Page 33 of A Kiss of Hammer and Flame (Fated for Hael #1)

She inhaled the simple stillness, the silence, her emotions no longer rioting at volume in her head.

And with her relief, she sensed growth, an orange flame in her core, radiating through her skin and into the dark around them both.

Here, now, she felt different, content for the first time in her life.

It was a void, she realised, of everything that had ever sought to drown her. It was a void, and it was bliss.

Cahra exhaled, her breath of sunlit warmth, safety and security. She couldn’t help it. She opened her eyes, smiling, forgetting all about Hael. Then stifled her sharp intake of breath as the being before her transformed from a monster to something else entirely.

Hael’s withered skin brightened to a dewy ivory, pale and smooth as moon-kissed silk, plumping with his muscles to fill his thewy arms and chest, the robust bulk of a warrior’s body that rivalled even Piet’s.

Black hair fell in sharp swathes to his shoulders, Cahra taking in the gracefully arched ears, the dignified forehead, the hewn nose and angular cheekbones.

Hael’s abundant mouth peeled back to reveal gleaming fangs as his lips curved into a smile, watching her watching him.

Hael gazed at Cahra, eyeballs glowing so fiercely with their ever-burning flames, the flickers dancing down his body. His voice was wraithlike, of gravel and howling wind, yet dulcet, honeyed even, as he said, ‘ Thank you, Cahra. ’

Hael was beautiful – hauntingly so. Cahra’s voice was full of wonder as she asked, ‘What are you?’

Hael knelt before her, clasping her fingers, then lowered his lips to her hand, kissing it with a tenderness she hadn’t imagined a being like him capable of.

His lips on her skin were sweet fire , leaving Cahra breathless and light-headed, the heat shimmering down her spine and rendering her speechless.

‘ You asked this of me, last we spoke. I am Hael, the Reliquus, “that which remains”. Sempiternal of this realm, and Vassal Champion to the Scion. ’ Hael stood, bowing deeply. ‘ Or in your parlance “the weapon”. ’

Cahra blurted out, ‘The weapon is a man?’ A man called Hael, just like the capital. There was no way that was a coincidence.

‘ Once. Now, it is inconsequential. ’ Hael raised an eyebrow, chuckling. ‘ And the Scion is a woman. ’

‘Inconsequential?’ Her head spun. Not a sword, or a shield, or any manner of weapon she could forge. The weapon – it was alive !

‘ It has never occurred prior. ’

‘Well, maybe the Scion has never been a blacksmith, either.’ Cahra braced one arm behind her, still in shock.

Hael quirked his chin at her, then at the tattoo on her wrist, as if she’d just answered some unknown question. He sat cross-legged in front of Cahra, reminding her of meeting Wyldaern beside that pebbly stream.

‘ You have questions. ’

She rallied her wits. He’d worn breeches underneath his robe, thank the Seers, but it hadn’t saved her from Hael shirtless, his hulking, marble chest fully on display, the rippling muscles of his stomach tapering down to…

‘Yes,’ she said, clearing her throat. ‘All I know is what Luminaux’s royals have said, and Wyldaern – the Seer – and I have barely had a chance to talk.

I need to know that what the Prince told me is actually true and that I’m not going mad!

Who are the Oracles and what happened to them?

How does the prophecy work? Why are you trapped here in Hael’stromia?

How are you trapped here – how are you possible at all?

How are we here, in these dreams, these visions?

And why did I craft the Sigil of the Seers? Why me? ’

The silence was long after Cahra had rattled off her questions.

When he spoke, Hael’s voice was gentle. ‘ Much, I wish to tell you. And much, I may. But some of your questions are for the Oracle. It is not my place to reveal that which is Hers. This is the way of the second omen. ’

‘So the second omen does involve me?’ Cahra’s voice was small.

Hael bent to her eye level and smiled. ‘ You shall find that everything involves you. ’

‘But WHY? ’

Cahra looked up into the fire-lit rubies of Hael’s eyes, so much lovelier up close.

When she’d first seen his flames, she’d felt as if her bones were trying to leap from her body.

But looking into them now, all she felt was awe and the same feeling in her core as when she’d met Wyldaern.

Cahra didn’t need to note eye contact, tone of voice or body language; none of it mattered, because in her heart, she knew that she was safe. With Hael.

‘Did you call to me tonight, like you did in our last vision? Is that why I’m here?’ The question seemed to come to Cahra from far away.

‘ No, ’ Hael said, surprised. ‘ I felt your pain, and I wished to intervene, but I did not summon you. ’ He thought for a moment. ‘Perhaps, it was you who summoned me? ’

But that’s impossible, Cahra thought.

I was asleep.

This time when Hael smiled, twin sets of fangs delicately brushed his lilac lips. ‘ Now, to your questions. ’