Stroke the Flame

18

“Well, yes.” Auric straightened up, raising his chin. “Is that a problem? If you doubt my usefulness in combat, I’ve been trained in sword fighting since I was a child.”

“Ceremonial sword fighting, no doubt,” Jasin muttered. “Maybe we should be asking him about his loyalties. All the noble families serve the Black Dragon too.”

Auric narrowed his eyes at Jasin. “I’m loyal to this mission. Can the rest of you say the same?”

“That’s enough,” I said, feeling even more exhausted after listening to them bicker. It was a bad sign if they were fighting already. “No one is questioning anyone’s loyalty.” I turned toward Reven. “I assume you must be from the Water Realm then. What did you do before you were chosen?”

He leveled his dark gaze at me. “I killed people for money.”

We all froze, staring at him as if to check that he was serious. Yes, he definitely was. An assassin. I supposed that explained all the black clothing and the way he’d killed Roark with silence and ease. But why would the Water God choose such a man for me?

Jasin forced a grin and broke the awkward silence. “Well, at least we know he’ll be good in a fight.”

15

Jasin

I

coaxed a small flame to life on each of my fingertips. Even after a month with these powers, they never ceased to amaze me. I doubted having magic would ever get old. After all, who wouldn’t want to be able to control fire?

The sun had only just breached the horizon, its light filtering through the thick trees around us. My companions were still asleep, but it was my turn on watch and I’d been passing the time playing with fire. Literally.

I’d moved to the other side of the stream, far enough from the camp that I wouldn’t spook the horses or accidentally set fire to anything important, but close enough to keep an eye on my companions and watch for any threats. I summoned a ball of flame between my palms, making it hotter and hotter, until it burned blue underneath my fingers. I threw it as if it were a rock, aiming it at a cluster of large stones in the middle of the stream. The fiery ball flew across and hit the stones with a burst of embers and the hiss of steam.

A twig snapped behind me and I turned quickly, but it was only Kira. Her long red hair was messy from sleep and her eyes were huge, as if startled. I glanced around, but didn’t see any signs of danger. Then I realized she was staring at the spot where I’d thrown the fire.

“Everything all right?” I asked.

She blinked and seemed to shake herself out of it. “Fine. Just half asleep.”

I nodded, but I got the feeling there was more to it than that. Was she nervous about all of our powers? Or just mine?

“Should we wake the others?” I asked, glancing back at the other men. I wasn’t sure what to think about any of them. Slade seemed like a decent enough guy, even if he didn’t talk much. Auric was a useless nobleman who shouldn’t even be on this journey. And Reven? I didn’t trust him at all. I planned to keep my eye on him so none of us ended up with a knife in our backs.

Kira, on the other hand, was everything I could have hoped for. I’d never thought I could ever settle down with just one woman, but the second I’d met her, that worry had vanished. Sharing her with the other guys though… I wasn’t sure I’d ever be okay with that. Sure, I’d shared women with other soldiers before for a night or two, but that was different. None of those women were mine. Not like Kira would be.

She moved beside me, leaning against the same thick tree trunk that had been my backrest for the last hour. “We’ll give them another few minutes to sleep. Were you practicing your magic?”

“I have to, since my new powers didn’t come with any kind of training lesson or manual on how to use them. Good thing I seem to be immune to fire now, or I’d be dead many times over, or at least a whole lot crispier.” I flashed her a grin. “The barracks I was living in? Not so lucky. But after a lot of practice over the last month, I’m learning to control what the Fire God’s given me. Mostly.”

She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, even though it wasn’t that cold. “Probably a good idea. Just be careful.”

“Always,” I said, conjuring another fireball over my open palm.

She flinched back, her eyes fixed on the flickering flame like it was a live snake. Maybe she wasn’t scared of our magic—she was scared of fire. I closed my hand over the flame, dousing it immediately, and her shoulders relaxed.

“You don’t need to be afraid,” I said. “I’d never hurt you, Kira.”

“I’m not afraid of you.” She tore her gaze away and stared into the forest, then drew in a breath and faced me again. “Tell me about your encounter with the Fire God.”

“It was pretty incredible. A giant made out of flames came to me in the middle of the forest and told me to find you. At first, I thought maybe I’d eaten one of those weird mushrooms in the forest again. Last time that happened I saw pink dancing water elementals for two days and had a raging headache for a week.” I winked at her and she gave me a smile that made my heart beat faster. “But there was no denying this was all real and not a hallucination—not after I accidentally set my bed on fire.”

“No wonder you’re practicing,” she said. “Is that when you left the Onyx Army?”