Page 8 of By the Flames of Her Fury

I swam in and out of consciousness as the men lumbered down the servants’ stairwell leading from our wing of the mansion to the bottom floor. The Shifter carrying me made a sharp right turn, and my head swung into a door, sending sharp pain through my skull. Everything went black.

I saw Mama and Nox waiting for me at the courtyard fountain. It was afternoon, the only time of day Kane Scarven let us have free time outside. I skipped to my family and ran my fingers in the cool, cascading water. Mama hummed her favorite song, one she used to sing me to sleep with, and Nox rattled a pair of dice at me. My older brother’s mischievous blue eyes twinkled as he pulled me into a one-armed hug. “Ready to lose again, little sis?”

He was always good at hiding how bad things were with a roguish smile, but I let him anyway. These peaceful moments with them were too rare to ruin.

“I only lose because you’re a big cheater,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

His smile widened. “Oh, I’m a cheater?” He grabbed me around the waist, and I squealed with laughter. “Who was the one who burned all my cards last time because you knew I was winning?” He swung around so my legs dangled in the fountain, water soaking my feet. Mama laughed at our antics as I tickled Nox until he finally set me down, then I splashed water at his face with a giggle.

The memory disappeared, replaced by darkness. My surroundings slowly came back to me as my limbs swayed against my attacker’s back. We were already out of the main house. I blinked against the fog to see dark stone walls, a dirty, blood-stained floor, and iron bars lining the hallway.

I didn’t recognize this place. My heart thudded frantically as the oil wore off. My Shifter senses returned little by little, fear coating my tongue. I mustered as much strength as I could and kneed the guard in the abdomen, then summoned my fire to burn the rope at my wrists.

He merely stumbled, but that was enough. I bucked out of his hold and landed on the cold ground. Scrambling to my feet, I burned away the ropes around my ankles and took off at a sprint, slipping on puddles of blood splattered down the hall.

I rammed headfirst into a hard body. Muscles made of steel locked around me, not even flinching as I sent phoenix fire into every inch of his skin.

“Help!” I screamed as this new guard lifted me around the middle. “Someone, help! Nox!”

“That dragon isn’t coming for you,” he said gruffly. “Nobody is.”

He lugged me down the hall until we reached a set of iron bars. Throwing the door open, he tossed me inside a dark, rancid cell.

“Get me out of here!” I cried, rattling the cell bars. “I haven’t done anything wrong!”

The guard ignored me. He bolted the door tight, then shoved the key into a pocket in his pauldron.

“You know I can burn this down in a second,” I seethed, placing my hand on the lock. My hands burned bright orange as the iron sizzled beneath my grip.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a voice crooned. A figure appeared from the shadows of the hallway, a thick mane of black hair billowing around his head like a cloud. His pale face was chalky white in the glow of the torchlight.

“Who are you?” I spat at the strange man.

He smiled, an eerie, ghostly grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “My name is Malek Mortep.” He stepped closer, the manic expression still plastered on his face. “I’ve heard so much about you, little bird.”

A chill cascaded across my skin. I instinctively took a step back, abandoning my attempts to melt the lock. “What do you want from me? Why am I here?”

“What do I want?” He hummed and drew nearer, his pointed nose sticking through the cell bars. “Don’t you realize the magic that lies in your veins?”

My heart pounded faster. All Veridians had magic. We were born with a single type based on our bloodline and which of the six provinces we were from. I was from Drakorum, so I should have only been born with Shifter magic, just as everyone else here was.

But I wasn’t like the rest of them.

I balled my hands at my sides. “I want to see my mother.”

“Of course, you do.” Malek Mortep tapped one of the bars with a long, cracked nail. “Behave for me, and you may get to see your family again.”

Fear and wrath thrashed against my magic, which responded to my heightened emotions. Shadows billowed around my feet and twisted up my legs until they reached my hands. Lightning crackled between my fingers. I lunged for the bars again, heating the metal with phoenix fire. It had only been three years since I first shifted, but my firebird was as strong as ever. It strained to burst straight from my chest.

Metal hissed as it melted, liquifying before my very eyes. As the molten silver dripped down my arm, I lashed out a hand and gripped Mortep’s throat.

“I don’t care who you are. Let. Me. Go,” I fumed, pushing heat into my fingertips until I smelled burning flesh.

But the man simply smiled. “I suppose we’ll have to build something stronger than this,” he forced out, that smirk still on his features, “to cage you, little bird.”

Before I could act, he pulled a syringe from his pocket and plunged it into my outstretched arm.

Blinding pain tore through me. I staggered back with a yelp as my vision went gray. The world around me dimmed, and it took all my willpower to stay conscious.