Page 3 of Prince of Blaze and Embers (Emberveil Empire #1)

T he strength in my body fizzled away to nothing, and my whole body felt like it was bearing the weight of a giant moose on my back. A daze took my mind as the events whirled like a cyclone in my head.

Magic. I had just used magic. Me.

I tried to force myself to wake up from the dream, but the smell of burnt flesh still filled my nostrils.

This was no dream. My hands were trembling, not from pain—but from something else.

Something alive. My heart thundered like it wanted out of my chest, and the air around me shimmered with the echo of whatever I’d just done.

Magic.

I had used magic.

The word hit me like a slap—wild, impossible, illegal.

I looked down at my hands, half-expecting them to be glowing or scorched or changed somehow. But they were still mine. Dirt-streaked. Callused from years of scrubbing floors and hauling buckets. But they didn’t feel like mine anymore.

They felt… powerful .

A spark lit in the hollow of my chest. Not warmth. Not safety. But something sharp and addictive.

I had power.

Me.

A slave.

I didn’t know whether to run from it or fall to my knees in worship.

When we entered the forge, I got the overwhelming feeling my life would never be the same.

Sure, the smoke from the bellows smelled the same; the sounds of hammers hitting hot iron rang in my ears dully. This was my home—and I hated it.

So, a new life didn’t really seem all that bad.

And as Garris led us into the back room immediately, all eyes from the other slaves were on Bella and me.

Even after a dragon attack, a fucking dragon attack!

They still forced us to work nonstop, pounding, polishing, riveting, fitting, organizing, sweeping, mopping.

As if dragons didn’t just set roads ablaze and fry innocent people in the alleys between. As if I didn’t just use magic.

Garris took us into the dark room, shutting the wooden door behind him.

We knew how this went now. I just dearly hoped he only whipped me and not Bella.

She didn’t do anything wrong. I was the one who talked back, and this time I didn’t care.

I could take the pain. I had done it before, and I would do it again.

What’s different this time is that I couldn’t get that voice out of my head.

Awaken me…

Was that real? No, Ash, you idiot. There wasn’t a voice in your head, and if there was, then you had bigger problems than the whip.

But that voice. It sounded like no voice I’d ever heard. It sounded as ancient as a mountain, as hollow as a deep, sacred cave. I didn’t think I’d ever forget that voice—if I lived through that day .

“You little bitch,” Garris seethed in rage, hissing through his yellow teeth as he pulled down the whip from the wall, uncoiling it with a sinister flick of his wrist.

Bella didn’t say a word. She was smart that way. Arguing always made it worse. Always.

I turned and faced the wall, torchlight flickering on both sides of me, casting a matte glow on the rock wall before my face. I slid both sleeves off my shoulders and down to my elbows, revealing my bare back to him. I heard him laugh in spite. He was going to enjoy this. He always did.

“Would’ve gotten her back quicker if you hadn’t disobeyed me.” I heard him take thick gulps of wine from a mug beside him. “Wouldn’t have been in that trouble in the first place. Next time you’ll do as I say. I’ll teach you the hard way not to give me lip.”

“She saved us!” Bella shouted. I spun to face her.

I shushed her, but her fists were balled at her sides, and she’d got that mean glower I knew all too well.

That’s the face I got when I knew arguing with her wouldn’t do any good.

“That dragon would’ve killed your miserable ass if she hadn’t done that back there.

She saved you! You’re only still breathing because of her. ”

Over my shoulder, I saw the confusion in his beady eyes. “That’s another reason why you deserve this!”

The whip flew through the air with a thick uncoiling sound. It struck my back like lightning—searing heat shooting up and down my body like venom. The pain overtook me, but I clenched my jaw. I wouldn’t let him have the pleasure of my cries. Not this time.

“Magic. You had magic and you hid it from me? Who do you think you are?” Hate filled every speck of his words.

“You think you’re special? You wanted to hide that?

Not tell me? There’s nothing special about you, you brat.

You’re a rotten, worthless, meaningless little tart who’s never gonna amount to more than the shite on the heel of my boots! ”

He slithered the whip on the floor back toward him as the warm blood dripped down the cool skin of my bare back. My lips quivered as I pressed my forehead to the wall.

You can get through this. You’ve been here before. The pain is temporary. It’s only temporary…

The latch to the door behind him suddenly clacked, and the door opened inward, pouring sunlight onto me and my exposed back, the shiny scars and fresh blood surely glistening in the light.

A pair of Garris’ men entered. They both worked in the forge, sometimes staring at me a little too long once they were too drunk to think to wipe the ale’s froth from their hideous mouths.

They were perfect for Garris; dim, dull, the smell like a raccoon that had been stuck in an outhouse and couldn’t outsmart a pigeon.

But they were strong, and once they got you by the wrists, there was no use in trying to escape.

“The whole town’s in a frenzy,” one said, waving his arms over his head, sweat pouring down his brow.

“She attacked the Blaze Prince.” The other swallowed hard, his eyes stricken with panic. “He’s gonna kill us all. We’re all gonna die…”

“The bitch used magic against him!” the first said. “He’ll burn this whole place to the ground because of her!”

I wanted to yell out that I hadn’t. I wanted to refute their accusations, but I couldn’t find the words. I didn’t use magic! But I did, didn’t I? I fucking did. Shit…

I had used magic. Magic. But I had to try to save the town. I had to try to save Bella.

“Magic wielders are forbidden in Allovan; any that use magic outside of the queen’s command are either turned or killed. It’s the unwritten law,” the second man said what we all already knew. “We gotta get rid of her. They might think you’ve, we’ve, been hiding her, and that magic, from the queen!”

“Wait a damned minute,” Garris said; fuming. “She belongs to me. I’m not sending her anywhere for free! ”

“Sell her to the crown,” one of the men said. “The Blaze Queen would surely pay for her.”

“You moron,” the second said, shoving the first’s shoulder. “The queen doesn’t pay. She just takes.”

“She’s not going nowhere.” Garris slammed the whip on the table beside him and took another wet gulp of wine. “That wasn’t magic. That was some kind of… trick! Look at her. She’s as frail as a mouse. I need her here. We’ve got deadlines.”

The men looked at one another, unsure. They shook their heads; one itched his arm.

Garris took one long, menacing glare at me. Beads of sweat poured off his brow like a deluge rolling down a canvas tent. His dark eyes were unwavering as I saw the hate brimming deep. The side of his face twitched, and he snarled. Taking a long gulp of wine, he finished the glass.

“You’re always more damned trouble than you’re worth. Maybe I will gladly take some coin for your worthless hide. Should’ve never bought you in the first place. Should’ve stuck with my gut and bought girls that are at least something to look at.”

“Because going with that gut has always worked out so well for you. So devilishly fit and handsome, you are, master.” I couldn’t fight the words as they erupted from my mouth. “Sell me, you rotten oaf!”

Instead of picking the whip back up, he hastened and grabbed the club by the door. It was sturdy and thick, not something I wanted anywhere near me. The only other time he picked that up, I hadn’t woken up for a whole day.

“Garris, no.” Bella used her soft, soothing voice. “If the crown wants her, they’re going to want her in good shape. If that was magic, then they’ll pay you plenty of royals for her, but they’ll want her fresh. It’s not every day someone uses magic to save a whole city. ”

Did I? Did I use magic? It sounded so insane. And that thing on my neck. What the hell was that?

My fingers glided up my neck, feeling for anything there, but there was nothing.

He suddenly hurled the club all the way across the room, tumbling end over end through the air, slamming into the rock wall beside me. It startled the shit out of me, but I swallowed my nerves, barely flinching.

Garris was as awful as anyone I knew, but he was strong as an ox, even if dim as one too. Always best to let him get his wicked energy out on his own.

The two men shuffled out of the room behind me. They knew Garris well enough to know talking with him in that state was like trying to reason with a wild boar.

“My life is gonna be so much better when your worthless little hide is gone. Let the crown buy you. Let the Blaze Queen torture you to death for all I care!” He rushed out of the room, leaving Bella and me in the quiet.

She rushed to me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

I stood breathless. My fingers slid down the wall to my pockets.

My heart pounded. My whole world was changing so fast. I did want to leave the rotten city.

I did want a life I could never dream of.

But I couldn’t leave Bella. She was my only friend, and as she squeezed me, I knew she felt the same way.

She released me and stood back. “What the hell are we going to do, Ash? We are really in a predicament this time. I don’t know how we’re going to survive this one.

Where did that come from?” Her hands flung out wide, shaking as if demanding answers I didn’t have.

“Why didn’t you tell me you could use magic?

That was amazing! Like, the most incredible thing I’d ever seen.

We would’ve been dead if it wasn’t for that gold that shot out of you! ”

“I—I didn’t know. You know I didn’t know. I would’ve told you if I’d known. I couldn’t keep a secret like that from you.”

“Well, I believe you.” She scratched my bare shoulder with her nails. “I still can’t believe it. You of all people, and here, of all places!” Her hands dropped and her shoulders slumped. “How are we going to get out of this mess?”

“I think I’m going to the capital… they’re going to take me away to Emberveil.”

Bella wanted to refute, but bit her lip instead. Her glacier-blue eyes and kind smile reminded me of a fresh fear.

I can’t leave her. I’ll never see her again if they take me. She’s the only person who cares about me in this rotten world. My stomach dropped, and an emptiness consumed me. I’m going to be alone. I’m going to be all alone again…

“I’m worried, Ash. I’m scared what’s going to happen to you if they take you.

Everything I hear about the Blaze Queen terrifies me.

This civil war has driven her mad. And her dragon makes the prince’s look like a puppy.

I saw her once, did I tell you? I saw the queen riding Brigodon, Lord of the Dragons.

She was far away, flying over the mountains, but it still brought tears to my eyes.

It was the most terrifying thing I’d ever seen…

If you go to Emberveil, I’m worried you’ll never return, and I’ll never see you again… ”

Again, she wrapped me in her arms, and I embraced her back.

“We’ve got until tomorrow to think of something,” she said, rubbing her tears away behind me.

But she won’t. She can’t. She’s a slave. She’s a slave just like me. I spun and sighed into her neck. It’s going to be up to me. I’ve got to get myself out of this mess somehow.

I want a new life. I had always dreamed of one, but being taken to the capital wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. Escape may be my only option. But I’d need to get out of these fucking shackles. There’s no way I could run with these on. They’d find me in no time. There’s got to be a way.

I heard Garris staggering back long before he barreled back into the room, shoving the door in with his fist as it slammed into the rock wall .

Bella didn’t back away as he strode toward us, wild rage in his eyes, and strong spirits stinking from his breath.

“Garris,” Bella muttered as he easily shoved her aside, sending her falling onto her side.

My pulse sped and my heartbeat thumped like a drum as I gritted my teeth. “Don’t touch her, you rotten bastard!” My throat scratched and vibrated as the words rushed out, inches from his disgusting face.

He was so overwhelming in strength and anger when he entered that I didn’t notice the new shackles in his hands until he dropped to a knee, placing the second pair above the old ones. He bound them and locked them so tight it took my breath away.

He rose with a groan, glaring at me like I was less than human.

“You’re not going anywhere until I figure out what to do with ya.

” Spit from his lips hit my cheek. “If this war doesn’t kill us all, and if the queen doesn’t kill you, then I’d take pleasure in making that rebellious glint in your eyes fade.

I’d enjoy wiping that smirk off your face, once and for all… ”

I wanted to scream. I wanted to hit him so hard his head spun backward, if for nothing else, for the way he knocked Bella to the floor.

But I held it in. Sometimes the best way to fight back was to save it for another day.

I knew that look in his eyes, the savage, bitter predator that was begging to get let out.

So, I said nothing, bowed my head, and he eventually staggered back out of the room.

Bella held out her hands, and I helped her up. She brushed the soot off her clothes and bent down to try to alleviate the tightness of my fresh shackles.

If they took me to the capital, I was dead. If they caught me trying to escape, I was dead. My mind raced to figure out a solution where it didn’t end up with dying, but they all escaped me.

The only thing that soothed me was having a friend like her in this wretched world.

Everything else was just misery.