pdf - From the Ashes.PDF by Linda Eberharter Read Free Book Online Page B

begun. He heard her screams and loud crashes as things unknown hurled into the wall. He kept repeating to himself that it was an illusion, that no harm could come to her, but his neck ached, a stinging reminder that the rules had changed. No one’s physical body had ever received a wound in Liemmos , the sleepless place. This torture was unheard of; the mental projection of a body might be harmed, but the physical body had always remained intact. Yet, he and Cilia both bore the marks inflicted on them. Fiach shuddered; if Cilia were to die there, her spirit would remain trapped while her body aged and died without the fire of her soul to animate it.
    Rois announced with a shiver, “I must leave you now. Danu, be merciful.”
    Fiach tensed as frigid air blasted his face and neck. He sat motionless and waited for its source to be revealed. A long serpentine neck came into view followed by a bulbous body and tiny, clawed feet. A clubbed tail twitched and thumped solidly into the wall.
    The large, disproportioned head swung around; its eyes gleamed. It was a dragon; on an elemental level, Fiach recognized this creature as his enemy. A dragon cast in ice, the nemesis of his being that was forged in flame.
    “Your mate was most … exhilarating.” It rasped between its too large teeth.
    Terror balled in Fiach’s stomach. Cilia’s room was silent now. He looked again at the dragon and saw red stains on its lips and claws. It wasn’t possible. He would know if something happened to her, wouldn’t he?
    “I’m not taking the bait, dragon.”
    “No bait, just truth.” The forked tongue flicked out and licked across its reddened snout. “You have tasted her blood? It has a slow burn going down and is spiced, like cinnamon.”
    All rational thought left Fiach. His fists balled, and his body erupted into flame. He flew forward, propelled not by his wings, but by his fire. His clothing disintegrated, and his skin shed until he was a living flame.
    The dragon snapped its jaws, but Fiach barreled into its side and listened to its roar of fury as his heat melted the icy scales of its skin. Its huge head bent around and bit into Fiach’s side; its icicle teeth pierced deep and splattered his blood on its snow-colored skin. The monster shrieked as the Phoenix’ fire consumed him. Fiach grabbed the dragon around the middle in a tight embrace and watched as the nightmarish creature streamed tepid water in lieu of blood.
    With a shudder and hiss of steam, the dragon melted into a pool at his feet. Fiach looked down and saw his own reflection in the red tinted water. His flesh rippled and flowed over him in the second before he dropped to the floor. He desperately pressed his hands flush to his side to stem the flow of blood.
    The double doors of his suite swung wide and admitted Cilia. She dropped to her knees and tried to replace his hands over the wound. Fiach grabbed her shoulders and forced her back to inspect the damage. She was nude and covered in the fine powder that marked the transformation to flame. One eye was swollen, almost closed, and a jagged cut marred the skin of her side where the dragon’s clubbed tail had landed a blow.
    He yanked her into his lap and sank back on his haunches. “This ends now!” he bellowed at the ceiling.
    Cilia tried to soothe him, but he yelled at the enchanted clouds over head. “Mother! I know the high court watches these proceedings. My mate will not be endangered like this!”
    Cilia caressed his neck and jaw; she rained kisses over his battered face. His lips were too bruised for kisses, so he held her tightly and hoped the worst was over.
    His mother’s voice trickled down from above. “Next is the final test. It is for Cilia to judge.”
    The puddle that they knelt in vanished, and they were at once sitting in chairs across the room from one another. A long, black velvet curtain draped over one end of the rectangular space, obscuring what lay beyond. Fiach met Cilia’s eyes and