Page 41 of A Blaze of Fire
Alec laughed. “Right … of course not. It’s Ansel you miss,” he teased. “Nevertheless, Lady Violet, I had to get our things organized before we left this morning. That was why I wasn’t in …ourbed when you awoke.”
I elbowed him in the gut. Hard. “Shut up before someone hears you!” I hissed.
“Scandalous, isn’t it?” he chuckled. “One might think we’re lovers.”
I growled and looked up just as Kazimir peered over his shoulder at us, sending a heated glare before glancing away again. I knew he thought I had something going on with Alec and my loyalty was swayed from the King, and Alec’s behavior certainly didn’t help the situation. I needed all the Unseelie in our traveling party to believe I was loyal to the King … especially Kazimir. He was ruthless. He’d thrown examples of his merciless activities my way countless times. If I didn’t change his mind soon, I would be in deep shit.
I was in serious thoughts about how to sway Kazimir to my side when the silence was interrupted by a raucous squawk. Alec’s arm tightened around my waist immediately.
“Up ahead!” Rook pointed toward the towering mountains.
I whipped my eyes to where everyone was staring and saw a band of flying creatures in the sky. At first, they were nothing more than dark figures, but as they flew closer, their terrifying features sharpened. Gaunt, grey bodies with black, soulless eyes and long, silvery hair lashing wildly, the creatures seemed to be the embodiment of every Hollywood monster film ever created. Wide, leathery wings flapped hard and fast as they barreled toward our group with single-minded purpose.
“Wraiths!” Kazimir yelled. “Into the forest!” he directed. Without hesitation, everyone raced toward the trees that ringed the base of the mountain.
Alec held onto me tightly as he kicked the horse’s flank and urged it to run faster. Terrified, I gripped the arm that held me like a vise and looked back at the wraiths that bore down on us. Their powerful wings propelled them through the air as easily as a hot knife slid through butter. They were gaining on us, andfast. We would never make it to the forest.
“Don’t look back!” Alec growled as he kicked the horse again, pushing it to race even faster.
Several from our riding party stayed back to create a ringed barrier of fire. But it wouldn’t do much since the creatures were coming from the sky.
Ignoring Alec’s command, I looked over my shoulder and watched in horror as the Unseelie blasted columns of fire into the skies. The wraiths smoothly dodged them, except for one that took a direct hit and fell to the ground in a smoking lump of gray.
“We have to help them!” Panicked, I watched as the three Unseelie faced off with six wraiths.
“They know what they signed up for,” Alec grunted. “My only priority is getting you to safety.”
“No,” I murmured. “Alec, they’ll be slaughtered!”
His face was grim, unmoved. “You don’t know that. They’re fire elementals. They’re strong.”
I tried to rip his arm away from my waist, but his iron clad grip was unyielding. I didn’t know the Unseelie warriors we were leaving behind. I hadn’t even bothered to learn their names, much less look at their faces. But I couldn’t just let them sacrifice themselves, for what? A wagon full of goods for an undeserving King? For me? No. This was wrong. Watching as my window to act dwindled the further we rode, I did the only thing I could – I smacked the back of my head into Alec’s face.
“What the fuck?!”
When he instinctively released me to cradle his face, I threw myself off the galloping horse, rolling on the ground until I came to a bone-jarring stop. I could tell I’d damaged my shoulder in the fall, but I ignored the pain and scrambled to my feet quickly. Dizzy, I ran like my life depended on it, heading toward the danger that pursued us.
“Violet!” Alec shouted behind me.
On horseback, I knew he’d catch up to me before I could reach the Unseelie who faced off with the wraiths. I pumped my arms even faster, but within seconds, a horse raced along beside me. However it wasn’t Alec, it was Rook. My bodyguard reached down to pluck me off the ground, but I swerved out of his way and sprinted faster, zig zagging as I went to make it more difficult for him to pursue me.
“Lady Violet, stop!”
I ignored Rook’s shout. I saw the Unseelie warriors not too far away, outnumbered and outmatched by the wraiths. They needed help.
As I barreled toward them, I tried to call on the fire locked within me, but all that emerged were a few crackling sparks from my fingertips. I shook my hands and tried again, then again. My mounting frustration quickly morphed to nervousness that nothing would come out and I’d be defenseless and alone, running away from the security provided by Alec and Rook.
Then I thought about Kazimir and how he’d flung me over the edge of the cliff with no regard for my safety. And how he was probably planning my demise at this precise moment since he was already questioning my loyalty to his King. It wasn’t the cliff I had to worry about anymore. He probably had something far worse planned. And it made me indescribably angry.
White-hot anger and frustration rose inside me as I raced toward the three Unseelie fending off the wraiths, drawing their ire so the rest of our traveling party could escape. They were bloodied and sweating, weakened by the exertion, and their strength was rapidly dwindling. The sight of their blood-splattered faces enraged me further.
My chest heaved rapidly as I charged forward; a yell burst out of me, unbidden. I raised my hands to the sky and ragged bolts of fire erupted from my palms, appearing as geysers of lava. My throat burned a split second before an inferno burst from my mouth. Facing off with each wraith, I aimed the blaze toward them, satisfied when I saw their gray skin crackling and turning black. As each wraith withered and fell to the ground as a smoking mass of skin and hair, my flame thrower mouth closed and the flames subsided. I gasped for air and dropped my arms to my side, my head falling to my chest.
The Unseelie who’d been battling the wraiths stood there watching in disbelief. Since they were fire elementals, they’d been unscathed from my barrage of fire, but it was obvious they were still in shock at what they’d just witnessed.
Wavering on my feet, I turned my attention back to the fried wraiths smoking on the ground. The world spun and my hearing dwindled away as if my ears were underwater. I dimly heard Alec yelling my name, but I didn’t have the strength to turn. Someone grabbed me and spun me around, clutching my shoulders tightly.
“Violet, are you okay?”
