Page 60 of King of Fire and Flames

“Sorry. I got carried away in the moment. Glad to see you’re still alive,” she said. “The whole Fire Court has heard about the Storm King’s feedings. There are wagers you won’t last the week before he drains you dry or fucks your weak body into a pile of broken bones.”

“Charming,” I said, guessing Arrow hoped the entire Sun Realm believed that and would, therefore, leave me alone for one of two possible reasons.

Option one: he had told the truth and was in Taln to help me.

Or two: he wanted the Fire Court to know he was the only fae allowed to toy with me.

The lost girl I had buried deep inside me preferred the first option. She hoped there was a sane explanation for why he’d sold me to Azarn and Bakhur. But the girl I’d become since—the one who killed her own brother after foolishly giving her heart to her fae owner, well… I just couldn’t let myself trust him.

Not yet, anyway.

If it turned out that Azarn was the reason I was trapped in the Fire Kingdom, then Arrow would still need to do a whole lot of groveling to be forgiven for leaving me alone in Mydorian for so long. And, also, for being such a shitty letter writer.

I rubbed the Aldara mark on my neck. It seemed suspiciously convenient for Arrow that the bond that allowed us to converse in our minds only renewed while he drank my blood. He knew the act made me lose my mind and burn for him, which made me all the easier to manipulate.

Self-disgust filled me. How could I fall so effortlessly under his spell again?

I stumbled over a rock and grabbed Esen’s arm to regain balance.

“It strikes me as odd that you claim to be glad I’m alive when you’ve tried to murder me at least once… that I know about. I thought you hated me and only cared about how fast you could gain the approval of whichever king you happened to be colluding with at the time.”

“Perhaps I’ve seen the error of my ways.” She jumped off a slab of rock onto the path below that zigzagged down the side of the cliff, then held her hand out and helped me leap down to join her.

Stopping for a moment, I checked if I could feel tendrils of Melaya’s magic slithering over my skin. Finding nothing that indicated he might be listening in, I continued. “I’m searching for the fire cave hidden in these cliffs,” I said, pondering if it was stupid to trust her with my mission. But if she ratted me out to Azarn, I’d just blame my curious nature. “Ruhh showed me the dust-damned thing the other night, but now it’s disappeared. I can hear its fire sizzling in the rain, so it must be close by, but the paths I’ve tried so far just lead me in circles. Can you help me find it?”

She shot me a narrowed glance, then helped me navigate around a salt bush blocking the path, showing me how to cling to its trunk and swing out over the tumultuous sea far below. I followed her method while trying to erase the image of my body smashed to gory pieces on the rocks.

When we were safely on the path again, she asked, “Why do you wish to visit the cave so badly? There’s a reason why it’s off limits to the likes of you.”

“I’m curious. I only want a quick look inside.”

She laughed. “You might regret your curiosity. It’s dangerous in there, and once you’ve seen something horrible, it can’t be unseen and will haunt you every time you close your eyes.”

I shook my head. Fae were so dramatic. “Sounds like you’re speaking from experience, Esen.”

A salty wind whipped my hair over my eyes for the hundredth time today, the rain still pouring and slowing our progress as we wound down the side of the cliff.

About a third of the way down, Esen put her palm out to stop me. “Okay. We’re here.”

Heart hammering, I scanned the black cliffs and a clutch of emerald-green birds roosting in a craggy nook. “I don’t see anything.”

Esen smirked. “Watch closely.” She muttered a spell, and a golden phoenix-shaped sigil appeared in midair. When it dissipated and the smoky haze cleared, the mouth of a large cave was revealed, its interior shielded by a wall of fire.

“Why was I able to see it glowing from the cliff top the other night?”

“Because you were with Ruhh, and she wanted you to see it, which tells me that she’s up to something. Don’t be drawn into the ghost girl’s plots. She’s trouble.”

“I’m always careful around her.” I hiked an eyebrow toward the cave. “Lead the way.”

“You don’t look too worried,” Esen said.

“Perhaps if you told me what’s in there, then I might be.”

She laughed, tucking wet hair behind her pointed ear. “After you,” she said as she swept her hand out in a graceful arc, as if guiding me into a lavish ball.

Taking a long breath, I walked through the wall of fire. Although the sound of the flames crackled ferociously at my ears, they felt like a silken veil brushing my limbs as I entered the cave.

For a moment, I stood blinking in total darkness. Then Esen waved a hand, her magic igniting torches that cast orange light throughout a small cave, its walls charred from fires that looked like they’d burned for centuries so thick was the scarring.

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