had passed in his sleep, holding his beloved close to his heart. Hadrian buried them beside his parents and fashioned a marker for their grave, using the skills Darian had taught him and his own dragonfire. He made a heart of steel and fire, not unlike the one that was already there.”
Rania recognized the second marker that she’d seen in the clearing. The vision changed quickly, the cottage becoming a mill and then the lair that she recognized as Hadrian’s home.
“And then Hadrian claimed that hut as his home and his lair, for his people had lived there since the dawn of time, and they would remain there ever after.”
A bright orb appeared in the middle of the vision. It became brighter and whiter until Rania had to close her eyes. When she opened them again, the vision had faded along with the light. Alasdair exhaled and the cloud of fog vanished, as if it had been dissipated in the wind.
There was a shimmer of blue light and Alasdair shifted shape, taking his human form once again. He appealed to Rania. “So, you see, my cousin has a legacy to defend, and the firestorm, once it sparks, has to be fulfilled. Take me instead. Fulfill your quota, free your brothers, and make a partnership with Hadrian.”
“But...”
“Give me the kiss of death, Rania,” Alasdair insisted as Balthasar looked on. “I volunteer to be the Pyr who dies. Just as our fathers defended each other’s firestorms, I would defend Hadrian’s.”
“You don’t understand,” she told him. “I can’t do that, not anymore.”
But before she could explain, Balthasar tilted his head, listening. “There’s no sound from the studio. Do you think Hadrian’s okay?”
Alasdair straightened with alarm. “Do you smell smoke?”
Nine
The door to Hadrian’s studio was locked. Smoke emerged from the gap under the door and Rania could hear the crackle of flames on the other side. Alasdair and Balthasar broke down the door by force, then kicked it into Hadrian’s studio.
They were greeted by a wall of flames. It was impossible to believe that anyone could survive such an inferno. Rania was amazed they hadn’t heard the fire start. She stepped forward, even as Alasdair held her back, then pointed at a fallen figure before the forge. “There!” Hadrian could just be discerned through the smoke.
Balthasar had already run to get the hose from the garden and he turned it on the fire, slowly creating a path toward the glowing forge. Alasdair and Rania were right behind him, even though Alasdair wanted her to wait behind. She felt responsible for Hadrian’s injury, whatever it was, and negligent for listening to a story instead of paying closer attention. Alasdair cleared away wood and burning debris, ensuring that they’d have a safe path back out of the studio. As they made their way closer, Rania saw that work tables had been tipped and smashed. How could they have missed the sound of this destruction? The Pyr had keen senses and she was observant. It made no sense, but she’d think about it later.
She saw the crucible in the forge, filled with molten metal, and turned to look for Hadrian’s blades. There was no sign of them.
Was this her fault? Had there been no sound because the Fae had come to interfere with Hadrian’s work, because of what she’d told Maeve? Or had they come for vengeance? She couldn’t see the Fae sword either.
They reached Hadrian just as the roof crackled overhead.
Balthasar shouted a warning and Alasdair shifted shape in a flash of pale blue light, taking his dragon form in a flash. He scooped up Hadrian’s inert form and grabbed Rania too, then jumped toward the breaking roof. He shattered the joists with his back and sent burning rafters tumbling back into the studio as he soared into the sky. Balthasar abandoned the hose and shifted shape, as well, his citrine and gold form appearing through the hole in the roof immediately after Alasdair.
Alasdair landed in the river with a splash, letting the water run over his back where the fire had singed his scales. Balthasar shifted shape before he landed and immediately went to Hadrian.
Rania feared that she knew what he would find. She’d already noticed that there wasn’t a glimmer of white light between herself and Hadrian. She could guess that the firestorm was extinguished because Hadrian was dead.
He also appeared to be frozen. He was in his human form, coated with a layer of ice. That also made no sense, given conditions in