Forged from Flame

by Kasey Mackenzie

  Breena turned a glare on me. “Of course we are. What is it this time?”

  “Well, to make a long story as short as possible, both your son and Riku are hybrid Mindbenders like me—although they say not as powerful. And apparently Colin is too weak of a Dragon to be able to help buffer the magic of a twin childbirth.”

  Her expression softened just slightly, no doubt as she remembered the ordeal of her own twin childbirth. “Meaning he can’t bond with Bianca.”

  “Exactly. On the plus side, he’s not actually suffering from the wildness himself. But this means we need to line up a replacement Dragon ASAP.”

  Breena’s gaze sharpened as she recognized the implication in my voice. “And you have one in mind?”

  Jake made a very rude noise and shoved his hands into his pockets. I pointedly ignored him and prepared for the coming storm. “You’re all well aware that there’s a current lack of appropriate Dragons who are old enough, strong enough, and currently unmated among our Clan or Isaac’s Freeholders. There’s only one fitting our requirements who we have access to and who I may be able to convince to help. Especially since I can offer him freedom from any future mind-control tricks on my biological father’s part.”

  Breena’s suddenly narrowed eyes so closely resembled Jake’s earlier expression that I knew he’d come by it honest. “You can’t possibly be thinking of the man I think you are.”

  This time Jake couldn’t resist chiming in. “Oh yes she can. Despite the idea’s sheer lunacy.”

  I punched him none-too-gently in the arm, earning a glare that matched my own. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jake.”

  “It’s not you I lack faith in, sweetheart. There is no way we can ever trust that lying, murdering, poaching son of a—”

  My mouth dropped open. “Whoa, so that’s what this is about? You’re pissed that he might have tried to kill you so he could bond me more than anything else he did? I would never bond that man, and you should damned well trust me where he’s concerned!”

  “So he’s not good enough for you, but he is for Bianca?”

  Now he was just being contrary. “I’m not an unbonded Phoenix with twins due in a few short months, Jacob Shan Zi.” My use of his full name had even his mother wincing. I turned back to her. “As you guessed, my proposal is that we revive Keith from wherever you actually stashed him—I’m guessing immersed in water somewhere—to see whether he’ll help. We will not be trusting him on his own merits. I’ll liegebond him to ensure he can’t be manipulated but also to ensure he can’t betray us.”

  Breena opened her mouth to argue, but Ju Hai broke in. “You know that I Foretold she would have more liegesworn, Breena. I didn’t know who exactly, but one was definitely a Dragon with a shadowed past. Someone who seemed familiar to us all but not exactly loved.”

  Breena rolled her eyes at me, refusing to look directly at the woman who’d kept so many secrets from her own Quatrain. “A liegebond doesn’t mean he could never betray you. It would just make it a lot more difficult and painful. Especially for the first few months of the bond.” Her expression grew both surprised and impressed when she suddenly made the logical leap. “But we only need him alive and well until Bianca gives birth.”

  “Exactly. And by then we’ll know whether he’s worth redeeming and whether he can be trusted.”

  “Or whether he can resume his little swim with the fishes,” Rhianne said with a smirk, earning an actual amused look from Jake for the first time since I’d mentioned my brilliant plan.

  “Now you’ve caught on!” I praised with a big, wolfish smile.

  Jake crinkled his brow and looked at me thoughtfully. “You really don’t care whether he serves your father willingly or not. You’ll kill him again if necessary.”

  “Without hesitation.”

  He gave a firm nod. “All right then, what have we got to lose? We’ll have the liegebond and guards on him 24/7 to help keep him in line.”

  My sister got into the spirit of things. “And we can always trap him inside one of Cass’s firewalls if ever in doubt. Or if all of his guards need to focus their attention elsewhere at once.”

  Jake frowned and opened his mouth, but then nodded in realization. “In case of outside attack.”

  She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, we can’t just trust him not to backstab us at the first opportunity when Garrett makes his next move.”

  Breena and Wen exchanged glances before conferring briefly with his parents’ Quatrain. Then Wen—Breena pointedly moved toward us to put distance between them—consulted with Ju Hai. The Selkie shot Breena a wistful look and then murmured to her bondbrother. Moments later, Wen stepped next to his wife and nodded at me.

  “Ju Hai confirms that greater danger lies in keeping Bianca unbonded. She could be recaptured by Garrett more easily or both she and the children perish. Either of those outcomes increases our chances of defeat.”

  I nodded, letting out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “I assume you relocated Keith nearby.”

  Breena’s lips twitched, and she nodded toward the lake sparkling in the summer sun. “Closer than you might think.”

  That actually surprised me. “You dumped his body into your own lake? Right in our backyard?” And then kept it secret from me for months.

  “Where better to keep an eye on him? We couldn’t risk just anyone stumbling across him.”

  My mouth dropped open as puzzle pieces clicked into place. “You have him back there as bait for Garrett!”

  Her lip twitching turned to an outright smirk. “In part,” she admitted. “That was really the main reason we agreed to your sentimental request to keep him revivable.”

  I had wondered about that, but she was dead wrong about one thing. “Just to be clear, I didn’t want him revivable out of misplaced sympathy. He is one of my few sources of information on my mother—and just as important, her Clan; which I someday hope to find. But even more important, he knows more about his cousin than anyone else. Garrett’s history, his preferences, his usual strategies, his strengths, and most especially his weaknesses.”

  Dia clapped me approvingly on the back. “That’s my girl. Now you’re thinking like the liegelord we all need.”

  I swayed as her hand lightly slapped my back, and her eyes widened in concern—as did Jake’s. At which point they hustled me off to sleep in my own bed, leaving everyone else to prepare for a revival that could wait until the next day. And for an overjoyed Clan to, even if only temporarily, welcome back two of their own. The reckoning of secret-keeping could also wait for another day…

  Midmorning sunlight woke me the next day, revealing that I’d slept through supper and whatever celebrating of Colin’s and Riku’s miraculous return the Clan may have got up to the evening before. It also revealed that Jake was nowhere to be seen; not in our master bedroom, bathroom, or open floorplan living room and kitchen area. I shrugged philosophically while chugging a Dr. Pepper to get my caffeine fix and then made myself as presentable as possible.

  Jake hadn’t left me completely unprotected. My two siblings sat with Liam and Rhianne on our spacious front porch. Nic and Liam looked awfully cozy on our two-person porch swing, while Dia and Rhianne were bonding over celebrity gossip magazines, of all things.

  All four glanced up as I stepped out onto the porch and took a deep, appreciative breath. A lifelong city dweller—not counting my being born in a rural cave outside Hannibal, Missouri or my adoptive parents owning a summer home in another rural Missouri locale—I’d never expected to love living in the country as much as I did. The combination of fresh, unspoiled outdoor air typically only disturbed by animal calls or birdsong relaxed me in a way that only scientific study or curling up in the bathtub with a good book had once done.

  “Good morning,” I said after taking another bracing breath. “Did everyone survive the night as well as I did?”

  Rhianne and Dia snickered, seeming to be forming a friendship already. That combination cou
ld prove dangerous for everyone else’s peace of mind, although I also found it endearing since they were quickly becoming two of my favorite people. It would be lovely if Dia and Nic continued integrating so smoothly with the Clan. That thought had my gaze moving on to Liam and Nic, a tiny frown marring my features. Despite our recent uneasy truce, I still wasn’t sure where Jake and I stood with the mercurial Liam. Even if Colin had proven neither dead nor innocent as the lamb his brother had misjudged him to be. Was Jake’s kid brother making romantic overtures to my baby brother? Would he callously break Nic’s heart? Liam had proclaimed himself to be far from the committing kind, and he likely had decades before he’d have to worry about the wildness.

  You act like you actually have a choice in what they do either way, I scolded myself. Given that people had to be free to make their own choices—and that I had sworn to never use my position as liegelord lightly—there really was nothing I could do. Except be there to support Nic no matter the outcome. Assuming I wasn’t misreading the two men’s vibes.

  “Everyone survived just fine,” Rhianne finally said, rising to her feet and tossing her magazine on a table next to the porch swing. “There are too many threats to Clan safety right now for them to kill each other. But I think we all know Mom’s gonna have it out with Ju Hai when things calm down.”

  I glanced from her to Liam, whose eyes were glittering a little too much for anyone’s comfort. “The same way I assume your generation will be having it out with Colin.”

  Liam’s lips curved in a smile that wasn’t actually amused. I couldn’t help but shiver and be glad I wasn’t in Colin’s shoes. “Yes, well, we four raised together in the same century will most definitely have a discussion at some point. For now, however, we have other items to concern us.”

  “Speaking of which,” Rhianne broke in. “They’ve got everything set up back at the farmhouse. We’re supposed to bring you there now that you’re awake.”

  My stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, something that once would have embarrassed me. Now it was just one more price demanded by magic; and not an overly bad one. It turned out that I loved to eat, now that I didn’t give a damn what anyone else thought about what I shoveled into my perennially hungry face.

  Dia snickered. “Don’t worry, Firebird. We brought donuts.”

  “Lots and lots of donuts,” Nic echoed. “And we can get you the biggest Dr. Pepper you’ve seen if you need it.”

  I stuck out my tongue big sister style. “I already had my Dr. Pepper fix, thank you very much. Now lead me to the donuts and no one needs to get hurt.”

  Liam reached down beside him and then shook a brown paper bag with a deliciously crinkly sound. “You can walk and eat at the same time, right?”

  “No, Liam, I can only chew gum while walking.” More snickers from everyone. “The sooner you hand over the donuts, the sooner we can leave.”

  “Yeah, Liam,” Rhianne said mockingly. “Stop holding up the show. We don’t have time to waste.”

  His only response was to roll his eyes and toss the bag at me. Fortunately, no donuts were crushed when I caught the bag with a melodramatic gasp. The other four fell in step around me and made small talk among themselves while I chomped on the sugary-sweet goodness. We stepped onto the crushed gravel trail leading from our grouping of cabins, around the lake, along the edge of a cornfield, and then into the farmhouse’s expansive yard. Mild breezes blowing off the nearby lake transformed the relentless August sunshine into something approaching pleasant. They also had the added benefit of sweeping away the donut crumbs gathering on my chin and tank top.

  I was barely listening to the ebb and flow of voices around me, at least until one of them mentioned Keith’s name. That had me coming out of my donut coma and focusing my gaze upon Rhianne.

  “What do you mean they already brought Keith up from the lake? I thought the deal was I got my beauty rest and then we revived him.”

  Rhianne set a placating hand on my arm. “They haven’t revived him yet. They tossed him into one of the horses’ water tanks to keep him on figurative ice until you woke up. But there really wasn’t any point in waiting for you to send Selkies in after him.”

  “Seeing as how I never did get my scuba certification,” I muttered before stuffing another donut in my mouth. There’d been a dozen in the bag to start with and now I was down to half that number. Dia gave the bag a covetous glance, and I hugged it to my body. “Mine!”

  She rolled her eyes but showed superior restraint by not sticking out her tongue at me. “Chill out, Gollum. We already ate donuts and pancakes while you were sleeping.”

  “I love pancakes. Why did nobody bring me pancakes?”

  Liam fielded that complaint. “Because pancakes and syrup are too messy to eat while walking?”

  “Good point,” I magnanimously allowed before moving on to the next donut. He just shook his head in uncharacteristic (when directed toward me) amusement.

  Although initially annoyed to hear they’d started the process without me, I couldn’t fault Rhianne’s logic. She could have watched the retrieval of Keith’s body up close, but I would have had to give up after the demand for oxygen kicked in. It would be a waste of a Selkie’s magical energy to channel enough Water to help me breathe underwater. Although I wondered what I might be able to work out using Spirit, especially if I had Selkies nearby whose abilities I could temporarily borrow…

  Focus! I reprimanded myself, shoving one more donut in my mouth and realizing I’d finally filled the bottomless pit that was now my stomach. I jiggled the bag, peeked inside, and realized there were four more left. In the spirit of sisterly generosity, I offered donuts to the others. They each accepted and dug in with gusto. There were no light or picky eaters among Elementals.

  We skirted the edge of a ginormous cornfield and then turned a corner in the trail that opened into the side yard of the Clan Zi farmhouse. The rambling old building stood as the tallest, silent sentinel among a group of other buildings spread out to the west and north. Eastward lay more fields of corn and other crops, with an occasional fallow field where horses or cattle were allowed to roam. Just south of the farmhouse lay the unnamed lake that, while big, couldn’t hold a candle to the one back at the monastery.

  I blinked when my gaze fell upon the group of people already assembled in the farmhouse’s backyard. It looked like nearly all of the Clanmates currently based out of this location were here. Half of them stood around a jumbo-sized horse tank a couple dozen feet away from the ceremonial circle where I’d liegebonded Bianca and my siblings; where I’d bond Keith in just a short while, if all went smoothly. Which was obviously why so many of our Clanmates had gathered: to help ensure that things went smoothly. For some reason, this had me feeling more nervous rather than less. It felt like we were jinxing ourselves.

  I shook my head at that stupid thought. Whatever was about to happen would happen no matter how many of us were here. Far better to be prepared for trouble rather than caught unprepared. I should have so been a Girl Scout…

  Jake must have noticed our approach, because he broke away from the group around the water tank to intercept us. He didn’t look nearly as well-rested as I finally felt, which had teeny pangs of guilt running through my system, until I reminded myself that I’d been running myself literally ragged the past few weeks. Plus, I’d tried to convince Jake to stay in bed when he tucked me in the night before, but he’d refused my exhausted attempts at persuasion.

  He planted a swift kiss on my lips, giving me the by-now-typical once-over. I must have passed muster, because he gave a satisfied nod before glancing toward the four people ranged around me. “You all remember the game plan?”

  “Yes!” They chorused at the same time I said, “No.” And then, “What game plan? Just how much did you guys decide to do without me last night?”

  Jake tried to placate me with a charming smile and another kiss, but I sidestepped his attempt with a dirty look. “Seriously, Jacob. What game plan?�
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  He winced, a sheepish expression taking over his face. I used his full first name way less often than his mother used his entire name. I liked to think we were both equally fearsome Phoenixes when we did. Although who was I kidding? Mothers were usually way more scary than mere bondmates.

  “You were out like a light all night, sweetheart, and the Selkies agreed it was best to get this done as quickly as possible. They all Foretell a great chance of disaster the longer we wait.”

  That had me blinking. “All of them?”

  He nodded grimly. No wonder Jake looked like he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep the night before. He probably hadn’t. “Even the ones with the weakest skills in Foretelling.”

  Rhianne wiggled her hand in the air. “Like me.”

  My own expression became grim, and I nodded toward the water tank. “Let’s get this show on the road then.”

  Jake’s body relaxed slightly, and he grabbed my hand with one of his own. I laced my fingers through his, drawing comfort from both the physical touch and emotions filtering across our bond. Jake felt worried but resolute, his love and admiration for me outshining all else. That fact both humbled and bolstered me. We could make this work. We would make this work. For all our sakes.

  But especially for my unborn siblings. They deserved the chance of a loving Clan upbringing that Garrett had stolen from the rest of us. I would give my own life to guarantee that, just like my mother had given up hers to grant me a similar chance. At last I understood some of her actions in a way I never had before. And even the actions I could never see myself taking made sense given that she’d been swept up in the wildness that had overtaken her when Keith killed the other half of their Quatrain and Garrett had then forced pregnancy upon her.

  We stepped up to the water tank en masse, and my gaze was immediately drawn to the group of people standing under the two tall oak trees just behind the farmhouse. Si Si stood at the front of the group, with my parents and brothers to each side. All six of them were armed to the teeth with automatic weapons and long knives sheathed at their waists. They looked scarily similar to the human Stalkers and assassins who had attempted to drag me back to Garrett time after time just months before. Even my formerly peace-loving mother appeared fierce and deadly.