Page 29 of Kiss of Fire

“What happened to the jotnar?” he asked abruptly. Shakily, she tucked her hair behind one ear.

“Asleep, about a kilometre up the mountain.”

Shade left the hut. It was barely dawn and the heat of his body formed wreaths of steam in the cold morning air. His wings unfurled and without a word he took off, gliding gracefully uphill.

“Hey! What about me?” Raya watched him disappear. “Bastard.”

She pulled on her coat and closed the door to the lodge. Then she set off towards the Gatekeeper’s hut, cursing Shade every step of the way.

Twelve

“And then he just left me there!”

Raya spluttered indignantly, though it was hard to keep talking when she was stuffing her face with Magda’s delicious fresh bread and salted cheese.

She hadn’t told her everything, of course. She’d left out the bit about the flames appearing on her hands. She still wasn’t sure if that had happened, or if she’d been hallucinating.

And wild horses wouldn’t make her tell about the almost-sex.

“Ah. Well, it explains why Lord Shadeed has disappeared off.”

“Disappeared? What do you mean?”

“He flew the jotnar back to the Gate and chucked him over to the other side. Then he went through himself. I don’t think we’ll see him for a while.”

“Why not?” Raya was mystified and Magda looked at her narrowly.

“I know you don’t know much about arrogant jinn, girl. But surely you know about men?”

Raya shrugged.

“I was locked up all through puberty. My experience of men is limited to patients with schizophrenia, arsehole orderlies, or doctors with saviour complexes. Oh, and Baywatch. We watched a lot of Baywatch, for some reason.”

“How very strange. Well, let me explain. Shade set off to heroically capture a ferocious giant. Instead, not only does he get knocked out, but a skinny female, a human at that, saves his life and incapacitates the beast. I expect he’s furious and embarrassed, and like most men he doesn’t know how to handle it.”

“He could just say thank you,” Raya grumbled. “My back is killing me. He weighed a ton.”

“One day you’ll have to tell me how you did it.”

“So what shall we do in the meantime?”

“What would you like to do?”

“Well…” Raya pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “Would you tell me more about Nush’aldaam? While Shade isn’t around?”

“What has he told you already?”

“Nothing. Not much, anyway. He said he was trying to take over the throne and he needed the fire fae on his side. But I don’t really know why. Does he have arightto the throne?”

“Yes, he does.” Magda nodded. “He’s not a usurper or anything like that. But the old emperor died and didn’t leave an heir. Shade is a possible successor. His father is descended from one of the Seven Kings of the Realm. But unfortunately he has a rival, Salaq bin Amar, who hails fromanotherof the ancient Kings.”

“Ah. So it comes down to who has most support?”

“Exactly. Salaq is readying his forces for war but if he realises his side isn’t strong enough to win, he will stand down. Shade wants to avoid war at all costs. He doesn’t want to see his people suffer. He isn’t like Salaq at all. He is by far the cooler head of the two. Which is ironic given he’s an Ifrit.”

“An…?”

“Ifrit. All smoke and heat and shadows, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. Salaq is a Marid. Exact opposite, his power is rooted in water. That’s why Shade thinks he can win the support of the fire fae. They can relate to him. But Salaq is sneaky. He’s promised more power to Aelfric, the Fae King, if he pledges allegiance.” Magda shuddered. “And Aelfric is a dark one. He’s… he’s not right. There are stories about him…”

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