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“How many of you are here?” Maude barked, the edge of her blade pressing into his thick skin.

“Don’t worry, Princess,” the harsh voice of the raider she had fallen on rattled through her, but the title he used made her freeze. “Daddy paid us to bring you in, not to kill you.”

Shock rolled through her. Ice-cold waves shot out of her nervous system with every beat of her wretched heart.

Bring you in.

The King of Flame was still hunting her, and if this incident proved anything, it was that he had never really lost sight of her.

Rage, unlike anything Maude had ever felt, boiled in her blood. Her skin began to heat, the flames under her skin thrashing with the need to be released. Herrick was calling to her from the rooftop, unable to hear the hateful words the raider spoke.

Out of some strange awareness, Maude knew he was climbing down the wall to get to her. As soon as he touched down on the roof and began to fight off the other raiders who, per their instructions, were to leave her unharmed, Maude knew what she had to do.

Tapping into the forgotten part of her soul where she had hidden herself during her childhood, Maude brought hergalderto her fingertips. She almost groaned at the release of her fire, the ecstasy of her power taking over her rational mind. She would not kill them all, only severely maim them so they could not get to her or Herrick.

“Lover boy, on the other hand, he ordered us to do away with,” the raider went on, enjoying her reaction. His gruff laugh rattled through her.

His words shut down any remaining panic she had felt. In its place, the rage she felt toward her father multiplied until the flames actually broke through her skin. The force of her anger caused her flames to billow out from her entire body, burning the raider.

His screams only delighted the savage part of Maude’s broken soul. She stood up and turned to face the raiders in the house; her body encased inthe flames of her rage. Her hair blew around her face, loosened from the braid she always wore it in.

“Maude, don’t,” Herrick pleaded with her, hand outstretched and a sphere of water spiraling in his hand. “There is always another path.”

Well, that won't do,she thought distantly as her fire took over.

Maude turned her head to face Herrick and flicked her fingers in a swirling motion. The wind around them picked up Herrick and blew him a few houses over, where he landed safely outside her blast radius. He shouted her name, the sound of his roar forcing itself into her consciousness, roughly pulling her sanity a little closer to the surface once more.

But her fury shut him out before redirecting the wind to block out any sound from escaping her bubble. Maude turned back to the house, hergalderin full control of her now.

The raiders in the house were rooted to the spot as they looked upon her rage. Maude gave them a small smile; her teeth bared in a way she knew warped her features into something to be feared.

“Run,” she whispered into the deafening silence.

And then she detonated.

Herrick watched helplessly from the rooftop of the house that Maude dumped him on as she turned to face the raiders, a soft smile on her face. He could only hear the ringing silence of the deserted city around him; Maude had manipulated the wind to swallow all sounds coming from her destruction of the raiders.

She said something, and Herrick saw all their faces slacken for a moment as they beheld her in all her furious glory before they tried to turn from her,but it was too late. Maude’s fire exploded out of her, blasting the house into complete rubble and killing every living thing that was within her path.

And still, there was only eerie silence echoing around him.

Herrick stood on the edge of that house and waited for the smoke to clear. Waited for Maude to swagger out of her destruction.

Minutes ticked by, the anxiety and anger warring within him with every passing moment. Finally, when the air was clear again, Herrick spied broken bodies belonging to raiders scattered across the remains of the house. But still, no Maude.

Looking for the brilliant gleam of her scarlet, Herrick paced around the house. Unable to see anymore, he jumped from roof to roof until he could get close enough to inspect the full destruction. And still, no sign of the fiery woman to be seen.

Panic gripped him deep in his gut, pulling the air from his lungs in short bursts. Taking off on a run, he called out Maude’s name a few times but heard nothing except the reverberating silence. He thrust his hand out in front of him, ice shooting from his palm to carry him to the ground where he could comb through the wreckage, searching for the infuriating Heir of Flame.

Finally, he saw her. Laying on her side, Herrick spied that the edges of her clothes had been scorched from her fire, but her skin had been unmarred. Her hair lay spilled around her, the growing moonlight casting it in the color of running blood as it contrasted with the pale stone beneath her head. Her face was slack as if she was sleeping, and she had cuts peppering her skin from when the window had shattered. But she was otherwise whole.

The panic in him subsided only slightly as he saw her breathing, her chest moving up and down in an even rhythm.

Alive. She is alive.

Herrick crouched to pick her up, cradling her against his chest. Maude was still radiating heat, her skin almost uncomfortable to touch, but he weathered it as he ran them back to the temple.

What had caused her to lose her temper like that?