Page 63 of Only Flames Remain

My hand closed around the glass vial in astonishment.

How had she found this? Where?

I had been with her when we had scoured every market in Ravenwood and hadn’t found anything of use. Had she slipped into a market in Scaldrithor when we had first docked? Had she stolen it from Noor?

It was odorless and colorless, though not entirely tasteless.

Derived from the combination of the root and petal of an ixiatus flower. Native to both continents, though hard to come by.

One of the most untraceable poisons in the realm of Aeloria.

Ixia.

CHAPTER 18

Sorin

The last thing I expected when I stormed into my chambers in Stormgaard was for Rensford to be there, waiting for me. I closed the door behind me, stalking toward the fireplace where he sat in an armchair.

He nodded, indicating the bedroom across the hall. “You’re trying to tell me this is about keeping her safe from the townspeople?” he asked, voice skeptical. “You could just as easily keep her locked away in the castle in Gothryn.”

I cleared my throat as I met his gaze. “We can’t very well use her against Kallias if she is dead.”

Ren’s gaze narrowed as I moved to the table beneath the arched window, pouring myself a glass of the amber liquid inside the decanter. I took a swig from the glass, the liquid biting on its way down. It was laced with blood, and I needed blood right now. Even if it wasn’t fresh and tasted terrible. I took another swig before turning back toward him.

“You know as well as I do, she was perfectly safe in Gothryn.” He ran a hand down his face. “Do you want to tell me what this is truly about?”

“No.” I paused, the sensation of her skin against mine still so potent in my mind’s eye. “When I touched her, it felt—”

“When you touched her?” he interrupted.

I pinned him with a serious glare. “When I touched her to carry her here. It was like I felt my own magic blazing back toward me. It was like a lit match, a spark against my skin. I felt like I had been…burned. But dragons do not burn.”

Ren’s brows drew together. “That is curious.”

“Indeed.” I threw myself down into the armchair across from him, resting the glass on the arm of the black chair. “But she is human. She doesn’t have even a remote signature of distant fae lineage that I can discern. She isn’t Vireth, surely. But perhaps a Veytari passing as human somehow?” I shook my head. “I’m not sure how it’s possible.”

“Part nixie? Sprite? Perhaps she has mage blood…” he replied.

I bent forward, resting my elbows on my knees. The lesser creatures of the realm had been hunted to near extinction; their presence was rare in present day. “I would have sensed something like that. The magic…it was…different. Like nothing I had ever felt before. My own power, magnified back toward me.”

“Perhaps it was nothing.” Rensford shrugged. “Perhaps you are putting entirely too much concern where the welfare of this human is concerned.”

“We can both agree on that,” I replied with a trite smile.

“What is it about her that has gotten under your skin?” His head tilted as he studied me.

“I’m not quite sure. There is something unique about her. A magnetic energy that I have never encountered before. I am unspeakably drawn to her. I want to keep a close eye on her. I wasn’t about to bring Voirel here and let Aveline remain at the castle, unprotected and alone.”

Rensford feigned that he was wounded, his hand over his heart. “Ouch. My dearest friend doesn’t even trust me?”

I grabbed the throw pillow from behind my back and tossed it at him hard. Despite the speed with which I had thrown it—he caught it easily.

“You do realize King Mavros will expect Voirel to stay here indefinitely, right?” he asked, tone serious once more.

I nodded. “I do, though I am not sure I will win that particular argument. You’ve met Voirel.”

“Ah, she is fierce indeed. But you are too soft with her. Letting her get away with every little thing.”