Page 10 of Prince of Blaze and Embers
“No parents,” Garris said. “Found on the beach to the north after a battle when she was a child. I purchased her fourteen years ago. Good worker, small hands for tight jobs, virgin too…”
The prince glowered at me suddenly behind that devilish mask. He may have sounded young, perhaps in his early twenties, close to my age of nineteen, but those deep sapphire eyes gazed at me with a wisdom I’d never seen in a man. He was like a god. Sculpted like one, as tall as one, and as terrifying as Gigas—Lord of the Underworld.
He leaned in so close I could feel the cold metal of his mask on my nose. His glare was so deep into mine I forgot where I was, but I remembered one thing, and it sent a shiver all the way down my back.
This is the Blaze Prince, son of the infamous Blaze Queen. He’s killed more men than anyone alive. He and his dragon have killed thousands probably in his war.
“She’s a virgin, eh?” he said with a slight uptick in his tone. His hot breath hit my lips, and I wanted to melt and wash away like the tides.
“Yes, Blaze Prince,” Garris sniveled. “She ain’t much to look at, but what’s between her legs is unspoiled by any man.”
The Prince snorted unexpectedly. I turned my head to the side, forcing my eyes shut hard. I wanted to be anywhere else, anywhere else in the world but there.
“You’re the one who used that magic on the beach.” The prince sidestepped, the sharp nose of his helmet skimming past my ear. My shoulder was just at the point between his two massive pecs. Garris lumbered back at the prince’s swift movement. Bella squeezed my hand tight.
“Answer your prince!” Garris shouted with shaky breath.
“I—I don’t know what happened.” I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. Tell the truth? Lie to hopefully get out of it and he might leave me be? Maybe he wouldn’t kill me for what I did? “I…”
“I know what I saw,” the prince said with a rough-edged tone. “You cast that spell, and I saw the symbol glow on the side of your neck. It was you. I remember your hair, your eyes, and the blinding light of your spell. It was you. You’re the Gold-Marked. It’s you.”
Gold-Marked? I’d never heard that term, and I certainly didn’t want to be whatever the hell that meant.
“I’ve been searching for you. The queen has been searching for you, probably for longer than you’ve even been alive. And here you are. Standing before me now. You’re the one who is so dangerous to her? You’re just a girl…” He scratched his chin.
My breath caught as his other hand flashed, sending the dark metal of his gauntlet flickering in torchlight. From his other side a sleek black dagger shot toward my neck, its razor-sharp edge feeling like ice against the soft spot where the golden rune glowed earlier in the day.
He muttered behind his mask. I couldn’t tell exactly what he said, but at the end of his rant, I heard the words, “I could end this all right here, right now, and it would be done…”
“Please, sir, no!” Bella suddenly cried out. “She didn’t do anything on purpose. She didn’t mean to make you get attacked by those other dragon riders. That was all an accident!”
His gaze never left my neck as the blade glided along my soft skin, causing my entire body to tense. I was so afraid I wanted to jump out of my skin. Bella’s words didn’t faze him even a pinch. Cold sweat wetted my skin, causing a great shiver down from my neck to my toes.
“No,” he muttered again, pulling the dagger from the side ofmy neck and sheathing it as quickly as he sent it flying from his hip.
Garris finally let out a deep exhale, as he’d been holding his breath as well. “So, you want to buy her?”
Buy her? He’s going to sell me to that bastard mass-murderer? I knew with every ounce of life in my body that the prince was going to kill me if I went with him. I couldn’t let that happen. I’d got to run…
But get real, Ash, how in the fuck could you run away from the dragon-riding prince of Emberveil? I’m so fucked…
“Who is that man?” The Blaze Prince’s voice deepened, and he sent an icy glower at the man in the room’s corner—hiding in the shadow as best he could.
Garris’ lips seemed glued together as he struggled to find words behind his lying mouth.
“He was gonna sell me to him, because of whatever it is you all think I am…”
The prince’s intense glare shifted slowly to Garris, who sulked back toward the back wall. The Blaze Prince, in his hulking and very intimidating armor, squared his massive shoulders off against my cowering master. “You were doing what?”
“Forgive me, my prince,” Garris sniveled to the prince but side-eyed me as meanly as he ever had.
“Did you not know this girl was to be handed over to the crown, to my mother, the queen? Magic is forbidden by those not under her employ. You knew that… you know that!”
Garris swallowed hard, and I could feel his nervousness as he wiped his sweaty palms on his thighs.
“D—don’t mind him,” Garris said after clearing his throat. “A misunderstanding. Ashlyn was always going to the queen! I just wanted to get an idea of her worth before I bartered for payment.”
“Liar!” I shouted, spinning to face the awful man. Heat rose in my core, and my skin crawled; like ants scurrying up my arms. Iwanted to smack him. I wanted to smack him even more than when he lashed me with that nasty whip and snarled through his yellow teeth. “You were going to sell me to that man so you could get a higher price!”
