Blaze Ignites (Scourge Survivor Series Book 1)

by J. L. Madore

  But the Highbornes. . .

  I focused on calming breaths. Dear gods, they were buff! Broad shoulders tapered toward washboard stomachs any woman would kill to rake her body down. Forget six-packs, these guys had eight, and their muscles rippled and flexed with every move. They lounged waist deep, the indent of their hips disappearing below the dark surface.

  I regarded Galan, shamefaced. His split lip looked better with the blood washed away, but not much. Considering his feelings about my affinity I hadn't offered to heal it. "I'm sorry I lost my temper this morning. Are you all right?"

  Galan ran dripping hands over his head, smoothing back his silver hair until it almost disappeared against his scalp. "I shall do." In a lazy dive, he submerged himself and I couldn't help notice how stunningly tight and smooth his backside was.

  A warm hand fell on my shoulder from behind. "Not that you would believe it, Jade, however, Galan is well regarded as one of the sweetest males amongst the females of our village." Tham squeezed my arm and then swished his hands below the surface of the water.

  "You're right, I don't."

  "Fair enough." Tham nodded. "Regretfully, you have yet to see his true character."

  "So, how is it I inspire such disdain?"

  Tham's smile looked hopelessly apologetic. "You are a strong, outspoken female . . . with magic abilities and his mood was already foul."

  "You mean there's something or someone other than me that makes him this miserable?"

  Tham looked over my shoulder and I winced.

  "Yes." Galan grumbled, from behind me. "Surprise. Not everything is about you."

  "I know that." I inhaled deeply and pushed my hair out of my face. "It's just . . . I can't seem to do anything right when it comes to you."

  Galan inclined his head to Tham who nodded and waded off to join the others. Galan gestured to the rock wall of the pool. "Would you care to sit?"

  My minded flooded with erotic images of him sitting naked on the rocks beside me. Heat flushed from my cheeks to my belly to my core. "Um, no, I'm good thanks." I stepped backwards, letting the water creep further above my bra.

  Galan tilted his head and looked down at me. "When my questing age arrived ten years past, to my father's horror and my community's amazement, I opted not to quest. Technically, I was within my rights. A Highborne's transition to adulthood occurs within a ten-year period. We can embrace our station any time within that frame. Most Highbornes," he shook his head, "all, in truth, count the hours until they are eligible to delve into the world of responsibility. I did not. Had I the choice. . ." He nipped his lip and stared at the white-water cascading down the falls.

  I thought back to some of the comments we'd heard in the vision of the Ambar Lenn ceremony. "It's a woman, right? You didn't want to leave her?"

  He smiled. "Two actually."

  "Two?"

  I don't know what my expression betrayed, but he laughed. The sound was soft and enchanting. "Lia, is the sun of my universe and Nyssa, the strength of my soul. Nyssa, my dearest friend save Tham, is with young and could bear at any time. While I am away, she might well perish. I may miss the opportunity to wish her well in the afterlife."

  "Has she had problems with her pregnancy?"

  He paled. "Highborne females perish more oft than not when bearing young. It is a curse which makes the blessing of progeny a double-edged sword. The loss of the mother and often the babe weighed against the natural need to procreate."

  "When is she due?" He stared at me blank faced. "When are you expecting the young?"

  "Oh verily, any moment."

  I nodded. "Okay, so you're worried about your friend, what about Lia?"

  "Lia." Galan rubbed at his chest, his gaze searching the stars. "Lia is the air in my lungs. I need to be near her, to love her, to provide for her." My gut knotted. I didn't know why his involvement with someone would upset me as much as it did. I only met him yesterday.

  His face twisted into a perfect crooked smile as he sighed. "My sire is not a kind male and in my absence, there will be no buffer between his cruel bitterness and her unsullied joy."

  "Can't she take care of herself?"

  Galan looked shocked. "She is but five decades and nine."

  "She's fifty-nine years old and you think you need to protect her? How old are you?"

  "One century-ten. That is why I must now enter adulthood."

  Huh, I would have guessed thirty-two. "Well, I'm twenty-five and can take care of myself. I'm sure Lia will be fine. Maybe if you aren't there to smother her with your love and protection she'll stand up for herself. It might be good for her." The icy snip in my voice was obvious. What the hell was with me?

  Anger filled his gaze as his scowl deepened. "I do not smother her, and how would our sire striking out at her with forked tongue be good for her?"

  Our sire? Huh, Lia is his sister.

  A flash of all-things-male hurtling off the rocks had me ducking. Tham cannonballed between Galan and me, sputtering as he surfaced. "Aust wishes to get back. The animals are restless and the wind is picking up. A storm is coming."

  We waded to where the clothes lay on the outer rim of the pool. Lexi and Aust were dressing when Tham called out. "Another mysterious brand. Is this a Talon mark as well?"

  Lexi glanced down at the small dragon tattooed on her hip. "No, this is one Jade and I both had done when we turned twenty-one."

  Tham snickered doing his wet dog impression again and sprayed water over everyone. Grabbing his tunic, he patted his face and tossed the other one to Galan. "Is yours the same, Jade?" he asked, lacing the front of his pants.

  I hadn't made it out of the water yet and was wondering how I was going to get leather pants over wet legs in mixed company while they were eyeing me for my dragon tattoo. Galan must have taken my hesitation for modesty because he held open his tunic as I stepped out of the water and shrugged it around my shoulders. Gods, it was chamois soft and smelled like . . . him. Suede and sunshine.

  "Thank you," I said, distracted by the mercurial shifts in his moods.

  "A basic courtesy, naught more." He turned his back and walked away.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Sitting fireside, I held my shaky palms to the meagre but determined flames and willed myself to tighten up. I felt icy inside. Frozen. Just minutes after Aust had us tucked under a rocky overhang to wait out the violent storm he predicted, it spiralled, thundered and then pelted down. The rainstorm, persistent and loud, made conversation impossible. It left the five of us to stand in the darkness alone with our thoughts. I hadn't enjoyed the company.

  Then, an hour later, the crack of lightning had ceased, as though the Fates had gotten bored with their games and shut off the faucet from the heavens. The trip back from the grotto was long and miserable. Goosebumps covered my flesh. The day's warmth had fled and left me stripped to the bare bones.

  Tham shifted around the fire and used a stick to pluck out his third wide leaf bundle from the embers. The dozen little packages were stuffed with roasted fish and greens and filled the smoky air with the scent of fish-fry. Aust stepped away to check on the animals, while Galan tossed more wood on the struggling fire.

  Unknown to him, though it hissed with a vengeance, his fire had no choice but to succumb to my affinity. I needed heat and slowly it rose from a lick of smoking amber to the crackling of golden flames. Tugging at the brambles stuck in my hair, I hoped I didn't scare off any neighbouring wildlife. Or maybe it was better if I did.

  "So," Tham said, lifting another piece of fish to his mouth, "you have people who keep house and cook for you whenever you hunger?"

  I nodded. "Brownies usually, they love to clean and care for people and we've got a whole castle full of students, instructors and guests."

  "And they are great at it," Lexi said. "Fabulous cooks too."

  "You could use their aid at your cottage," Aust chuckled rejoining the group. "Tham is fortunate to have a path from the entryway to his bed chamber to meditate."


  "Mhmph." Tham huffed, swallowing his mouthful of food. "Not all of us have perfect home lives. Some of us have been forced to make do."

  Aust paused, and for a brief moment looked unexpectedly hurt. He reached for Faolan's scruff. "Apologies, brother mine. I meant no—"

  "No apologies." Tham tossed Aust a strange pink fruit and shrugged. "I like my cottage. Everything is where I can see it. If I want something, I know where and how it lies. Servants might snigger the whole system."

  "I couldn't imagine living without the staff," Lexi said. She handed me a fish bundle and tossed Naith his nightly bone. He snatched it out of the air and trotted over beside the tent to gnaw it in private.

  "It must have been difficult for your ancestors." I steadied my dinner leaf on my lap and cut the vine binding it closed with my dagger. "Insulating themselves in this valley after living their lives, productive and vital in the royal palace. They gave up magical abilities, their home and positions in the realm. I'm not sure I could do it."

  Galan raised his gaze to the stars and shook his head. After a moment, he strode to stand over me, an unattractive crease between his brows. "For a woman who claims of making us welcome, you are ever determined to insult. It was never a choice to give up those things. We were exiled. Cast out. Thrown away and forgotten."

  "I wasn't trying to insult you, Galan. I was merely pointing out—"

  "Yes." His hand cut through the air. "Pointing out what hollow lives we lead when held up against the productive, vital existence of you and yours."

  "That's not what I—"

  He was in my face then, and for once, his icy blue eyes weren't icy. They were burning hot and furious. "What right have you to spout sanctimonious judgment on how we, the poor displaced Highbornes, live? You know naught of our lives."

  He scrubbed both hands through his hair. "Should we bow to you for the chance to live in your realm? Are we so pathetic we should grovel for your wisdom and hospitality? What, pray tell, would we ever do without—uggh!"

  Galan groaned as his feet were torn from the ground and his body reeled and soared across the clearing. The air hissed from his lungs as his head cracked against the packed earth. My seven-hundred-pound ebony panther landed over him. The resonant bass of Naith's growl rumbled deep and low, filling the camp.

  Galan froze, pinned to the ground as ivory fangs tightened around his neck.

  Aust leapt into the mix and his expression blanked out. I bit my lip and waited until his gaze refocused. "Galan, Naith is protective toward his mistress. Jade needs to be treated with more respect."

  Galan was in no position to argue. The tensile strength of a normal-sized jungle cat's jaws would crush his windpipe without effort. Naith was twice that or more. "Apologies," he rasped. "My behaviour was uncalled for and my tone unbefitting a gentlemale." His strained whisper was barely audible from the forest floor. At Aust's nod my mount released Galan's throat and prowled over to rub against me.

  Once on his feet, Galan massaged the four pink welts on his throat. His temper was still boiling. I could sense it, right under the surface. "I may have misspoken, Jade, and I do apologize for my tone, however, you need not lecture me on sacrifice and suffering. You, who know the privileges of royalty, living in your castle, catered to by servants. You, who is doted on by a father who believes you hung the moon and likely a mother who adores you as well. Your opinions on suffering can be kept to yourself."

  I heard, rather than felt my breath escape. Without looking down, I was sure a wrecking-ball had plowed into my gut. The fire that stoked my body's warmth through the trials of life snuffed and left me colder than ever. "I . . . uh, if you'll excuse me." I strode, numb, into the tent and just made it to my pallet before my knees gave away.

  "You pretentious prick!" Lexi's voice outside the tent was cutting. I wasn't surprised to hear the crack of a fist hitting what I guessed was Galan's face. Lexi wasn't one to hold her temper where her family was concerned. I almost felt bad for him as I heard another punch land and the dull hiss of a man getting the wind knocked out of him. Almost. Not quite.

  "Your Elven logic has Jade's life of privilege all figured out, eh? Well fuck-you-very-much for your opinion!" Boots shuffled and paced. Lexi was a hellcat and was probably fighting the urge to take a running leap at Galan. When she continued, her voice was strained and tight.

  "When Jade was seven years old, a party of Scourge crested the ridge above her family farmhouse. Warhorses thundered down the slope, their riders armed to the teeth. With no time to flee, Jade's mother raced her to the barn and shoved her into a root cellar under the barn floor. Jade was terrified, but her mother didn't have time to comfort her or even tell her that she loved her. She pushed her little girl into the damp room and cast an enchantment immobilizing her until the danger passed. After sealing the trap door and hiding it with loose straw, Jade was left alone in the dark."

  Inside the tent, I lay on my pallet, pulling to draw air into lead lungs. My chest was tight. I forced my breath to steady. This was history. It happened a long time ago. Unwanted images replayed in my mind as Lexi told the tale and I had no choice but to watch.

  "After her father's belly had been Ginsued, the raiders wrapped his intestines around his throat and strangled him on their porch. Then, the Scourge scum came for the women. Jade heard the soldiers ask her mother over and over again. 'Where's the girl?' Jade wanted to answer. She wanted to stop them from hurting her mother. It didn't happen. Every horrified scream that ripped from her mother's soul filled Jade's ears. Every plea for mercy seared into her heart. She was powerless, trapped in a nightmare. She prayed for her mother's screams to stop. They did. After the Scourge cut out her tongue."

  My knees came up to my chest as I fought the blackness washing over me. Not this time. I closed my eyes and prayed to Castian for strength. His response was instant. An otherworldly sense of peace seeped into my body, warmed me as it spread, distanced me from the memories. I inhaled deep and recited my life's mission.

  Track down the five. Save those I can. Never let it happen again.

  Six raiders had been killed that day, five had escaped. I'd tracked down and taken the lives of three of them, as was my right by law, and would one day uncover the last two from whatever dank rock they were hiding under. That vow warmed me. Enough that I could hear Lexi's words without the fall-apart.

  "Locked below the torture, rank male sweat filled Jade's nostrils. The Scourge got a workout, stripping her mother, beating and raping her over and over again. And where was little Jade as they each took their turn? Sitting as close as I stand to you now, unable to wipe the blood from her face as it ran through the barn floorboards, unable to scream, knowing her parents were as good as dead. . ."

  I remembered my mother's throaty cries falling silent the moment the barn door shattered. An unearthly bellow of a beast echoed through the building. Guttural sounds of fighting . . . flesh tearing . . . men dying. I pinched my eyes tight and breathed deep. The next memory I had before everything went black was Reign tucking me under his duster and wrapping his arms around me.

  When Lexi spoke next, her voice was a whisper. "When Reign found her she was catatonic, lost inside her own mind. She trembled uncontrollably for weeks, was mute for months, and unable to perform the most basic tasks. Each and every morning Reign carried her from her bath where he washed her, to their table where he fed her, to his office where he sat her in the sun of the window seat like a lifeless porcelain doll. Between meetings, Reign would read to her while she stared unseeing out the window. She says she followed the sound of his voice through the darkness and eventually found her way to him. That is why Reign dotes on her."

  Lexi's voice moved closer to the entrance of the tent. "Jade Elizabeth Glaster was not born of privilege, Highborne. She was forged from an iron necessity to survive. If you think that living all snug in your valley with daddy being mean to you and having to leave your sister for a week is suffering, think again." There was a long pause. "An
d the next time you see my sister you better be on your fucking knees apologizing or you'll feel the sting of how lethal I am when I try to hurt someone."

  Lexi's footfalls were slow as she stepped inside the tent. After wiping my tears, I closed my eyes. I would figure it all out, one day, and when I did . . . I would get my justice. The shuffling of movement stopped outside my room and waited. When I didn't call her in she retreated to her room on the other side of the tent.

  Later, after everything was quiet, one of the Highbornes left camp.

  CHAPTER NINE

  'Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you might have to eat them.' Reign had said that since the four of us were kids. Its wisdom gave me no pleasure the following morning. When I threw back the tent flap and stepped out, Galan was waiting, rubbing the palms of his hands down the front of his suede pants. Seeing me, he took a knee and bowed his head. He looked awful. The black and green shiner Lexi had given him last night now accented the split lip from our sparring match and the purple bags under his eyes.

  "Jade," he said, looking up at me, "there are no words to express my regret. My callous words struck a blow not only to you, but to the honor of your family as well. It is unforgiveable. In hopes to begin making amends, I offer you my most sincere apology." He reached into the fold of his tunic and pulled out a small wooden box. It sat in the palm of his hand, my name carved in an intricate flourish of Elven script across the lid.

  "It's beautiful Galan, but I can't accept it."

  As I turned he caught my wrist. "Verily, I have no right to ask your forgiveness and this is a meagre token to repair the insult I inflicted upon, however please—"

  I raised my hands and shook my head. "I can't."