Open Flame (Dragon's Fate)

by Lacy Danes

  She removed her hand from his. “I don’t want your element or any of this black magic.” She stood and rushed toward the door. He would not take this back, and she wanted nothing to do with him. Her chest tightened. That was a lie. Her body wanted every bit of him.

  “Fina, when you come back—and you will come back—you will not leave again.”

  That would be easy. She would never return. “I understand.”

  “You are foolish.” Carmen’s voice echoed in her mind. “He will not leave you be. Besides, you need his help. Fire is a deadly foe.”

  She enjoyed his touch…too acutely. If she stayed, she would end up in bed with him for days. A sound mind. A weak body. The memory of the sensation of his finger deep inside her womb weakened her knees as she reached the door. Though sound, a careless mind. Her hand shook as she grasped the door handle to leave this room. She twisted the doorknob and pulled the door wide. Straightening her shoulders, she stepped through to the hall and pulled the door closed behind her. A sigh burst past her lips, but it relieved none of her tension. Her soul said to turn around. She had left his room, but why did she have a feeling her mind never would?

  Madoc stared at the door. He could not leave her alone. If she would not accept his help and guidance, maybe she would accept another’s help.

  Hudson.

  The duke had struggled with his powers. Had wanted to both embrace and resist them. Madness had seeped into his core. Indeed. Hudson would be the key to winning his mate.

  Chapter Four

  Hudson stood with a glass of cognac in his hand at the entrance to the parlor he and Madoc rented. “You wish me to run a servant’s errand?”

  “You have gone through this before. I know you can help her or at least befriend her.” Madoc paced to the side table and then circled about with a package in his hand. “I had this made for her.”

  “She recently departed here, did she not?”

  “Indeed. I stopped time, as she has nothing with her to wear and she burned her sleeves.” A smile curved his lips, and then he shook his head. “I am out of control. I know. The freeze would not have stopped her anyway, but…” Hudson’s friend shook his head again. “She is going to be more powerful than I. Jordan can now breathe poisonous steam, but I have not gained any new abilities. She is changing in ways I am certain are alarming for her.” Madoc shoved the package at Hudson. “I wish Celeste was here. As Jordan’s mate, she is the only one who can really understand what Fina is experiencing. You are the next closest person I know who has transitioned to otherworldly.”

  Hudson grasped the brown-paper-wrapped bundle, then set his glass on the round table. “You ask a fool’s task of me.” A love gesture. Hudson’s heart pinched in his chest as he remembered his wife, Laura.

  “You are my closest friend. I know the struggles you have gone through in your transition, with your love, with the darkness.” He clapped Hudson’s shoulder.

  Hudson cringed. Madoc did not know half of what he had done and gone through. He had no idea what madness he struggled with.

  “Please. I trust you.” Madoc’s tiger-colored eyes met his gaze as he smiled.

  Trust him. That was the last thing anyone should do. Hudson closed his eyes, and his stomach sank. Madoc was his only friend. Jordan, Ferrous and Ilmir, the other Zir brothers, had helped him too.

  But if not for Madoc…

  He would have been killed or cast off of the Isle after they found out about his dealings with the blackness. As it was, he had passed his title off to his eldest son and walked away from his life. If Madoc knew he still owed the blackness, he and his brothers would kill him without hesitation.

  Would he see Laura then?

  He shook his head. No. Going back in time and bringing Laura forward before she became ill was the goal. Winding time back would win him the life of love and happiness he lost. He sighed. His dreams of Laura would not be harmed if he helped Madoc today. Tomorrow, his deal with the blackness would trade this friendship away.

  Madoc’s request came from his heart. Hudson would do whatever he could for his friend. “Very well.”

  “She will have gone back to her hotel. She has no place else.”

  He turned away from Madoc, and the hairs on his nape stood on end. The blackness would not be pleased. He was headed down the path to losing more than his manhood to the dark. But maybe the clock working Madoc designed here at the event with Franco would make his deal with the blackness unnecessary.

  “I will return after I have given her the dress so we can work on the part design.”

  “Capital, Hudson. Many thanks.”

  He couldn’t look at his friend and instead stared at the full swallow of cognac left in his glass on the table. He would do all he could. More alcohol would only muddle things.

  He nodded and stepped around Madoc. Hudson reached the door and twisted the knob. The door latch to the outside world rotated more heavily than usual. The latched clicked open, and he stepped out into his new purpose.

  Chills raced his spine again. He shut the door.

  The darkness in his mind checked his every move.

  His throat tightened. Rushing down the stairs to the lobby, he felt his heart pounding in his cold chest. He needed to feed from a fresh live pig. But where to find one? Nausea flooded his mouth, and icy sweat slicked his neck beneath his cravat.

  A pigeon in the park would have to do.

  He reached the street and wheeled to the left to walk the ten blocks to her hotel. The coldness followed him, nipping at his trousers and the exposed skin about his neck. The darkness. A bird would have to wait. He reeled into an alleyway and spun about. The evening sun peeked over the black mansard roofs and warmed the freshly rained-on walk. Mist rose off the stone.

  “I am here,” Hudson said into the air.

  “So you are, and you are heading towards fire’s mate.” The madness spoke from the corners of his mind.

  “Quite so.” He shifted the package in his grasp.

  “You will warn her away from the fire and bring her to me.” Bitter dampness trailed down his cheek like a finger.

  Hudson closed his eyes. “What will she alone do for you, when you want them all?”

  “I want them all? I need them all. But I must start somewhere. One will do.”

  “You are powerful enough to take them on your own.” The skin around Hudson’s eyes wrinkled, and his fangs extended. He knew he had made this deal, but he did not understand why the onyx mist did not take them himself.

  “We have spoken about this before. The brothers are nothing without their mates. I need all of them to obtain their power. The power you will need to bring your love forward.”

  Hudson sighed. “Celeste is with Jordan. Why can Madoc not be with his mate until the last of the Zir is found?”

  “Fire is unpredictable, as are all females. You shall capture her now.” Icy damp fingers pressed to his ribs, above his chest, and burned like brands. “I can remove your heart right now, and you shall never love again.”

  “No.” He jerked his hands up and dislodged the grasp.

  Laughter echoed in his mind. “A small reminder.”

  The mist disappeared, and clouds darkened the sky. Hudson leaned back against the stone building and stared up at the dreary day. A ray of light burst through the dark and shimmered on the stone walk.

  He would help Fina.

  Madoc deserved to find happiness, even if Hudson’s soul would burn for it. He laughed. Soul. His soul already burned in hell.

  Fina pushed open the painted blue door and entered her hotel’s lobby. She stopped.

  The man behind the small desk stood frozen with his hand up in a wave. She glanced in the direction his hand indicated. Jonathan stood like a statue in motion heading toward the desk. More of the black magic.

  Fina stiffened, then stared down at her burned dress sleeves. Burned and bloodied. She couldn’t let him see her like this. He would assume she had been attacked.

 
; She shook her head. She needed to wrap her thoughts around all that had happened with that dreadful man. Until she did, she couldn’t take Jonathan’s all too observing eyes. He would say something to her the minute he saw her, and then Catherine would know, and her pa. She refused to worry her father.

  She lifted her skirts and ran up the stairs.

  The small attic room at the top was all her family could afford. She twisted the handle. The thin wooden door shook before her. The key. She sighed and pushed her fingers into the pocket hidden in the folds of her skirt. Nothing but her drawing coal met her fingers. She withdrew her hand and rubbed the coal around in her fingertips. Black like the burn marks on her dress coated her fingers. Her throat tightened, and the same burning sensation that had overcome her when she singed her sleeves filled her mouth.

  No.

  She swallowed hard, fighting back the sensation, and rushed to the shared bath down the hall.

  Flinging open the door, she stepped into the bath that was the same size as her room. She closed the door, slid the bolt and leaned her back against the rough wood.

  “You realize you will need to go back to him.” Carmen’s voice rang. “He has your key, your bag, your clothing.”

  “Why are you in my head?” she shouted into the room, and smoke puffed out in front of her. “I do not want your opinion or your guidance.” Her body began to shake.

  “The why is easy. I am in your head because you are fire’s mate.”

  “That explains nothing and is not an answer.” She stood in an empty room and talked to no one. Madness.

  Laughter echoed in her ears, and she cringed.

  “This is not a jest, Carmen.”

  “There is no foolery in my words. But just because you ask, that does not mean I have the answer. I have been locked in this dark place for over five hundred years.”

  “How did you end up there?”

  “I was sent here by my lover for betraying him. I was lover to Havanis, one of the kings of Denmark and part creator of the men who now call themselves Zir.”

  Fina rolled her eyes. “A huge bucket of pig slop. Kings?” She snorted and shook her head in disbelief again.

  “Think what you will, Fina. But if all I have said and all Madoc has said is false, then why do you have me in your head? You need to start believing in what is before you, or you will end up hurting someone or something you hold dear.”

  There had to be a tick of truth in what they said, or she would not have burned her own arms. Until she could figure out what to do, she needed to know how to control that urge. “So how do I control the fire?”

  “Your element?”

  “Is that what I call it?”

  “Quite so. The elements respond to words and emotions. Words when you are trying to control them outside of your body. Emotions when within you. Are you asking about the fire you breathed?”

  She nodded. “But what do you mean the elements respond to words?”

  “Pick a candle and say ild.”

  She sighed. Why was she doing this? She shook her head again and half laughed. She walked to a candle that sat by the mirror on the wall. Saying a simple word would not light a candle. How could it? “Ild.”

  A flickering flame burst from the wick. Her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes widened. “My.”

  “There are good things about being fire’s mate. You may have other powers. Madoc can stop time.”

  That was what he did. But how did he do that for everyone else and not her?

  “These are things you should be hearing from him, Fina. I will say no more. I will help you with the words and your element, though.”

  Coolness touched her calves, and a shiver ran up her spine. She whirled about. Obsidian mist slipped under the door. She backed away from swirling black fog. “What is that?”

  “So you are the next in this folly.” A male voice came from the mist and echoed in the small room.

  “Carmen?” No. That was definitely a male voice.

  Male laughter bounced off the walls.

  “That is not I.” Carmen’s voice whispered in her mind. Fina’s heart pounded up into her throat. Then who?

  The tenor of laughter stopped. “I hope she is finding her rightful place appealing.”

  Enough of this mad fantasy. She wanted out. She inched her way back to the door and pressed herself up against the wood. “Who are you, then?”

  “A complex answer. So please, do call me Havanis.”

  She remembered Carmen’s words: “I was lover to Havanis, one of the kings of Denmark…” More of this king-speak slop.

  She flattened her hands against the wood and slid them upward. Her fingers connected with the cool metal of the door latch. Thank goodness. “You should ask Carmen yourself how she is doing.” Fina lifted the handle and pulled the door wide. She shut the door behind her and ran.

  The mist slipped under the door and out into the hall. “A capital idea, but what fun would it be to simply ask her when I can have you tell me?”

  “I have no wish to speak with you further.” Fina reeled and ran, taking the steps three at a time. She glanced behind her. The misty fog continued to follow.

  Jonathan would be in the café, but he couldn’t help her. She refused to run back to Madoc. Although he could help her.

  No. Why would she think that?

  She glanced over her shoulder again and ran out into the street. Rain poured down on her, and she looked to the sky. No one could help her. She choked back a sob, and her chest hurt. She wanted her pa. She wanted her mother. She wanted to be held and loved.

  She circled to the left and stumbled into a man of short stature and fair hair. “Pardon, sir.” She shied to the right to go around him, but he grasped her elbow.

  Eyes as black as the storm-filled night stared up at her. “Fina?”

  She pulled back and put an arm’s length of cobbled walk between them. “Do I know you?”

  “Pardon my forwardness. You do not. Though you will.” He held up a brown-paper-wrapped parcel. “Madoc sent me to deliver this. He said you would realize your items resided with him. He did not wish you to fret over your appearance.”

  She didn’t want anything from him. Staring at the package, she shook her head.

  “It is a dress, miss. You should change, as you look a fright.”

  Fina’s mouth dropped open. “How rude.”

  The man laughed, then frowned. “So true. Though sometimes one must say the truth no matter how delicate the topic.” He wet his lip with his tongue.

  Anger knotted her stomach, and she glanced back at the door to the hotel. The mist had disappeared.

  She licked her lips, then stared at the package in his hands. “Very well.” She wrapped her fingers around the parcel and looked to the right and then the left.

  She wouldn’t go back into the hotel to change. She wished she were in her bedroom with her own clothing and her things. She wished she could kiss her pa on the forehead and tell him what a horror this trip had turned into.

  The street rippled and shifted before her eyes. A burst of light popped before her. In the center of the shimmering light stood her bedroom. She glanced at the short man, then back to the glowing light.

  A devious smile curved his lips. “Well, well. You just made a hole in distance.”

  “I do not understand.”

  “You wished for something, perhaps?” He waved his hand at the window. “To go home?”

  “I-I…” How could that be?

  “Step in, Fina. Experience all that this new world has just put before our eyes.”

  She stared at him again. His black eyes glittered. Red and blue veins rippled through them. “I too was once only human. I would never go back. Trust me. Or trust this.” He pointed again to the glimmering view of her bedroom.

  “I will not trust you, sir.” She stared back at the glittering window and the safety and comfort of her own home within the frame. Was that real? Her chest tightened. She wanted it t
o be real. She didn’t want to be here in Paris any longer. She wanted to go home. “I will go home.” She clutched the brown-paper wrapping to her breasts. “You won’t follow me, will you?”

  The man’s expression changed to one of shock. “Never.”

  Oddly, she believed him. She stepped through the window and into her very own bedroom.

  She twirled about and stared at her small bed made up with the yellow-and-blue quilt that her mother had made before she died. The round wooden stand with the white water pitcher and bowl sat on the top. The trunk with her blankets and treasures tucked within.

  Her room.

  How could this be?

  She pivoted back. The window to Paris rippled, misted and disappeared.

  Hudson heaved a sigh of relief as Fina stepped into the glowing light of her room. She skipped off to London. Away from Paris. His heart lightened. Away from the blackness, Madoc and himself. Things would be easier with her removed from the fray.

  Dark mist rushed at him from the direction of the hotel. He jumped out of the way.

  The darkness steamed passed him.

  Hudson scrambled after the dark fog, his throat tightening and pain gripping his chest. He staggered and fell to his knees, breathless.

  The darkness slipped into the glowing frame as the window to London snapped closed.

  Fina sat down on her bed and slowly lowered the package to her lap. Her heart pounded away in her breast, and the room wavered slightly before her. How did that work? Could she wish to go anywhere and a window would open? So many questions that needed answering.

  Her father coughed down the hall. Pa. She stared at the door.

  How would she explain how she got here?

  She stared at the brown wrapping and pulled the paper open. Inside lay dark pink fabric embroidered with royal blue. She ran her fingers over the silk and the lines and swirls the blue created. A drawing made of thread. With each line her finger traced in her mind, a new clock-face drawing came to focus. Flowers curled on ribbons that drifted on the breeze, destination unknown. She closed her eyes and opened them. She would create that drawing on the morrow.