Flame Stirred (Seeking the Dragon Book 3) Read online

  “So if you can do that… Can you make them English?”

  “Translating row 58 to English.”

  The spines shimmered again, and for the first time I was actually able to read the titles in this weird library. I scrambled to my feet and pulled a book at random off the shelf. I flipped through page after page of perfectly legible, English text. How cool! These little magic flourishes never ceased to amaze me. I shook my head in wonder at how awesome it would be if it were this easy to translate human books back and forth in my own world.

  But now I had another problem. Apparently a staggering amount of information had been written about sparks and magic. Many of the books were way too advanced for what I wanted, including the one I was holding. It was English, but I hardly understood it. I put it back and went hunting for something easier. Titles like A Complete History of Spark Theory or Metamagical Applications for Spark Mages turned out to be too dense and dry for me to read, even in English—and those were two of the simpler-sounding titles on the shelf. I put them in my bag to try to piece together later, but I still needed something more basic. Something appropriate for a college freshman intro course. Didn’t they have some kind of spark theory 1001 text?

  “Can you help me find the simplest book in the row?” I asked the orb hopefully.

  It dimmed and shuddered. “Indistinct query. No parameters provided.”

  I sighed. That was probably too much to hope for. I spent the better part of an hour scanning titles and opening books at random until I finally found one that I could kind of understand: Everyday Spark Magic. It seemed to be written for Aethlings who had a human servant with the spark, and it was a little less dense than the other titles, although not by much. It’s a start, at least.

  I slipped the book into my bag. “Okay, take me out of here,” I told the ball. The titles I’d chosen would keep me plenty busy for a while.

  It bobbed along, reversing the path we’d taken, and the tension that had gripped me earlier began to loosen as we got closer and closer to the well-lit entrance. The back of the library had been entirely too spooky for my taste—especially given the creepy things I’d bumped into lately. At least I was safe from the Eldritch in the Crystal Palace. Kaden said so, and I trusted him on that point. As long as I remained here, none of the beasts of the forest would be able to reach me.

  My light turned another corner, and I froze in place, my breath catching in my throat. The light continued on, blissfully unaware that it was leaving me behind. Standing in the middle of the row was Prince Rhys, eyes glowing softly, scanning through an open tome. He glanced up from his book and spotted me, an expression of surprise flitting across his face. My hand tightened on my bag, and I took a step back while my ball of light floated over his shoulder and disappeared around another corner.

  Rhys replaced his book on the shelf as a predatory light sparkled through his eyes, his surprise melting into a wide, leering grin.

  “Hello, songbird,” he said. “All alone here, are you?”

  Ella

  Rhys stared at me in the intensely uncomfortable way he always did, like he was peeling my clothing away layer by layer using only his pale, menacing eyes. I took another step back, but there was nowhere for me to go. Even if I ran, I’d quickly lose my way in the stacks, and the only way to get away from him was to go further back into the library. I didn’t like the idea of navigating through spooky, dark corridors without my little glowing companion light. So instead I took a deep breath, straightened my back, and met Rhys’s gaze, pretending he wasn’t bothering me in the least. I hoped he couldn’t see how white my knuckles were as they wrapped around my bag’s strap.

  “Rhys,” I said coldly. “I was just leaving.”

  He moved closer until he was just a step or two away from me. He stood a head taller than me, but I forced myself to stand my ground anyway. Had I really thought he was handsome once? His eyes were so cold. I realized too late that he was peering into my bag. The flap had fallen open. I quickly moved to close it, but not before his trademark smirk had spread across his face.

  “Trying to learn about your spark, are you? How academic of you.” He shook his head. “You human girls are all so boring and predictable. Do you really think you can puzzle your way out of the Ether-Realm if you just read a few books?”

  “I may as well make some use of my time while I’m stuck here,” I growled.

  “There isn’t very much you need to know about your spark,” Rhys said. “Let me save you some time, little songbird.” He held up two fingers, one on each hand, and wiggled the first. “When you fan your spark, you’re holding raw magic. If you have the right knowledge, you can do all sorts of things with it. But the uniquely human talent that spark mages have is that you can gift that power to others by linking with them.”

  I studied Rhys suspiciously, wondering what his game was. Why would he tell me anything helpful about my spark?

  He hooked his fingers together. “Link with another human or an Aethling, and whomever controls the bond has more power than before to do whatever they’d like. Link with a dragon, however…” He bunched his hands into fists and then spread them out in an exploding motion. “It’s rarely pretty. The rest of it, all of that study and theory in those books of yours, doesn’t matter very much when your hair is blackening and your skin is crisping because humans aren’t built to withstand the molten heat of dragon magic.”

  I glared at Rhys. He was just trying to rattle me.

  “I withstood it once already, didn’t I? Maybe Kaden can control it.” I tried not to think about the rush of heat that had come creeping across Kaden’s bond while we were linked, before Kaden had severed it.

  Rhys snorted. “History suggests otherwise. If he’d truly unleashed his power during your little bonding adventure, you wouldn’t be standing here talking to me now.” He stepped even closer and crooked a finger under my chin, lifting it up toward his face, and I narrowed my eyes at him. He studied me, searching for something. “Valeria tells me that you’re far stronger than your spark would suggest. I wonder why? I hate when I give things away without knowing their true value. Wouldn’t you rather serve an Aethling than burn up in the hands of the Dragon?”

  I jerked my chin away and hopped back a step. “I’d rather burn up a hundred times than do anything with you.”

  Rhys frowned at me, cold eyes dancing with disapproval. “You can’t escape even if you do learn to kindle your spark and do magic yourself, you know. The Eldritch have a taste of you. Vash Olkarian knows your value. You’d never be safe with the humans now, and the Dragon will destroy you if you stay here.”

  “Aren’t you and Valeria supposed to be on Kaden’s side?” I demanded.

  “Kaden is on our side,” Rhys said icily. “And so far he’s barely proven his worth. If things continue as they have… but that doesn’t concern you.”

  I wondered what he meant by that. Valeria said that the Aethlings needed Kaden, but Rhys seemed conflicted. Was it just jealousy? He also seemed to think he still had some kind of claim to me, which I didn’t like one bit.

  “It sounds like I’m screwed no matter what I do, so why don’t you leave me alone to puzzle through it myself, okay? If everyone wants to kill me anyway, it hardly matters who ends up doing it.”

  “It should matter a lot to you.” Rhys’s eyes glittered. “Falling into the wrong hands can mean a fate worse than death. The Dragon won’t always be around to save you, songbird.”

  “I have to go,” I said, trying to push past him. But he held his arm out and barred my way. I blinked at him angrily. “Let me pass,” I said, annoyed at the slight shake in my voice.

  “Has the Dragon made use of you as his concubine, yet?”

  “Excuse me? No, of course not.” My face flushed at the images which flitted through my mind at the suggestion, though. Kaden looked awfully good shirtless. He hasn’t …used… other women like that, has he?

  But of course he probably had, if that was normal here
. I couldn’t quite say why the thought bothered me so much, but it did. “Kaden hasn’t been anything but proper toward me, which is more than I can say for other people around here.”

  If Rhys caught the insult, he didn’t give any indication. “Foolish. It’s his right to do so if he wishes to. I guess he only wants you for your spark. It’s even more of a waste.” Again he studied me in that way that made my skin crawl. I clutched my bag tighter and tensed. Would anyone hear me if I screamed?

  “Kaden will be furious if I don’t get back to my room,” I said. “And Rowan is waiting for me.”

  “Kaden is busy healing from the injuries your little jaunt caused him, and I don’t know or care who Rowan is. If Kaden is just interested in your magic, maybe I ought to claim the rest of you.”

  I opened my mouth to scream, but Rhys’s eyes blazed with their ethereal light and I found myself totally paralyzed. The telltale skitter of sorcery danced over my skin and held me in place. Icy fingers of fear skittered up my spine as I tried in vain to struggle against his magic. Why had I thought I’d be safe anywhere on my own?

  “Shhh,” Rhys whispered as he approached. “There’s no need to panic. I think you might even enjoy this. I certainly will.”

  Rhys stroked my hair and brushed a few strands back from my immobile face. I felt like a living statue—barely even able to draw breaths. Tears formed at the edges of my eyes, but more out of frustration than fear. I hated how powerless his magic made me. He slid cold fingers around my shoulders and moved me back against the stacks. My body moved mechanically, like a puppet, and I realized he must be shifting me with his magic. Only my eyes were free to move, and I scrunched them closed tightly. I wanted to scream, to kick and shout, but he held me helpless. I felt him tilt my chin up again.

  My eyes sprang open and swung wildly at the clicking sound of a heel on marble to my left. Valeria stood at the mouth of the row, staring at us.

  “Rhys,” she snapped.

  At once the glow left Rhys’s eyes, and I was free to move again. I fell to my knees, gasping.

  “Valeria,” he said, as though she’d merely caught us talking to one another. “What are you doing here?”

  She slid the book she’d been reading onto the shelf. “The same thing you’re supposed to be doing. Researching. Stop playing with the girl and get to work.” She shook her head and selected another book in its place, cracking it open to flip through the pages. “You’re an idiot. If Kaden knows you’re toying with her, the two of you will very probably tear apart the entire palace in the resulting duel.”

  I gaped at Valeria in disbelief. “That’s your objection to what’s happening here?”

  Rhys snorted, but then he shrugged. “As you wish.” He picked up his book again and leaned against the stack, resuming his reading like nothing had happened. My heart was still pounding. I climbed to my feet, shaking in anger, and swung my gaze back and forth between the two Aethlings.

  “You’re all insane,” I stammered. “How can you be okay with treating people like this?” Rhys was a creep. Him, I could understand, but I couldn’t believe that Valeria could be so nonchalant about this.

  “I wish you no ill will.” Valeria didn’t even raise her eyes from the book she was reading. “But you must learn your place here. You are Kaden’s property. If you were Rhys’s, there would be no reasonable objection under Aethling law against his use of you however he liked.”

  I stared at her in shock. This was her idea of treating me with more civility than the others? I shook my head, gathered up my bag, and ran out of the library without responding.

  Ella

  I’m a pretty tough girl, but my hands were still shaking by the time I got back to my bedchamber. I dropped the bookbag on the floor and threw myself onto the mattress with my face in my hands. The reality of what had just happened began to sink in. I didn’t even like to say it, but I had to be real. Rhys had been about to have his way with me. The big R. And there was nothing I could have done to stop him. The only thing that had saved me was that Valeria had wandered by at just the right time, and she didn’t even particularly care about his intent. She just didn’t want Kaden to tear him apart, and the castle along with him.

  My skin crawled as I considered how helpless I’d felt when I’d been caught up in Rhys’s sorcery—totally immobilized, like a living doll. It had been even worse than the first time, when he’d leashed me. It shook me up pretty bad to realize that he had that kind of power over me, and could use it whenever he might want to. Suddenly I was a lot less eager to go running off by myself. If Rhys could do it, that meant anyone with magic could…

  But that made me furious. How dare he treat me like that! I couldn’t and I wouldn’t let him control me through the threat of what he might do to me. I felt like my encounter with Rhys had been the culmination of every stupid experience I’d had at the hands of magical beings since I’d been carried into the Ether-Realm. Even with Kaden, I was still at the mercy of whatever he might choose to do to me, despite his assurances of caring only for my safety. I was sick of being a prize, a snack, and a plaything for every stupid magical jerk who wandered across my path.

  What I felt like doing was going to Kaden immediately and telling him everything that had happened. Who cared if he and Rhys tore each other apart and the whole palace along with them? It would serve the stupid Aethlings right. But Valeria’s story about Kaden made me pause. He was a refugee here, who’d lost his family just like I had. I knew that he wouldn’t let Rhys’s insult stand. But if I sent him into a fight with the prince of the people he was supposed to be cooperating with… I shook my head. After a conflict like that, he wouldn’t be able to stay in Alkazar any more.

  No. No matter how angry I might be at Rhys, I can’t do that to Kaden. I need to deal with this on my own. Forcing Kaden into leaving might even be exactly what Rhys wanted. Why else would he risk so much while keeping up a pretense of cooperation?

  I rose from the bed, picked up a pillow, and hurled it as hard as I could at the bureau across the room. It bounced off with a less than satisfying thud and landed on the ground. I wished it was Rhys I was chucking at things.

  The cover of one of my library books caught my eye from where it had spilled out onto the floor. It was the basic one, the one that just talked about everyday spark magic.

  The spark. That was the root of my problems. All of the trouble I was in, everything I’d suffered, was because of the spark. And with it, I could do magic. Even Rhys had suggested that. They all said I’d be in just as much danger at home as here—maybe even more. But what if I could protect myself as well as any Aethling? What if I could do the kinds of things that Rhys or Kaden could do?

  I scooped up the book and dropped onto my stomach on the bed, cracking open the musty leather binding. I skimmed pages as quickly as I could, trying to pick out hints at just what kinds of magic I might be capable of. A lot of the book focused on the Aethling perspective: How to link your human spark mage’s power to your own and use it for all kinds of powerful magic. I wasn’t interested in being some kind of magical battery, so I hurried through until I found a small section at the back about training your human for independent sorcery. My eyes widened as I read.

  The last section was filled with fascinating information: for example, that anyone could learn to do magic, but humans who had the spark were natural sorcerers in addition to being able to grant their gift to others. That explained how Mariana, Rhys’s servant, had been able to do a little magic when I’d first arrived, and how the humans the Aethlings kept around could use magic for menial chores. The book didn’t discuss what caused the spark or where it came from, but when present, it was always supposed to be triggered by a strong rush of passion for something. The more passion and emotion a sparkmage could summon up, the stronger their magic would be.

  As for what a sparkmage could do, the sky seemed to be the limit. It was all a matter of learning the right spells and shaping the arcane power the right way. The b
ook cautioned against letting your human learn any destructive or combat magic, which was not only dangerous but strictly against the laws of the Aethlings. I thought back to Rhys’s molten lances and Kaden’s fireballs, as well as the various spells that had tied me up and locked me down. I imagined knocking the smug look right off Rhys’s face with a well-timed counterspell. That was the kind of power I needed. There was something poetic about having the ability to actually control the fires that unnerved me so much.

  Whether or not I could use my magic to get back to my family, learning more of any kind of spell wouldn’t hurt. I wanted to learn more about this forbidden battle magic. If I could just get someone to teach me, maybe I wouldn’t need Kaden’s protection. Maybe I could send the Eldritch right back where they came from if they tried to hunt me down in the human realm. If I could learn to use my magic, I could open a portal back to my home all on my own and keep myself safe.

  I slammed the book closed, tucked it under my arm, and headed for Kaden’s chambers. His doors were unguarded, and I burst in without knocking.

  Kaden stood with his back to me, wearing nothing but a pair of black linen pants, staring out the window over Alkazar. I gawked again at his beautifully muscled torso. God, the guy was in good shape. But I wasn’t here to be distracted by his hunky looks. I coughed to get his attention. He turned to me, his expression angry, but it shifted to surprise when he saw who was at his door.

  “Ella,” he said. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon after the way our last meeting ended.” He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say more, but then closed it again. He was right to feel weird about that. I still did too, since it seemed pretty likely that letting him teach me to kindle my spark would somehow lead to him burning me eventually. But he claimed that it wouldn’t happen unless I wanted it to, and I’d have to be pretty crazy to let the dragon of Alkazar feed me to some kind of magic ritual. I might not completely trust anyone here in the Ether-Realm, but I trusted Kaden not to hurt me—not yet, at least. And I trusted him a lot more than the Aethlings.