Page 86 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury (House of Embers #1)

The fire raging within me exploded, bursting from my chest. Luther’s hand stilled mid-strike.

His eyes bulged, and his muscles strained, clearly trying to move, but he stayed in that exact position.

The air left the room. The guard holding me relaxed his grip. I yanked away and scrambled to my feet.

I panted for breath. Every cell in my body tingled. I looked at the rage that slowly filled Luther’s eyes. The hall was impossibly quiet. Or rather—they were forced to be quiet. Frozen by my will. What the fuck did I just do?

That’s when I felt it. A rush of power swept through my body, but it centered on my upper right thigh. My Gift Mark. I didn’t know what it was, but I could feel it being etched onto my skin. My Rider’s Mark tingled alongside it. Holy shit.

I didn’t have time to waste. I grabbed the cane from Luther’s hand and threw it across the room.

I wanted to pull my sister into my arms, but given how bruised her back was, the movement would only cause her needless pain.

This surging power swirling in my veins—I knew I couldn’t hold it long enough to get us onto Umara’s back.

So instead, I sat on the ground and lifted Clara’s head onto my lap.

My Gift loosened its hold and freed Clara from its grasp.

She sobbed into my lap. How much of this was she even processing?

Did she know what I’d just done? I stroked her hair and glared up at Luther.

The man was a moron. I planned on fighting for Lusadia.

My only condition was my sister’s safety and happiness.

But now he burnt a bridge, and there was no going back.

Now that I had this power… he couldn’t hurt me when I could easily force his body to stop.

Maybe I should run. Except I could feel it—the strain of this new power sapping my strength. Umara snarled in the back of my mind, her rage fueling mine. ‘ Never again will he touch her,’ I said to her. ‘ He crossed a line.’

A roar cut through the devastating quiet of the room. The castle groaned, and piles of stone came crashing down. I knew, without looking, what had just happened. Umara easily broke through the castle, and hovered over me, baring her teeth at Luther.

My Gift’s hold slipped another inch. Luther could talk now, but he still couldn’t move. Not yet. His gaze darted between Umara and me, and he clenched his jaw. “You listen here—”

I smiled. “No, you listen.” I didn’t get up from my spot on the ground.

I didn’t need to. I wasn’t a wounded deer anymore but a dragon.

“The only reason I agreed to fight for you is because my sister got a better life out of it.” And look at us now.

Her quiet cries filled the room. “You don’t get to lay a finger on my sister.

Ever. If you try to again…” I looked pointedly at his raised trembling arm and smiled.

The castle shuddered again. Luther’s dragon, Saanvi, launched herself at Umara with an earsplitting roar. But she should’ve known better. Umara was older than her and stronger. It took next to no effort for Umara to have her jaws around Saanvi’s neck.

Saanvi froze, her glittering gold eyes looking at Luther for instruction. My stomach tightened as Kieran’s warning rang in my mind. As much as we liked to think we controlled our dragons, we didn’t. There was a good chance everyone here would die if it came to a dragon brawl.

I clutched at Clara. I wasn’t fireproof like Luther, and Clara had no protection at all. “You might want to call her off.” I smiled, doing my best to act like I wasn’t inwardly shaking. “If I have to, I’ll keep you frozen.” Because if I was going down, he sure as hell was going down too.

Luther clenched his jaw. “Let. Me. Go.”

“Swear it. Swear you won’t hurt my sister again.”

“Selena—”

I grabbed my knife from my boot. “Swear it.”

His nostrils flared. “I swear.”

I released control of my Gift. Luther staggered back and clenched his hands into fists. “I should have your head for that.”

I raised my chin and smiled. “But you won’t. You need me to get the dragon eggs.” My Gift might be exhausted right now, but Luther didn’t know that.

“I have five other riders.”

I laughed. “If that was the case, you would’ve killed me ages ago. You need me.”

His jaw flexed. “And you need me. You can run all you want, but you’ll never be safe. Not from Andova or Lusadia or what lies beyond the wall.” Umara roared, sending flames up at the ceiling right above our heads. Luther barely spared her a second glance.

“What are you talking about?”

Luther’s gaze flicked to Wes and the other guards. With just one look, the guards grabbed Wes and filed out of the room. Clara was already unconscious, a blessing in itself. “The wall wasn’t erected because Ethava rebelled. If only it was that easy.”

I folded my arms. “Stop trying to scare me.” But despite my blase tone, unease pricked down my arms.

Luther laughed, and some of his discomfort faded now that he had the upper hand.

“I wish I was. You and the rest of the public wouldn’t know, but for generations the rulers of Lusadia have had a note passed down to them.

It said that the cruel immortal King Faustus is detained on the other side of the wall.

The barrier is for our safety, because without it, he’d eradicate the rest of humanity. ”

“How do I know you’re not fucking with me?”

Luther glanced at Umara. “Because your dragon knows it to be true. That’s why she hates gryphons.

Faustus created them and unleashed them on our lands before the dragonsguard sealed him away.

The gryphons were intended to purge humanity.

That’s why they attack the villagers. They’re ordered to kill everyone who isn’t pure fae. ”

My mouth dried. “Then why are they attacking me?”

Luther narrowed his gaze. “Why indeed? ”

“The attacks…” The increased frequency of them. The urgency in which Luther sent me out. “What does it mean that they’re increasing?”

Luther’s expression hardened. “The barrier is failing, and we have to find a way to fix it before it collapses. That’s why you can’t leave, Selena.

For whatever reason, Faustus wants you dead, even more so than the rest of us.

Even if you escape me, you can’t run from him.

This problem has been brewing for centuries.

All of the dragonsguard is needed to stop him.

He won’t rest until humanity is dead, and that includes your sister.

But we’re not helpless. Along with the note, there was a box passed down as well.

Inside it is the key to defeating Faustus. ”

“Why haven’t you opened it?”

“Because for five hundred years, we’ve been warned not to. It’s a last resort—a war never meant to be fought. Once it’s opened, we can never go back to the world we lived in. But we’re past the point of hope. Once this is over, we need to open it.”

I looked down at Clara’s pinched brow. I wished I could tell him to fuck off, but I knew in my bones he wasn’t lying.

The fear in his eyes gave him away. It wasn’t just for control that he revealed the note.

No, he needed me. All of Lusadia might need me as well.

And there was a chance we still wouldn’t be enough.

“If I fight for you, what happens next?”

He grinned. “You save everyone you love from dying.”

“That’s not what I’m asking. I don’t care about everyone. I care about my sister, and you laid your filthy hands on her.”

“Then we can re-evaluate our deal. I won’t touch a hair on her head. I’ll overlook that monstrous Gift of yours. And in return, you retrieve the dragon eggs and give them back to me. We stop a rebellion, and then we stop Faustus from breaking down the barrier and destroying everything.”

Luther could be spilling bullshit, but I knew he wasn’t. It made sense. Why he was so excited about my power. Why the gryphon attacks kept increasing. Why they didn’t attack riders. And the wall… I’d known there was something off about it.

The play. I fought to control the muscles on my face.

The ‘great evil’ that was mentioned. Kieran had said his ancestors spilled some of the land’s secrets.

This was just another secret. My heart squeezed.

Did he know? I took a deep breath and straightened my shoulders.

Luther was right. There was no running. But I knew as soon as I left, Luther would take Clara.

My advantage was well and truly gone. This was probably the last time I’d see my sister for a while.

“I’m getting Clara settled in before I leave. ”

“Don’t take too long. The others need you.”

I gave him a vulgar gesture.

I ran a warm rag over Clara’s sweaty brow. Thank the Mother she hadn’t woken up. Though given her furrowed brow and pinched expression, her rest wasn’t an easy one. She lay on her stomach, her head tilted to the side .

Wes lay on the other bed right by hers. His back was a bloody mess. After I left to get Clara settled, Luther needed someone to take his anger out on, and Wes was an easy target. Wes had woken up when the guards brought him to the healing wing but hadn’t spoken a word.

My stomach churned as I glanced between the two.

Once again, Clara’s world would be uprooted because of me.

And this time, she wouldn’t have Wes. I itched to take her and run, to leave Lusadia’s defense to the rest of the dragonsguard, but with the information Luther told me, running would be a death sentence.

It made so much sense, and yet it confused the hell out of me.

Why did Faustus target me? What had I done to gain his ire?

I brushed Clara’s hair out of her eyes. “Keep her safe,” I murmured.

“I will,” Wes croaked. But we both knew it was useless. Wes wasn’t getting up anytime soon. And when Luther took her—because he would take her to use against me—Wes wouldn’t go with her. Not when he’d proven his loyalty to her.