Of Flames & Fallacies (The Arterian #1)

by Courtney Whims

“You’ll have to try harder to...

“I’m not insulting you, I’m desc...

“If you lose focus like that in a battle, you’ll either die or get an arm cut off,”

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?”

“No. What doesn’t kill me better ...

“Sometimes love is our greatest strength. And sometimes it’s our greatest weakness. It all just depends on how you wield it.”

“Ahh, so we’ve gotten to the ignoring part?” Darian’s voice is as soft as velvet.

“Are you expecting some sort of thanks for finally training the soldiers you were sent here to train?” I call from over my shoulder. “Because you won’t get one from me.”

“One night with you was more than enough...

“You’re infuriating. Is there a reason you can’t ...

“Because I know you—”

“You know nothing about me—”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I know exactly who you are.” He tilts my chin up to face him. “Be...

“I’ll never be li...

“Except, you are. You’re angry. You believe you’re better than me only because you think you can h...

“The only difference between you and I, is I don’t give a fuck.”

“Daeja, I’ve got someone following me in the forest. Stay hidden, and don’t come out.”

“Sorry, I didn’t quite hear that. Can you say it again?”

“How did...

“How did I manage to get so devilishly handsome? I ask myself that every day. Or…were you going to ask about my wicked intellect?” He leans back against the tree trunk and crosses his arms over his chest...

“You are terribly a...

“You thin...

“I kno...

“He just…I don’t know. When I first met him he was so solemn. Like a shell of a person. I don’t think I ever saw him smile. And now he seems different. I thought maybe he was just warming up to me, but I notice how different he is around you. It’s like the sun came out between the clouds.”

“I can tell from the way he looks at you and the way he talks to you. How his eyes light up whenever you’re around. He really loves you.” She sighs. “And I guess I’m trying to say I’m glad you’re here.”

Both of them are bent over and examining one of the carriage’s wheels. Behind the wheel is what looks like a dark, thick branch. Celeste grabs it, despite Finneas’s discouraging mumbles, and holds it up in the light. The sunlight ridges the edges of the branch and the sharp prong at the end. I’m unsure if Celeste and Finneas recognize what it is, but I do. Because I’ve seen it on Daeja. It’s a horn. Maybe half the length of my forearm.

“They say he was born here. The town commissioned the fountain to honor the King and his sacrifices for our realm.”

“His sacrifices?”

“Yes. His wife and daughter. His daughter was burned to death by two dragons. She was a toddler.”

“That’s…that’s awful. What became ...

“She killed herself. She couldn’t live with the pain of such a great loss. After the death of his daughter and wife, the King banished dragons, so no one else would have to carry a burden so great or face a pain of that magnitude ever again.”

But Daeja could never. Would never.

The name spins me. I’ve heard that name before. I remember the night I saw Cole at the inn in Blackfell—Darian had been trained by Jurrock. My father wrote about him, too—the one who gave the King a dragon egg. If Jurrock was her father, and Darian was trained by him…

“How am I supposed to walk in this without tripping?”

She giggles. “Very, very carefully.”

“Will I even be able to fit through a doorway?”