Page 9 of Prince of Blaze and Embers
Garris went to the door, his slimy fingers trembling as heunlatched the door, peeking through its narrow opening. The old man stepped back into the room’s dark corner. I heard the murmurs from within the forge hush, and all hammering and grinding ceased to a heart-stopping crawl.
Garris released the door latch and staggered back into the room, walking right up to my side. The linens of his shirt scraped against the side of my bare arm. I was so terrified of what was outside the door, and within the forge, that I forgot I was completely naked still. I was doing my best to hide behind my arms covering my breasts and my hands covering my groin.
A dark-hooded man entered the room. He had to duck his head to get under the doorframe, and the distinct smell of dragonfire poured into the room with him. It was the musty, thick smell of ancient bellowing brimstone mixed with a sulfuric metal scent. And as the man entered the room, towering over all of us with his muscular build, all air rushed from my lungs at the sight of him…
The Blaze Prince… he’s here…
I’d never been so terrified in all my life…
Terror gripped me, freezing me in place. My feet sucked into the floorboards, my fingers cocked, spread wide before my chest. Air caught in my throat as my body forced an inhale, but my pounding heart caused my breathing to flutter. He was… enormous…
He towered over all of us, including Garris, who had slithered like a cold-blooded snake behind me. The prince had a mask of black metal covering his face, probably to hide his grotesque, hideous Cinderyn face. The fire elemental children of Allovan were surely deformed by the fire magics they wielded, and the Blaze Prince had a reputation for being the most fearsome, deadly dragon rider in all the lands. That was, except for the bloodthirsty mother of his—The Blaze Queen herself.
Bella gripped my hand, pulling our bodies together. I immediatelyfelt her body trembling, hard goose pimples scratching against each other.
“It’s him,” she muttered through shaky breath. “He’s come… he’s come for you…”
Me? Oh fuck… he did, didn’t he… he came to kill me for what I did… I’m going to die right here, right now, for a magic I didn’t even know I had… Shit…
CHAPTER 4
My nerves broke—fleeing down through the floorboards and dissipating into the air from my nervous panting. As he approached, I felt the hot air escaping my nostrils and my mouth left agape.
He’s… he’s huge.
I didn’t think I’d ever felt so small in all my life.
He towered over me. Fucking towered over me.
I’d never seen such a man in all my life. As vulnerable as a doe left to be ravaged by a starving wolf.
He was clad in black armor; finer in design than anything ever produced in our little forge. His ebony mask was sculpted to sharp angles, representing the likeness of a savage wolf. The angles of his dark armor carved around his muscular body like water flowing over dense boulders. The way his armor moved as he strode toward me impressed me in every way. And as he finally stopped before me, glaring down on me behind the ebony mask… I saw eyes that stopped me in my tracks on the beach.
Blue as the sky, deep as the vastest ocean, and as exciting as it must feel to glide through the air on the back of a monstrous dragon—I got lost in those breathtaking eyes. They pulled me inso deep a shiver shot up my core, setting me ablaze from the inside.
“Blue eyes,” Bella whispered low. “He’s got blue eyes. Cinderyn have red fiery eyes. Right?”
I was so lost in them I didn’t react. They pierced so deep into me it took me a full breath to notice my mouth hung open.
“Name…” he muttered, his voice hollow and deep, but far younger than I expected him to sound.
I couldn’t find the words as I stood there shivering, completely naked from head to toe, bare as the day I was born, and just as vulnerable. I couldn’t remember my name! How embarrassing…
As his eyes locked hard onto mine, my cheeks flushed and my ears heated.
“Ashlyn Mist,” Garris forced the words out of his own cowardly throat.
“Ash,” I said, mustering all the courage I had. But I hated my real name so much it almost became instinct to correct it.
“Ash Mist?” The Blaze Prince put his hand on the hilt of his enormous sword at his hip, twisting it behind him. The leather of it squealed and his armor clacked as he twisted.
I was so overtaken by the fear that gripped the room, I felt a deep urge in my core. Something primal, something that caused my body to heat and throb. The raw power that emanated from him was unlike anything I’d ever felt. Garris recoiled like a worm in staggering sunlight. I was awestruck.
Then he did the unexpected. He reached out for me, straight for my throat. My entire body tensed so tight I thought all the moisture might get squeezed right out of me. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. But I didn’t, and his gauntleted hand turned just before it reached my neck; instead, he ran his fingers through my hair. He pulled it up just high enough that I felt a chill air hit my nipple directly, causing it to stiffen; just what I didn’t want. I didn’t want him thinking I liked any of this.
“A Mist, huh? An orphan?” He pulled his hand back, but not before tossing my hair back behind my shoulder, leaving my chest bare.
The round room felt like it was closing in on me as my entire world spun.
