Page 17 of Prince of Blaze and Embers
“Firas.” The prince’s voice was firm but had a hint of friendship in it as well.
As the dragon’s chest expanded, the inner flames glowed between the flexed scales, casting a golden light all around the mountaintop. Krakos’ maw erupted with flames, and the searing dragonfire burst onto the logs, incinerating them in the hellish fire. We were twenty feet away, and both of us had to throw up our arms to shield the heat from our skin.
To my side, I saw the prince and his rider both stand motionless, stoic like statues, their wild hair whipping behind them madly. In the intense light of the dragonfire, the prince looked even more devilishly handsome. The angles of his jaw, his perfectly straight nose, and his strong chin made the blood in myveins rush like a river. My nipples hardened and scratched against the frayed shirt that gusted from the flames.
The fires receded back to Krakos, and the great ebony dragon stared into his work, the fire below reflecting in his savage, primal eyes. The slits in them reminded me of a serpent’s, yet much wiser. Krakos seemed fiercely intelligent for such a monstrous beast.
Krakos turned and lay beside the other dragon at the edge of the mountain.
Bella and I both waited for the two men to give instruction. After all, we were the prince’s property. Dreams of escape would have to wait. And from there, there was nowhere to run anyway.
“Go on.” The prince pointed to the fire. “Get warm.”
“What about you?” I blurted the words before my stupid brain could catch up with what I should have said, not what I wanted to ask.
“We have things to discuss.” The prince grabbed his rider by the arm and led him away to the opposite edge of the mountain, both with their backs turned to us.
Bella and I sat by the fire, and the warmth felt incredible on my hands and shins. I didn’t know if the dragons instinctually did it or not, but they seemed perfectly placed to block the fierce mountain winds. Maybe they didn’t do it for us, but the fire they created?
We sat side by side with our arms touching, huddling under the blankets the prince had given us.
“What do you think they’re gonna end up doing with us?” Bella’s gaze was hard upon the burning flames.
“I don’t know. I really don’t.” My certainty of being flown off to Emberveil was fizzling.
“Everything’s so different. So fast. I don’t know what to think of it.” Bella, with her elbows on her thighs, cradled her face in her palms. “Yesterday we were stuck in our lives, dreaming of something like this, but I never, ever, would have imagined we’d besitting here right here, right now. I mean, look at that view. I couldn’t dream of something so beautiful. And it’s all because of you, Ash. I always knew there was something special about you, but I never could have guessed like this.”
She thought I was different? I thought I was the most boring, obnoxious girl in existence.
“You did?”
She released her face and tucked her chin onto her shoulder, staring at me. “You never felt anything? Maybe not everyone noticed you, but I sure as shit did.”
“What do you mean?”
“By Odiun, you’re daft. Why do you think we’re so close? You’re different, Ash. The way you look at things. Your slyness, your cunning, your imagination. There’s no one in Bramblebash even close to you. Even the way you look is so different from everyone. As soon as I saw you years ago for the first time, I knew there was something different in you. And here you sit now, using magic to protect me from a mad dragon breathing fire. Was I ever right!”
“Can I tell you something?” I didn’t know if I should bring it up to her, as it might make it that much more real in my mind, but the voice I heard, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. “I—I heard a voice after I used my magic. I would’ve thought it was myself talking to me, but it was so different than any voice I’d ever heard. It sounded old, manly, and… beastly?”
“Beastly? Something said something in your head? You must have been making it up. But on second thought…” She scratched her chin. “Maybe it was real? If you heard it right after that magic cast through you, maybe someone or something helped you. To save us both? I don’t know… what did it say?”
The words were etched like stone in me, as if permanently marked on a gravestone. It said, “It is time. You must free me. You’ve awoken to your true self, and so, must you awaken me…”
Bella didn’t respond. She pulled into herself, recoiling, andrubbed her arms, glaring at the firelight. Krakos groaned as he stretched his enormous wings.
“I know… sounds crazy…” I huffed.
“Nothing sounds crazy anymore…”
So deep in thought, I didn’t notice the prince until he entered the side of my vision. He and the rider in copper both walked over and stood on the other side of the fire. Both sets of their armor shimmered in the golden light, capped with moonlight reflecting off their backs. The prince’s cape wafted at his heels, tickling the hard ground.
“Did you figure out what to do with me?” I mustered the words as bravely as I could. I feared what the answer would be, but I figured it was better to know than not.
“We fly in the morning.” The prince flapped his cape back with his hands and sat on a log; the other rider did the same.
“Where?” I pressed.
“None of your concern,” the prince growled. His gaze never returned mine.
