeches. After hugging her grandmother good-bye, she headed for her dorm.

  Students were outside enjoying the cool crisp weather. Some were sitting in the grass, while others hung out beneath the protective shelters. She took her time walking across campus, putting off the inevitable. When she stood outside her door with the key in the lock, she hesitated. Waiting wouldn’t rewind her life to a happier time, so she went inside and changed into jeans and then called Clint and Ivy and arranged for them to come over, all the while avoiding looking at the closed door to Valmont’s former room.

  Her friends showed up at her terrace window five minutes after she called. Clint carried a bag of candy bars and a box of tissues.

  “I see you came prepared.” Bryn accepted the bag of chocolate and headed for the couch. Not that she wanted to sit on the couch where she’d spent so much time with Valmont, but she needed to suck it up and deal with it.

  “So how did you leave things?” Ivy asked.

  Bryn told her what happened. “Do you think I made the right decision?”

  “I think this was inevitable,” Ivy said. “Maybe it was best to get it over with.”

  “Do you want me to go in his room and pack up his stuff?” Clint offered.

  “Yes, please,” Bryn said. “I was dreading that.”

  “I got this.” Clint headed over to Valmont’s room.

  Bryn ripped the wrapper off a candy bar and ate it in three bites. “Releasing Valmont hurt, but the worst part is that I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not meant to have a boyfriend.”

  “That’s ridiculous. You’ll find someone. Maybe there’s a nice hybrid guy waiting for you at the new settlement.”

  Bryn laughed. “Right. I can see that conversation going really well. Hi, I’m married, but it’s just a business partnership, and I was wondering if you’d like to go grab a cup of coffee.”

  “You never know,” Ivy said. “Maybe things didn’t work out with Valmont because you’re meant to be with someone else.”

  Her friend was being far too optimistic, but she was trying to help, so Bryn said, “Maybe.”

  Clint emerged from Valmont’s room carrying a leather-bound journal. “I found something, but I’m not sure if you’ll want to see it.”

  “What is it?” Ivy stood and went over to look at the open pages of the book. “Oh…” was all she said.

  Not good. “What is it? A love letter to Megan?”

  “No,” Ivy said. “It looks like Valmont was writing down the pros and cons of your relationship.”

  “Let me guess, his main issues were his family, the bond, us being different species, his honor, and my arranged marriage to Jaxon.”

  Ivy nodded. “Pretty much.”

  “So what’s in the plus column?” There had better be a few pros or she was going to be pissed.

  “There’s just one thing,” Ivy turned the book to face her.

  In Valmont’s neat script it said, I love her.

  Bryn breathed through the tidal wave of pain that crashed over her, keeping her tear ducts under control. “And yet that wasn’t enough.”

  Ivy handed her a candy bar. “At the moment, this is the only help I can give you.”

  Bryn leaned back in her seat and stared up at the ceiling. “I don’t understand how a relationship that felt so right could go so wrong.” Something dropped from the ceiling and landed on her bottom lip. Instinctively she spit and wiped at her mouth. “What the heck?” As if she needed this day to get any worse.

  “What was that?” Ivy asked.

  “Probably some rare spider that’s going to make my lips swell up like balloons.” She went to the bathroom and washed off her face. She even brushed her teeth for good measure. When she went back into the living room, she pointed at the shoulders of Clint’s black shirt. “Either you’ve developed a case of dandruff in the last few minutes or something is shaking this building.”

  Raised voices could be heard in the dorm rooms and from the hallway. “What’s going on?” Bryn opened her door and saw half a dozen students with the same clueless looks on their faces. They weren’t going to be any help.

  Ivy headed toward the terrace window. “My instincts say if a building is shaking, it’s time to leave for more steady ground.”

  “Agreed.” Bryn followed her friends out on the terrace, shifted, and launched herself into the sky. From this vantage point, she couldn’t see anything unusual. Scratch that. There was a line of people at the back gate waiting to check in at the guard station. Maybe a bunch of students had gone to Dragon’s Bluff for dinner.

  “What are you doing?” A Blue flew toward her. Jaxon’s face flashed across his dragon features. “You shouldn’t be out in the open like this.”

  “But you’re out here,” Bryn said.

  “I’m not sightseeing. Rhianna and I are on our way to the library to find out what’s going on. Come with us.”

  It’s not like she had a better plan, so she aimed for the library and dove. Her friends followed.

  And that’s when they heard the screaming and the roaring. Bryn whipped around and tried to make sense of what she saw. Dragons were bursting from the ground like water from a geyser. Multi-colored dragons emerged from the ripped-open green spaces. Dragons with both Black and Red scales flew next to dragons who had Orange and Green scales. There were more color combinations than Bryn had ever dreamed possible.

  “They must have tunneled in,” Jaxon said.

  Any student in human form shifted. Enemy dragons attacked, dive bombing the students.

  A Black dragon with Red scales flew at Bryn. Nola’s features flashed across the dragon’s face. “I’ve been waiting for this day,” Nola sucked in a breath and blasted lightning at Bryn.

  Bryn tucked her wings and dove, avoiding the lightning and blasting Nola’s left wing with fire. Jaxon blasted her other wing with ice, and Nola dropped toward the ground, with her underbelly exposed.

  “It’s your kill,” Jaxon said.

  “No.” Bryn flew away from Nola. “No one has to die.”

  “You’re wrong,” Nola roared, flexing her wing and shaking off the ice. “It’s past your time to die.”

  A Red guard swooped in and bit down on Nola’s neck, ripping the flesh and sending copper scented blood spatter through the air. Why is this happening?

  As Nola’s body dropped, the Red turned to Bryn. “This is war. Fight, or get out of our way.”

  A siren sounded and reverberated off the walls of the buildings. A little late for a warning. Now what? Clint and Ivy were nowhere to be seen. Bryn panicked.

  “Down here,” Ivy shouted.

  Bryn whipped around to see Ivy and Clint treading air, near the entrance to the library. Should they shift and go inside?

  Red guards poured onto the field of battle. Where were they coming from? And that’s when Bryn saw it. They were streaming out of the Orange dragon’s dorm—a dorm where students no longer lived. Her grandfather must have snuck hundreds of Red dragons onto campus and housed them there, waiting for an attack. And here it was.

  Something smacked into Bryn’s back, sending her tumbling end over end toward the ground. A Green with Blue scales had blasted her with an icy wind. She righted herself and shot fire at the enemy.

  “You chose the wrong side, Bryn.” The dragon taunted her as he dodged her flames. “Today the Directorate’s reign of oppression ends.”

  Jaxon roared and dove at the Rebel dragon, aiming for its neck. He bit down and tore at the hybrid’s flesh, just like the guard had done. Another hybrid darted in, aiming for Jaxon. Bryn dove to intercept the enemy, but she was too late. Rhianna flew between the hybrid and Jaxon, blasting ice at the attacker.

  Going too fast to slow down, the attacker twisted and came in talons first, digging into Rhianna’s flank and slashing her side open. Blood gushed from Rhianna’s wounds as sh
e roared in pain and fell toward the ground. Time seemed to slow down as something that looked like red rope bulged from the wound and slid out, hitting the ground before the rest of her body followed with a sickening thump. Dead. Rhianna was dead. Sweet, innocent Rhianna was dead. And for that, someone would pay.

  Bryn dove at the attacker, talons extended and blasting fire. She managed to grab a portion of his wing and ripped through it, shredding the membrane. He roared in pain and struggled to stay aloft as she bit down on the joint that attached his wing to his body. Jaxon slammed into his back, driving him to the ground. Bryn stared in fascinated horror at the piece of wing she still held.

  Jaxon’s roar of anger drowned out the hybrid’s cries of pain as Jaxon eviscerated him. Bryn flew to Rhianna, hoping maybe she’d been wrong, but Rhianna lay still and unbreathing.

  Pain blossomed in Bryn’s chest, or maybe that was fire waiting to be released. She launched herself into the air and searched for someone to take out her rage on. Reds had overwhelmed most of the Rebels. There seemed to be a take-no-prisoners policy. The guards fought without mercy, leaving bloody limbs and corpses in their wake. How had it come to this?

  Students had shifted back to human form and were gathered behind a protective line of Red guards in front of the library. Bryn spotted Clint and Ivy among them. Should I shift and go join them? A roar of agony made her spin around. Jaxon crouched next to Rhianna, covering her body with his wings like he could somehow protect her.

  Taking care not to startle him, Bryn landed near to him, offering silent support because there was nothing else she could do.

  A medic Bryn didn’t recognize arrived in human form. “Shift back,” she ordered.

  Bryn did as she asked.

  “Are you injured?” the medic asked.

  “Nothing serious.” She had a few deep gashes, but nothing life threatening. She placed her hand on Jaxon’s flank, which was slick with blood. “Shift back so she can treat you.”

  “What about Rhianna?” Jaxon retracted his wings.

  The medic looked down at Rhianna’s body. “I can shift her, but I cannot bring her back.”

  The air around Jaxon shimmered as he changed to human form. His shirt was shredded and soaked with blood. Bryn couldn’t tell crimson cloth from shredded skin. His breathing was labored.