Page 55 of A Kiss of Hammer and Flame

Delicia narrowed her green eyes. ‘Careful, beloved. I would not wish for your mother to hear of your callous disdain for your betrothed.’

Thierre smiled. ‘Oh, she knows.’

Delicia’s eyes widened. Clearly, she had not anticipated that. She took a step forward, her ballet slipper scuffing his hardwood floor. Thierre bridled at the sound, at the audacity of her commandeering him, when all he wished for was to be alone.

‘Thierre.’ Simply the sound of his name on her lips was infuriating. ‘Are you really so unhappy to see me?’

Thierre turned on her. ‘You forget to whom you speak,’ he snapped. ‘I am not one of your puerile ladies-in-waiting. I am the one who romanced you, the only other in this room who knows exactly why our courtship failed – and it was not of my doing. Speaking of the upstanding lords of Luminaux, please do me the favour of seeking them for private “counsel”, as you did thelasttime we were together, and thelasttime I was away serving my kingdom. Then I can put an end to this farce of a marriage.’

Delicia turned from him and he was unsure whether she would cry or scream, both of which he had endured after learning of her infidelity prior to Kolyath. It was the last time that they had spoken.

‘No pithy riposte?’ Moments passed. ‘Then it is as I said.’ Thierre pushed past her, through his reception and to his private bedchambers, throwing over his shoulder as he went, ‘Get. Out.’

A pause. ‘Can,’ Delicia repeated, tilting her heart-shaped face to him, ‘nothave. Put an end to things, you said.’ A smile formed on her peachy lips. ‘Oh, my dearest love. Your parents have not broken our engagement, have they?’

Thierre froze, his anger churning. When he spoke, his voice was dark as he replied, ‘They will. In time.’

But Delicia had already left the room.

And time was Thierre’s scarcest resource.

CHAPTER 24

As soon as Cahra raised her head, she knew. She was no longer in her Luminaux guest bed. She knew this place by now, this place of darkness, and of death.

She was in Hael’s tomb.

Cahra cracked a puffy eye open and there he was, like a sentinel in the darkness. The fires of Hael’s eyes were slits, as if he were peering at her, thinking. She squinted back, hardly able to see him and not just from her recent tears. Then she registered everything at once.

Her warm skin on the icy tiles of the floor. Hael eyeing her from behind a column.

By the Seers!Yelping, Cahra sprang to her feet, yanking a threadbare robe that had been draped across her round her shoulders like a shawl. Once she knew she wouldn’t drop the fistful of fabric, she spun on Hael. ‘Where are my clothes?!’

One of his flames flared, as though he’d raised an eyebrow. ‘Where is your body?’

She scowled. ‘In bed.’ The flame rose higher. She rolled her eyes. ‘I was asleep!’

‘You remain so.’ There was a pause. ‘Is it customary, to sleep disrobed?’

Cahra felt her cheeks burn hot. ‘Not for me, no.’ Pulling the shroud tighter, she found sleeves and fumbled to dress herself, tying it at the waist. Then she folded her arms. ‘Why am I here?’ She squinted. ‘And why are you hiding from me?’

‘You are pained, Scion.’ Hael’s fires narrowed again. ‘However, I sense no injury.’

‘Cahra,’ she corrected. She couldn’t stand titles now. ‘And I’m not hurt,’ she said.Not physically. ‘My… my trust was broken.’

Hael’s simmering red flames burst into a nightmarish black, his silhouette descending into smoke and shadow. The air around them crackled as he snarled, ‘By whom?’

‘The Prince of Luminaux.’ It hurt, but Cahra found relief in saying it out loud. The crack in her chest began to ease with every word.

‘A mandrake playing at monarchy,’ Hael ground out. Then his anger seemed to relent. ‘Yet, unexpected. Given the centuries that I have been interred here, the game may have changed. And the tri-kingdoms are seasoned players.’

Centuries? She frowned, her mind whirling with questions. Like why Hael remained a disembodied black cloud when he’d never been before.

She was clothed, but he hadn’t moved or answered her question. Then she processed what he’d said. ‘Oh? What do you mean “unexpected”?’

‘In my time, Luminaux was the most loyal kingdom to Hael’stromia and the realm. They were peaceful, unlike Ozumbre, or Kolyath, in the end. I would not have believed the fruits of Luminaux to be deceivers.’

She hadn’t either, but here they were.