Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)

by Rebecca Yarros

“Right there. Those gasps. That’s what I hear when I wake, already hard for you.”

Shimmering onyx wraps around my mind and everything intensifies. A driving, pounding, uncontrollable need courses through me with every beat of my pulse, demanding an outlet, demanding I rip through the confines of the leather and trade her sweet taste for the incomparable perfection of sinking into her when she comes. Xaden. I gasp for breath, gripping the conduit so tightly I prepare for the sound of breaking glass. It’s his desire flooding our bond, compounding my own. His desperation. His power brushing against mine. I need to fuck her, to flip her over the arm of this throne and drive into her, but I can’t. I need her nail marks in the wood, need her cries filling this whole fucking house, need her knowing what I can be for her—anything and everything she needs. She’s heaven in my mouth. Flawless. Mine. And she’s almost there. Gods, yes, her legs are shaking, her walls are fluttering around my tongue. I love her so fucking much.

“I don’t like you thinking you’re not the center of my fucking world, yet here we are. And before you start another argument, I’ll fuck you later tonight. Trust me. I’m making a momentary point, not a lasting vow of masochism.”

“How could you ever love someone like her?” “I didn’t.” He shrugs. “You are the first and only woman I’ve ever loved.”

“That’s not exactly what she implied about your sex life.” “You don’t have to like someone to fuck them.” He shrugs. My jaw slackens, considering what we just did. His head tilts as he watches me. “As I recall, you didn’t exactly like me the first time—” “Do not finish that sentence.” I jab my finger in his direction. “On the other hand, I was already in love with you.”

I’d kick his ass, partially because that’s what I do when someone challenges me, and more importantly for implying there’s any other future besides the one where you and I are endgame.”

“Sorry to inconvenience you, but this year the role of Violet Sorrengail”—he points to me—“will be played by Xaden Riorson”—he taps his chest—“who will drag her, kicking and screaming if he has to, into a real relationship with real discussions, because he refuses to lose her again. If I have to evolve, you do, too.” He folds his arms across his chest.

“I love you. She will never sit in this seat. She will never wear a Tyrrish crown. She’s never had me on my knees in front of her.” His mouth curves into a wicked grin that makes me instantly ready for it to be tonight. “And I’ve also never fucked her with my tongue.”

Xaden loves me. He chose me. I will be the most powerful rider of my generation. Cat only has the power I choose to give her, with or without my dagger.

“Good idea. I could use a snack.” Andarna’s tone is indecently excited. “We do not eat our allies,” Tairn lectures. “You never let me have any fun.” I crack a genuine smile. “I appreciate the offer.”

“Are you in love with him?” he asks, his voice breaking on the last word as he pivots to face me fully. “Because Garrick and I heard the end of what he said in the interrogation chamber, and trust me, I might be in love with him after that declaration, but are you? Really and truly?” “Yes.” I hold his stare long enough that he knows I mean what I say. “And that’s never going to change.”

“Thank you, but as annoying as it is, I get it. We’re tethered.” I shrug. He kisses me quiet, hard, and quick. “For the rest of our lives.”

“I have no clue how far they’ll want us to fly.” I keep my voice as gentle as possible. “Longer than you’re capable of, Little One,” Tairn adds. “I made it an hour yesterday,” Andarna argues, because that is what she does now. Tairn could tell her the grass is green, and she’d eviscerate yet another sheep on it just to change the color.

“You killed him.” My shoulders dip in relief. “You killed Solas.” Pride and worry assault me at the same time, but I can’t force my shields up before Tairn’s voice fills my very existence. “Slayer.”

“All I want is you!” He flicks his hands, and shadows shut the door a little harder than necessary, sealing us in behind the sound shield. “If she dies, then I’ll take the consequences. If they can’t channel, I’ll take those consequences, too. But not you. Never you. Gods, Violet. I’m doing everything in my power to both respect your freedom and keep you safe, and you’re…” He shakes his head. “I don’t even know what you’re doing.”

“You told me that Sgaeyl was bonded to your grandfather, which makes you a direct descendant. If a dragon bonds a family member, it can strengthen a signet, but a direct descendant will either produce a second signet…or madness, and you seem pretty sane to me.”

“I’m a type of inntinnsic,” he repeats slowly, like it’s the first time he’s ever said the words. “I can read intentions. Maybe I would know what to call it if they didn’t kill everyone with even a hint of the signet.”

“The majority voted once we returned, and though the details of that vote are classified, I’ll break regulation and tell you that I lost.”

“You’re capable of hurting me in ways I’m not sure you’ve even begun to fathom, Violet. I might be skilled enough to land a death blow, but you alone have the power to fucking destroy me.”

“I love you,” I whisper. “You could throw my entire world into upheaval, and I would still love you. You could keep secrets, run a revolution, frustrate the shit out of me, probably ruin me, and I would still love you. I can’t make it stop. I don’t want to. You’re my gravity. Nothing in my world works without you.” “Gravity,” he whispers, a slow, beautiful smile curving his mouth. “The one force we can never escape,”

“Perhaps I will be the eldest of my own den.” Andarna arches her neck, tracking a flock of birds in the sky. I follow her line of sight, then quickly look away when the brightness of the sun stings my eyes, burning into my vision for a second and making her scales look a shiny, sky blue before I blink the spots away. “I’m still in my middling years,” Tairn grumbles. “You’ll be waiting awhile.” “Really?” She shimmies the harness into a more comfortable position. “I figured you were decades into your elder era. You certainly act like it.”

How? The wards—” “Do not block all power like the dragons want you to think they do! We can still feed from the ground, still channel enough to survive. Enough to fool them. We might not be at full strength, capable of wielding greater magic under your protections, but make no mistake: we are already among you, and now we’re free.”

“I will be where I am needed, and it is with you,”

“Was that a threat or a promise?” His eyes darken as he stands and ties me in, tucking the laces so they don’t come loose. “Because I have no problem spending our last quiet minutes this morning tangled up in you.”

“Promise me you’ll stay hidden.” “I can hide.” She backs up a step, and I blink… It’s almost as if she’s faded straight into the darkness. “Benefit of being a black dragon,” Tairn chuffs. “We’re born for the night.”

“Stay put. Marbh is below you, keeping watch over Brennan. If the tide of the battle turns, he’ll watch after you, but you have to go. Promise me.” “I will stand. I will keep watch. But I will not leave you this time.” She huffs a breath that scents lightly of sulfur, and my heart sinks. She’s seen too much for someone her age. “It was easier when you were a juvenile.” I give her one last scratch. Every dragon in our squad knows to take care of her if Tairn and I fall. But only she can make the choice to let go. “I didn’t listen then, either.” “Good point.”

“I love you. The world does not exist for me beyond you.” Leaning down, he rests his forehead against mine. “I couldn’t tell you that the last time we flew into a fight, and I should have.” “I love you, too.” I grasp his waist and force a smile. “Do me a favor and don’t die. I don’t want to live without you.” There are so many of them and so few of us. “We don’t die today.” “If only we all felt that kind of certainty,” I try to joke. “You keep your focus on the enemy and your life.” He kisses me hard and quick. “Even Malek himself couldn’t keep me from you.”

“You’re beginning to think—” Tairn starts. “Like Brennan?” I suggest as the wyvern enter our airspace. “Like Tairn,” Sgaeyl answers,

A shape moves in the cliff behind the dark wielder. No, not a shape; part of the cliff itself; a giant…boulder? A boulder with slivers of golden eyes. It springs forward from the cliff like a projectile, expanding, changing colors, sprouting wings and claws and black scales.

“I breathe fire.” She preens, flaring her wings. “Did you just eat him?” Cat stands but keeps her distance. “You do not speak to dragons you do not ride, human.” Andarna snaps her teeth in Cat’s direction. “You looked like a part of the cliff.” I stare at Andarna like I’ve never seen her before. Maybe I never have. “I told you I could hide.” She blinks at me.

“You made quick work of it.” “She did.” I point to Andarna as Sgaeyl and Sliseag land behind Tairn. “You breathe fire,” Tairn acknowledges, a note of pride in his voice. “I breathe fire.” Andarna extends her neck to the fullest.

“I’m buying her the time she needs,” Xaden answers, and my stomach sinks. “And they won’t attack. Not yet. They’re still waiting.” “What the fuck for?” Melgren snaps. Xaden’s hand tightens around mine. “Me.”

You’re going to love Violet. She’s smart and stubborn. Reminds me a lot of you, actually. You just have to remember when you meet her: she’s not her mother.

“But your home…” It’s softer than a whisper. “You are my home. And if we all die here today, then the knowledge dies with us anyway. Ward Basgiath.”

doing. “I should have listened when you said you were the head of your own den. That’s why no one could fight your Right of Benefaction last year. Why the Empyrean allowed a juvenile to bond.” “Say it. Don’t just guess,” she demands. Even a slow breath won’t calm my racing heart. “Your scales aren’t really black.” “No.” Even now, her scales are changing, taking on the grayish hue of the stone around us. “But he is, and I so badly want to be just like him.” “Tairn.” It’s not hard to guess. “He doesn’t know. Only the elders do.” She lowers her head, resting it on the ground in front of me. “They revere him. He is strong, and loyal, and fierce.” “You are all those things, too.” I wobble under the strain of wielding but keep my balance, keep the power flowing into the stone. “You didn’t have to hide. You could have told me.” “If you didn’t figure it out, you weren’t worthy of knowing.” She huffs. “I waited six hundred and fifty years to hatch. Waited until your eighteenth summer, when I heard our elders talk of the weakling daughter of their general, the girl forecasted to become the head of the scribes, and I knew. You would have the mind of a scribe and the heart of a rider. You would be mine.” She leans into my hand. “You are as unique as I am. We want the same things.” “You couldn’t have known I would be a rider.” “And yet, here we are.” A thousand questions go through my head, none of which we have the time for, so I give her exactly what I wanted—to be seen for who and w...

“It is why I was left behind.” She cocks her head to the other side. “At least from what I remember. It has been centuries.”

“You’re everything we dreamed you would be,” Mom says quietly, her skin paling even as Sloane’s flushes scarlet. “All three of you.” She looks down at Brennan. “And I’ll get to see him soon.”

Andarna is in the doorway, her wings flared to stop the flame that circles the chamber, flowing in from six above and the one who makes all the difference. A pulse of energy runs through me in a wave. The wards. When Andarna moves, my gaze wanders up the mended wardstone to the iron flame that burns black on top. It’s all that’s left of my mother.

Most generals dream of dying in service to their kingdom. But you know me better than that, my love. When I fall, it will be for one reason only: to protect our children.

“What’s out there that I should be scared of, Xaden? What did he tell you? What did you see?” What could he know that has him this shaken? Slowly, he drags his gaze up my body, and it feels like it takes years for him to just look at me. When he finally does, I gasp, my hand tightening on his in reflex. No. That single word is all I can think, feel, scream internally as I stare up at the man I’m hopelessly in love with. “Me,” he whispers, a faint, almost indistinguishable red ring emanating from his gold-flecked onyx irises. “You should be scared of me.”

We have tried every method we know of, as you requested. There is no cure. There is only control.

“Come on, shadow wielder. Turn. It’s the only way to save her.” “Fuck you.” I throw myself down the bond and feel Violet slipping, burning, intending to… My shadows slip, but the general doesn’t move. She’s going to sacrifice herself to save me. She intends to die.

He won’t get his hands on her. Not today. Not ever. The slush beneath my palm melts, and I feel… There’s something beneath me. A steady flow of unmistakable…power. “You cannot!” Sgaeyl shrieks. “I chose you!” But Violet chose me, too. I reach.