Promised in Fire (Of Dragons and Fae #1)

by Jasmine Walt

“May your flame never go out,” he said gruffly. “May your fire shine brightest in the dark,” she returned.

“So I can be trapped with the nightmares of my past?” A shadow stirred behind Einar’s eyes, some dark memory threatening to surface. “No, it’s better this way.

The Radiant shook his head. “You are now the keeper of this gate, and will remain so as long as you are alive. If you die, the portal will open again, and your kin will be at risk of a shadow creature invasion.”

The traveler turned to face me, his eyes sharpening with interest. They were a stunning green, with a gold ring around the pupils I’d never seen on any earth fae before. “A water fae,” he said, looking me up and down. “Don’t see too many of you in small villages like this.”

I didn’t know how Mother had gotten a Greater Fae to come and assess my magic, but the fae had spent an hour with me, and then told her that there was something inside me that was blocking my magic, twisting the pathways so that very little of it could come out. And that until that blockage was resolved, I would never be able to use it.

The leaders of the three elemental houses—Air, Water, and Earth—combined forces with the king to create a wall around the Deadlands to contain the shadow creatures. But the Air Mountains ran directly into the Deadlands, making it a weak spot that required constant defenders. And sometimes, creatures made it through.

eye scanning me from top to bottom with intense interest. “A water fae with the ability to wield fire,” he murmured. “So, the prophecy is real, after all.”

rushed over to the fae—my mate, an inner voice in my head reminded me—and dropped to my knees beside her, then hauled her head into my lap.

Her eyes fluttered open, hazy at first, and for a moment, we simply gazed at each other. Looking into those eyes felt like coming home, and that made me furious.

Why would the Radiants put us at risk now, after all they’d done to help us?

was a good thing the general did not know that this was not the true Spear of Destiny, or that wielding it came with a terrible price Aolis could rarely afford to pay. Not if he wanted to maintain the little control he had left over his own mind.

Could this be the one he was searching for? The girl of ice and fire, who would drive back the shadow creatures and unite the kingdom?

The shadows in the room flickered as he spoke, reacting to his mood, and Gelsyne’s eyes narrowed as the shadows began to lengthen. “Not just a traitor king, then,” she sneered. “A corrupted one, too.”

He clamped down on the rising hunger inside him, and reluctantly, the shadows retreated. For a heartbeat, he had almost lost control. That was unacceptable.

“How did you come to have a water fae for a daughter, Gelsyne?” He was curious to know more about the girl’s parentage. As Greater Fae with both the powers of air and water at his command, he was likely related to the girl, even if only distantly.

Aolis needed to see Adara for himself to be sure, but there was little doubt in his mind that she was the child from the Oracle’s prophecy, the one he’d been searching for these last two decades. Finding her was the key to saving his kingdom and keeping his seat on the stolen throne beneath him.

But though the flames licked at my skin, they felt warm and soft, like a lover’s caress.

“That’s impossible,” Einar said flatly. “You must have been seeing things.” He toed one of the beasts with his bare foot, his upper lip curling. “No one escapes the effects of shadow magic. Not even dragons.”

“You think King Aolis used shadow magic to kill the dragons?” “I know he did. I witnessed it myself.”