Page 49 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

“Why would you think it would be?” Ra asked.

“Because I was burning alive.” She looked at her arms and saw that they, too, were uninjured. There were no burns at all. Despite the fact she could have sworn her flesh had been burning while she had been unconscious, there was no evidence on her physical form.

“You felt the fire?” Ra asked, his voice suddenly full of a dark rage. Instead of getting louder, it seemed to get softer and deadlier. She’d always thought the ones who didn’t lose control in a fit of rage were much scarier than those that did.

Shelly nodded. “It was horrible.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Ra said under his breath.

“Is that a promise?” Osiris asked.

Shelly thought the smirk on the lord of the underworld’s face was much too smug, which made it clear that he knew something she did not.

“I did not say it was a promise,” Ra answered.

“That’s too bad. Maybe it’s time for a new dark fire elemental king. If you were the one to kill him, you’d slide right into his position.”

Ra’s face darkened. “I have no desire to be a dark king of any kind.”

Osiris shrugged as if it didn’t matter to him, but Shelly got the feeling Osiris relished the idea.

She didn’t like the sound of it. Ra wasn’t evil, and she was pretty sure anyone called the dark fire king had to be evil. Shelly didn’t wantthatfor Ra. No, she didn’t know him from any other Joe Blow on the street, but something inside of her rebelled against the idea of Ra being evil.

“We have business to attend to,” Osiris said as he rubbed his hands together. “Let’s get to it.”

Ra rolled his neck in a circle and pulled his shoulders back as if readying for a fight. Shelly turned to face Osiris and wished she wasn’t in a dress. No one could fight in a dress. Why she thought she could tussle with the lord of the underworld inanyclothing, especially since she’d never had a lick of combat training in her life, was a mystery.

“What business?” she asked.

“The business of your future, my dear,” he told her. “Unlike anyone else who enters my realm,youare getting a choice.”

“Ooo, I choose the other place,” Shelly said as she pointed up. “Pearly gates and all that.” She nodded frantically. There was no way in … well … in hell she would choose to spend eternity burning. Who would?

Osiris’s brow rose. “I’m sorry to disappoint, but that is not the choice you are making.”

Shelly’s eyes narrowed. “Then what are you talking about? Is there another place a person goes when they die?”

“Shelly,” Ra said, and his voice made her shiver. She liked it. Shelly turned to look at him and forced herself not to drool. He was yummy.

“What?”

“You aren’t dead,” he said.

“I’m in hell,” she pointed out. “Pretty sure only dead people go to hell.”

“Usually,” Ra agreed. “But your circumstances are not usual.”

She snorted. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? Apparently, I can’t do anything right, not even die.”

“You were sent here by the dark fire king elemental,” he explained. “He had you wrapped in dark elemental fire to keep you alive.”

She glanced down and then back up. “I don’t have the fire on me now. Why am I still alive?”

“Because I want you to be alive,” Osiris answered.

Shelly smirked. “For some reason, I don’t think that’s necessarily a good thing for me.”

“Oh contraire,” he said with a handsome smile. “It is averygood thing.”

---