Unleash the Inferno (Heart of a Dragon Book 3) Read online

  Soldiers leapt to do his bidding, but Sebastian didn't take his eyes from Kinna's face. What he saw there disturbed him. The solid set of her defined jaw, the resolution in her eyes. There was no fear, merely determination. A pit opened inside him at the same time as the earth began to shake.

  Small rumblings at first were chased by definite quakes as a roar that seemed to come from directly beneath the earth grew louder and louder.

  An explosion and falling stone threw him to his knees. “Jerrus!” he screamed. His hands went white with frost, and the entire balcony turned into a sheet of ice.

  Soldiers ran in confused chaos as they scrambled to discover the source of the noise. Sebastian slipped and slid to the corner of the balcony, peering around the edge of the building.

  Four massive Dragons, two Embers and two Mirages, crashed through the courtyard, spraying fire across the soldiers in their way, plucking up those who survived the flames and dashing them against the stone walls. The Mirages were positioned, one on either side of an Ember, so that the flames in their scales were doubly reflected across the entire gathering, picking up the myriad torches along the walls, encasing the entire courtyard in a flaming, writhing inferno of reflected fire.

  “Kill them!” screamed Sebastian. He'd been so prepared; how could giant beasts have navigated the low gates and lakes of the underground passages beneath ClarenVale? “Slay them where they stand!”

  Guards gathered in a frontal attack at Jerrus's shout, weapons raised, shields up, but the attack was too little, too late. The Dragons overran the company, and swords clattered across the cobblestones, stripped from their owners' hands. Screams penetrated the darkness, and people shrieked as the Dragons turned their massive heads this way and that, belching fire, their wings raised and ready.

  Sebastian ducked behind his throne, half-terrified, half-fascinated as he watched the powerful creatures in action.

  Kinna caught his attention, sprinting across the cobblestones, a knife in her hand. She slashed the ropes that bound Cedric, turning to the black-haired maid and doing the same.

  “Stop her! Stop them!” Sebastian shrieked, glancing wildly around for Jerrus. The courtyard was a mob scene with the Dragons orchestrating the action.

  Seer Fey song rose from Paik, but before the words could register, the Seer Fey slumped over as Cedric slammed the handle of a sword he'd gathered down on the man's head.

  “Seize them!” Sebastian screamed, emerging from behind his throne. Ice exploded from his hand toward his nephew, but hurtled instead into a soldier that had fumbled into its oncoming path. The man fell face-down, rigid as a board, his body white and stark. “Don't let them get away!”

  His prisoners had nearly reached the Dragons. Lincoln, the orange-haired Pixie, climbed aboard first, slumping between fins, all his energy used to sing a weak song that kept the soldiers just beyond reach.

  “Mautach! The Pixie!” Sebastian screamed, throwing another stream of ice. It uselessly hit one of the flaming Embers, and the ice splashed as water to the cobblestones.

  But the pink-haired Pixie he'd known as Mautach stood upright against a pillar, her gaze wide, unmoving, fixed on nothing. A sword protruded from her back, caught against the post, keeping her from slumping to the ground.

  No! “Brughale!” he screamed as he saw the dark-haired Siren emerge from the shadows of the interior buildings, her gaze taking in the confusion and turmoil, her eyes wide. “DO something! Use your gift to bring them down!”

  Kinna and Cedric each had mounted a Dragon. The orange-haired Pixie and his daughter were on board with the dark-haired maid that had been with Cedric. Kinna's lover clambered on last. The four Dragons snapped their wings outward with a deafening crack and lurched into the sky.

  “Bring them down, Brughale!”

  The Siren called to them, and Sebastian could hear the powerful accents of her voice, but it had no effect on the Dragons. They were high and higher, rising against the night sky, growing smaller and disappearing behind one of the dark ridges of the Marron Mountains.

  Stunned silence flooded the courtyard. It twisted like dark poison around Sebastian, choking him, stifling the life from his chest.

  “WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?” he shouted into the stillness.

  No one answered; no one dared to answer. Sebastian would freeze their blood in their veins before they had a chance to finish the last word.

  “Who allowed the Dragons access to the underground passages? WHO WAS IT?”

  Long silence greeted him. Jerrus, his Commander-in-Chief, stared at the ground, unwilling or unable to give account for the events of the evening. Sebastian pulled in a deep breath, preparing to release it all at Jerrus, but a soft hand on his arm pulled him backward.

  Brughale had hurried up the stairs, standing beside him now. “It was no one's fault, Your Grace. She was too well-prepared.”

  “Too well-prepared?” Sebastian couldn't believe his ears. “I have fifty Dragons alone chained to these battlements, prepared to stop any beast from entering the FRONT gates! Mautach!” He jerked his gaze to the dead Pixie, still standing upright against a wooden support beam. “It's all her fault; she was a mole, the greatest of them all, she claimed. Her one task was to tell me Kinna's plans. If she had—”

  “Then likely all this would have been prevented, yes,” Brughale said, softly. “But it wasn't, and now you must move past it, Your Grace. You must move past it before it swallows you whole. See? All hope is not lost.”

  “What do you mean?” Sebastian bit out.

  “Here,” she said softly, raising her hand and placing it on his chest directly over the Amulet where it burned against his skin. “You now own this, Your Grace.” She smiled up at him.

  Slowly, Sebastian covered her hand with his own, and the heat from her touch combined with the Amulet's, sending curls of sensation throughout his body. A shiver flew up Sebastian's spine as he considered her words. I am not so very weak, am I, Liam? A slow smile eked across his lips as he raised his gaze to Brughale's. “So I do. So I do.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kinna

  “Let's go down here,” Kinna called to Cedric, who nodded on Ember's back spans from her, signaling that he'd heard her words.

  Below them, the northern ridges of the Marron Mountain were a velvety mass in the darkness; they'd left behind ClarenVale and the screams of Sebastian's fifty or more Dragons and put plenty of space between them. The darkness seemed to swallow them whole as the Dragons glided lower and lower over the earth, finally billowing to a stop along one of the steep slopes that opened up to a canyon far below. Chennuh's sharp talons dug into the ground, balancing himself as the people he carried slid free of him.

  “Sebastian's Dragons won't chase us, will they?” Marigold asked. The girl shook like a leaf on the end of its stem. She'd wound her arms tightly over her chest, but her face was still pale, and her teeth chattered incessantly. Lincoln, exhausted and weak, pushed away from Chennuh and walked toward her.

  Sebastian's plan had just one flaw

  He'd chained his Dragons, wing and claw,

  To his castle, hoping that

  When our beasts came, they'd crush them flat,

  And not fly off beyond his sight,

  They'd stay, in chains, to win the fight.

  Kinna smiled weakly; Lincoln's magic immediately put the group at ease. The Pixie reached for his daughter's hand, but she pulled away and moved to the outer edges of the group.

  Kinna met Lincoln's barren gaze. Discouragement eked across his hollowed face, an emotion unusual for the Pixie. She knew Marigold's bitter past—given to a Lismarian steel-worker and his wife so Lincoln could pursue his calling as a guardian for the Andrachen twins. Marigold now hated her father, and Lincoln's efforts at building bridges were falling flat.

  “Let's talk about what we're doing next,” Kinna said quickly, calling everyone's attention. “Ayden, you leave us here to meet with Kayeck, is that correct? After her lessons with Sebastian?�
� She held out her hand, and he took it, weaving his fingers through hers, the warmth from his hand sending goosebumps up her arm.

  “Aye, that's correct. She's to give me an account of his lessons over the next days, and we can go from there as we decide how much longer it will take to destroy the Amulet.”

  “That we no longer have,” Cedric murmured angrily. “It is no trinket; Helga gave her life that we might gain it, and now it's in Sebastian's power-grasping hands. We may have to move our plans forward if only to stop him from using it. One can only imagine how it will give him unfettered power over armies and neighboring monarchs. He will put the whole world under his rule.”

  Ayden shook his head. “He cannot use it effectively until he masters the four Touches. That will give us a short window of time, but enough—I hope—to regain it and destroy it. It is, however, why it's important I seek out Kayeck and find out how much he has learned.”

  Cedric crossed his arms over his chest. “If only he hadn't been able to arrest us in the woods. We had only to continue robbing the payroll. Soldiers would have deserted, and it would have been much easier—”

  “Things happen as they happen, Cedric,” Kinna broke in. “Listen, I'm going to send word back across the Channel. We need Iolar and Lanier to lead the men we've gathered to Lismaria via the northern route to join with the forces we have coming from Ongalia.”

  Cedric's hazel eyes sparked. “Your mission to Ongalia was successful?”

  “Yes,” Kinna said. “Well, mostly, yes. We have yet to ascertain that the Ongalian nobles and their men will join us. King Bennjan has promised them, but that's where we need to go next, Cedric. We must map out our plans as we set up battle, and then we march.”

  Cedric hesitated. “Lanier, as our head commander, should be here for our session with the Ongalian nobles—”

  “Aye, he'll meet with them before we begin battle. But we must at least choose a battleground. The Ongalians are not far north, and they will have a better idea of the terrain than either of us, Cedric.”

  Cedric nodded slowly. “Aye, so we will go to Ongalia. The Great Dragons will help us?” he asked, his eyebrows raised.

  Kinna hesitated. “Aye. They were hesitant at first, but they did agree in the end.”

  “Why hesitant?” Ashleen asked, her dark eyes curious. “Surely they do not support Sebastian as King?”

  “Nay. They support no king. They have stayed out of the fight for too long, recognizing the danger and the disruption to their way of life that it would bring to try to involve them in a war of countries. They began to listen to me when I convinced them that the war would not leave their valley untouched, even should they wish it. Sebastian's power, unchecked, would overrun them in time, likely sooner than later. In the end, it will be as it was before—them in subjugation beneath Sebastian's tyrannical rule.”

  “What was the deciding factor?” Lincoln asked from where he had collapsed against a rock. “Beauty or wit?” He dropped an eyelid in a slight wink, and Kinna chuckled.

  “Neither. I promised them that I planned to break the Bond of Blood and Fire, and that it will no longer tie them together with Andrachens in future generations. After that, they had no further resistance.”

  “But you still wear a frown, m'lady.” Lincoln dropped his head back against the rock, his exhausted gaze assessing her.

  “King Bennjan promised his nobility and their men should I turn the Dragons, but... I truly wonder if he will. He did not seem eager.” She shook her head. “Linc, I'd appreciate yours and Marigold's help if you wish to lend it.”

  “You've got it,” Linc smiled weakly. “If I can manage to sing at all when we arrive.”

  Marigold dropped her gaze. “As you wish, Your Grace.”

  Kinna glanced around the rest of the company. “Are we all together in this, then?”

  As one, the company nodded.

  “Then let's go.”

  The Dragons clawed their way up the steep slope closer to the trees, and the group clambered onto Chennuh and Ember's back. Sperah was as yet too wild to allow any rider but Ashleen, and Luasa would take Ayden in another direction.

  Kinna glanced at Ayden, meeting his silver eyes that danced in the light of Ember and Sperah's flames. Tears clogged her throat; she hated goodbyes. Each time she said it—said it to Ayden—she didn't know if she would see him again. Too much danger surrounded them, and nothing was certain for the future—except their love.

  She tried to speak, but found she couldn't. She pressed her lips tightly together and turned toward Chennuh.

  Ayden's hand caught hers. “Kinna.”

  “What?”

  “Leaving without a farewell?”

  A tear spilled over, and Ayden's gaze dropped to where it tracked downward on her cheek. He reached a thumb to brush it away. “We'll see each other again, Kinna. This is just a momentary diversion.”

  Kinna nodded, but her gaze fastened to Ayden's boots. His fingers tilted her chin. “What's the trouble?” he asked at last.

  Kinna took a deep breath, and spoke past the lump in her throat. “The next time we see each other, if we do, will be on the field of battle—where both of us will put ourselves in front of our people and try to win a cause we believe to be just... but we are far outnumbered.” She swiped her hand over her eye, staring into the darkness beyond him. “I—am afraid, Ayden. Not of death, not even of physical pain. But of losing you.”

  “Kinna, you'll never lose me,” Ayden whispered. Slowly, he raised her hand in both of his, flipping it palm-side up, and curling her fingers outward, placing his hand over top of hers. “Remember when a touch like this would have meant death for you?”

  The warmth of his hand sent so much sensation up Kinna's arm that her mind balanced on the sharp edge of pain and wild joy.

  Ayden tugged her hand, pulling her against him. “It's because of you, Kinna, that I don't have to fear that any longer. Only you. If you had not begged me to free Chennuh from the Dragon's keep in West Ashwynd, none of this would have happened. I owe you my very existence. Before you, I was a dead man. You can't—you can't—lose me.”

  Kinna's hands went to the back of Ayden's neck, pulling his head down. She kissed him, pouring all of herself into it, reveling in the pressure of his hands behind her back, pulling her closer, the thud of his heart in his chest, bending her backward... and then she stepped away.

  “Peace surround your journey, beneath the Stars' light.” She turned and pulled herself onto Chennuh's back, glancing at the ground only after the Dragon had spread his massive, reflective wings and arched into the night sky.

  Lincoln sagged against the fin behind her, his arm wrapped around it. His other hand squeezed her shoulder. With the cold night wind in their faces, he sang a soothing melody, replete with Pixie charm. Though it had less effect on Kinna than it did for someone without Andrachen blood, it still calmed her wild, panicked emotions.

  Kinna swiped the final tear from her eye and set her thoughts firmly on the task ahead.

  When Allande moved into sight this time, dread twisted deeper into Kinna's stomach. The more she thought of her first meeting with King Bennjan of Ongalia and his nobles, the less certain she was that he would agree to send his men as reinforcements for the small rebellion she and Cedric were leading. He had promised her he'd lend his men if they could gain the help of the Dragons, but the cynical gleam in his eye when he'd said the words had told her he did not truly believe she would do such a thing. Lord Fellowes's words from the last time they'd spoken filtered through her mind. He will be reluctant, I think, to embroil his country in a war he'd hoped to avoid. Now that Kinna had extracted a promise from the Dragons to lend her their aid... would Bennjan agree?

  Chennuh banked toward the eastern fields outside of Allande that rippled with the long, brown grasses of winter, circling until he landed gently in the middle of them, waiting for Ember and Sperah to do the same.

  Kinna clambered off the Dragon, her hand smoothing over hi
s scales as he turned his great head to her and blew a hot breath across her face. “We'll be back soon,” she murmured. His worried thoughts blended with her own as she saw Luasa centered in them. “Soon,” she said. “We'll get back to them as soon as we can.”

  The procession walked to the eastern gates of Allande, presenting themselves to the sentries before making their way up the steep central road to the palace at the crest of the hill. By the time they reached the top, both Lincoln and Marigold were sagging. The steward who met them at the doors was the same who had taken her in to the palace before, and Kinna saw recognition flare in his eyes. She spoke first. “Please take these two Pixies to the apothecary and get some food into them. They have been many days without sustenance.”

  The man looked stunned, but did not argue. “I will show you into the King's audience room first, Your Grace, if you... and the others... will follow me.”

  The steward led them into a long room lined with hewn boards that ran from one end of the room to the other. A thick oaken table stretched through the middle of the room all the way down to a roaring fireplace at the end.

  “If you'll come this way, please.” The steward motioned to Lincoln and Marigold, and casting apprehensive glances at Kinna, they followed him.

  Cedric paced beside the table, his hands fidgeting behind his back, his eyebrows bunched together.

  “Cedric, sit down, you're making me nervous,” Kinna said.

  “We need Lanier to be here.”

  “He'll come.”

  “He's not here right now, and now is when we need his input. What experience do either of us have marshaling troops? None.”

  “You were the Commander of Sebastian's armies for a short while,” Kinna snapped, losing patience.