Page 99 of King of Fire and Flames

For the hundredth time, I tried connecting to the elements above the dungeon. To move the clouds. Entice the wind. But once again… nothing.

I paced. Stopped moving, focused, and tried again.

Still nothing.

I repeated the actions until I was ready to smash my skull against the wall in desperation.

“For gold’s sake, what the fuck is going on out there?” I yelled, slamming a shoulder into the bars.

Power crashed into my chest and threw me across the floor. “Fuck, yes. Estella did it. It fucking worked.”

A moan parted my lips, my body shaking and shuddering as my magic returned. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and then roared closer as I called the storm clouds toward me. Blinding light filled the room before snaking down my throat.

I retched, then planted my boots firmly on the stone floor, forcing my arms out in front of me, breaking the chain between my wrists. I pushed a small beam of lightning magic through my palm and blasted the lock off the cell door.

On my way out, I swiped the persimmon from the ground, taking a single bite, because I’d promised Leaf that I would. Then I burst into the passage and blew the door off the cell containing my friends.

Raiden dashed forward and slapped my back. “Finally.”

“We have about twenty minutes.” I handed Esen an orchid petal. “Here. Start rubbing.”

She grinned slyly, wiping the petal over her face, neck, and arms, unable to reach beneath the armor covering her chest. “You have no idea how badly I once wished you’d give me such an order, Arrow.”

I snorted, handing Raiden and Zaret petals. They applied them fast, their bodies dissolving into blank space before my eyes.

“Let’s go,” I said.

Wings folded behind me, I bolted around a corner onto a long, torch-lit corridor where the stone guards waited, the sound of boot scuffs and ragged breathing the only indication my friends followed at my heels.

The guards’ spear arms creaked and moved as the magic that animated them sprang to life. I conjured two balls of lightning and threw them at their chests, ducking away from the spray of rocks and fine powder, their remains forming a pile of debris in the corner.

“Too easy,” Raiden said as I opened the only door in sight and began climbing a walled-in staircase.

Two levels up, the khareek appeared, stripped of the fiery bodies and their true fae forms revealed.

“King Arrowyn. Come quickly,” the female said. “We will guide you through the moat safely.”

“Escorts. Excellent,” I said, extremely glad to see them. “I was wondering how we’d get out of here without blowing up your moat. Let’s go. We haven’t got much time.”

The khareek nodded, and then led us through the fire water. In no time at all, we stood on the grass beneath a star-filled sky, the violence of my storm clouds rumbling above Taln Palace.

“Those fire fuckers took your chest plate,” Raiden said, his voice sounding next to my right shoulder.

I glanced at my bare chest and the feather glyphs flowing like veins of molten gold over my skin.

“Get to the hall,” I told my friends, wishing I could see their faces in case everything went to shit and I never got to look upon them again. “Run, and don’t stop until you find a soldier or six to kill. I’ll meet you there.”

As my wings snapped out, I leaped into the air, hovering above the ground with my arms crossed and my heart thundering against my ribs.

Esen yelled, “Arrow, wait. Where the fuck are you going?”

“To make a grand entrance.”

With a single, hard beat of my wings, I shot higher, hurtling toward the domed roof above Taln’s hall. Toward my Aldara. Zali Omala. Leaf. My forever love and the queen of my heart.

And gold help anyone who tried to keep me from her.

Chapter 31

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