Princess of Fire (The Light-Bringer Trilogy, #2)

Fifteen

"Again," Cal panted.

"How about we take a break for a few minutes," her father wheezed.

Cal extinguished the flames in her hand reluctantly. She hadn't realized how much she missed wielding her fire. She tossed one water skin to to Akaljot and took a swig from a second.

"You have more control over your fire than I expected," said Akaljot. "Did you train it at all?"

Cal nodded. "Target practice with Matias. Before Melania came and trapped me in that bloody iron suit."

He raised his brows. "You have a base for control, I'll give you that."

The snow glittered under the sun and made the clearing look like a winter wonderland.

"There are a few things I want to teach you," he said. "One, I want to teach you how to push your magic into your sword-Azar. I also want to teach you how to pull sunlight and wield it."

Cal's eyes widened. "I can do that?"

Akaljot smirked. "You can. And I will teach you."

"Which one first?" she asked.

"How to pull sunlight. Sunlight travels faster and farther than fire-and it's a lot hotter." He held his hand up to the sky. He brought his hand down towards a boulder, a beam of sunlight following his movement. She held a hand up to shield her eyes from the sunlight. When she lowered her hand, she saw that the boulder was nothing but a pile of ash.

"Teach me how to do that please," she said in awe.

"Close your eyes. Can you feel the sunlight all around you?" Cal nodded. "You are the blacksmith. Forge it into the weapon you wish to wield."

She felt the light all around her-calling out to her, warming her blood, begging her to wield it. She raised her hand, sunlight dancing in her palm.

I am the blacksmith. I will shape you how I see fit, she thought.

She opened her eyes and brought her hand down in an arc. She watched as a beam of sunlight, hot and white, followed her movements. It cut through the trees, burning them to ash.

"Holy gods," she breathed. "That was amazing." She turned to her father. "What else can I do?"

He crossed his arms, grinning. "Only you, me, and Lucas can do this, but we can 'see' dark influences on people. Dark magic specifically."

"What does it look like?"

"If it's a witch, it looks like an aura of darkness. If it's someone who is under a witch's influence, it looks like dark marionette strings."

"Interesting. Can you teach me how to do that?"

He pursed his thin lips. "I don't know. It just came naturally for myself and your brother. It probably hasn't come for you yet because your magic was dormant for so long." He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You'll get it in time, Cal. Don't worry."

The corner of her mouth quirked up. She looked behind him and saw Maria on her horse. She jerked her chin towards Maria and Akaljot turned around.

"Maria, what can we do for you?" he asked.

"Cut this short because we have more bodies," she said grimly.

-

The bodies were in an alley in the slums. Cal saw Matias crouched by one of the bodies. There were lilac half moons under his eyes.

She put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her. "Are you okay?"

He yawned and rubbed sleep from his eyes. "I'm fine; just tired."

Akaljot crossed his arms. "What do we have, Captain?"

Matias stood up. "Another twelve bodies. Eleven of them were all murdered in a similar fashion to the last twelve. But one of them-" He carefully made his way to the wall. "-there's no body. Just this."

Against the brick wall, there were scorch marks marking out the silhouette of a man.

"So our killer wields fire now? Just great," Akaljot groaned.

Matias shook his head. "Our killer would have used it on the previous set if he did."

"So you're saying that there's an accomplice?" asked Cal.

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

Cal's blood ran cold. Two murderers on the loose. "Can't we speak to the dead again?"

"I don't advise that," Maria said sharply. "Matias was already scratched and I don't want to have to keep an eye on multiple people."

Matias crossed his arms. "So how are we going to stop our killer? The bodies are going to keep piling up unless we do something."

Streets all around Zemlja are running red with blood, Maria had said.

"He's just getting started," Cal muttered.

Akaljot pursed his lips. "I should get home and send out messages to every available soldier and scout. We need to catch our killers."

-

"Where are you going?" asked Cal. She leaned against the door jamb, her arms crossed over her yellow silk night gown as she looked at Matias.

He was fastening his black frock coat on. "I'm going to help look for our killers."

"You don't have magic to protect yourself."

He looked up at her. "I don't need magic to protect myself, Cal."

She inhaled through her nose sharply. "Promise me that you will come back."

He crossed over to her and his fingertips were light as he tilted her head up to face him. "I promise," he said.

His lips brushed against hers, his fingers tangling in her hair. He guided her into the bedroom, closing the door with his foot behind them. Cal was laid down on the bed as Matias deepened the kiss. His hands were on her hips and they were slowly gliding up, up, up.

"Matt," she gasped in alarm.

He didn't listen. He kissed her neck, his hands continuing to roam over her body. Her heart pounded and she struggled for air. She gripped one of his hands, forcing it to stop.

"Matt, stop," she said, tears pricking her eyes. "Please. I don't want this."

His hands were trailing lower, lower, lower.

"Matias, stop!" she commanded as she pushed him off of her.

Matias fell onto the floor. He sat up, blinking rapidly and rubbing his temples. "What happened?" he groaned.

"You almost tried to sleep with me!" Cal cried.

His mouth opened and closed as he struggled to find words. "Cal, I-" he began as he got to his feet.

Cal waved him off. "Go. Find the killer, drink at a pub-I don't care, Matias. Just give me some space tonight, please."

Matias pursed his lips, a pained look on his face. "I understand," he whispered.

He turned on his heel and left, leaving Cal alone in the townhouse for the night.