Her Elemental Dragons: The Complete Series
Her Elemental Dragons: Light the Fire: Chapter 3

I looked for Falon again, but he was dancing with one of his sister’s friends, and then my eyes caught sight of a dark man standing in the corner with his arms crossed. My mouth fell open at the sight. Roth was here! I didn’t think he would come. How long had he been standing there? Had he seen me dance with the others? Was he jealous? Or did he no longer care?

I approached Roth in the shadows with a tentative smile. From this angle I could only see one side of his face, which was devastatingly handsome, as if he’d been sculpted by the Gods themselves. High cheekbones. A perfect masculine nose. A strong jaw. And the rich, auburn hair that was so highly prized in the Fire Realm, which I desperately wanted to run my hands through again.

But when he turned toward me the rest of him became visible under the torchlight, revealing a horrible burn scar that ran down the other side of his face. I knew it bothered him, but to me it only highlighted how beautiful he was. If anything, the imperfection only made him look better to me. Especially since I’d been there when he’d gotten it.

“Calla,” he said in a tone that made it clear he wasn’t happy to see me. “Why aren’t you dancing?”

“I was hoping you’d dance with me.”

“You know I don’t dance.”

“You used to.”

“I did.” He look away with a scowl. “Before.”

Roth had always been rather serious and quiet, but after the accident he’d turned downright brooding. Now I barely ever saw him, and when I did, he tried to push me away. The only times I ever spoke with him was when I found him working on the docks or on the rare occasions he brought crab to the bakery. I was tired of him avoiding me.

I gave him a hesitant smile. “Everyone is dancing. No one will stare, I promise.”

“No.”

I sighed. “All right. Then why don’t we get something to eat? It’s been ages since we talked.” My voice dropped into nearly a whisper. “I miss you, Roth.”

He ran a hand over his face, hiding his scars, a sure sign he was dismayed. “You’re very kind, Calla, but I shouldn’t have come tonight. I think I’ll just go.”

“No, please.” I took his hand and sparks danced under my skin. Once I’d thought Roth and I might marry. We’d always been close, and two years ago it had flared into more. He’d confessed his love for me at that Fire Festival, and then invited me out onto his family’s boat the next night.

When we were out at sea, we made love for the first time, and I’d never felt so happy before. I was certain he was going to ask for my hand, but then we were attacked by a water elemental. Here, in the Fire Realm, of all places.

The elemental covered my face with water and nearly drowned me, but Roth stepped in to defend me with a torch he’d lit. He managed to save my life and defeat the elemental, but the boat was set on fire in the process. While trying to put out the flames the left side of his body was badly burned, including his face. We were forced to abandon the boat, and I was so weak from nearly drowning he had to pull me back to shore, where he then passed out from the pain.

After that, he hid himself from the world—and from me.

I took a step closer to Roth. “I wish we could be friends again, at least. You know I don’t blame you for what happened. If anything, I see you as a hero. You saved us both and—”

“I nearly got you killed and I destroyed my family’s boat at the same time.” He gestured at his face. “Not to mention, I got a nice reminder of my failure, which I have to see every time I look in a mirror.” He turned to leave, but said over his shoulder, “Trust me, Calla. You’re better off without me in your life. And now I must go.”

“No one’s leaving yet,” Blane said, with a devious grin. Falon and Derel stood behind him, watching Roth with interest. “Not until I show you something.”

Roth cast him a skeptical look. “What is it?”

“Come with me and you’ll see. I promise it’s worth your time.”

Derel snorted. “Last time you said that we got so drunk we spent the next day vomiting.”

Blane offered me his hand. “Fine, I’ll take Calla by myself. We can have a romantic moment together while you three stay here with the crowd.”

“Where are we going?” I asked, intrigued despite myself. Blane was always getting us into trouble, but we all secretly liked it. There wasn’t much to do in a small village like this, but Blane always managed to keep things interesting.

“To the beach.”

Falon sighed. “Well, now we have to go to make sure Blane doesn’t get Calla in trouble.”

“True,” Derel said. “Or we could arrest him now and save ourselves the trouble.”

Blane rolled his eyes. “You already arrested me once this week. And you let me off, too.”

“I’m starting to regret that decision,” Fallon said.

Together we all walked over to the docks at the end of town, where I saw Loka dart off with another girl, both of them holding hands and giggling. I smiled, hoping she’d replace some happiness tonight.

Blane carried a torch and led us to the beach, where the dark waves were slowly lapping at the shore. I held up my skirt as we stepped into the sand, but then arms swept me off my feet from behind. I found myself in Falon’s strong arms and let out a gasp.

“Didn’t want you to ruin that pretty gown you’d worked so hard on,” he said with a smile.

“Thank you.” First the dance, and now this. I wasn’t sure Falon had touched me so much in my life before this night. Not that I was complaining.

Blane kept walking through the sand until he reached a cluster of rocks, well away from the lights, sounds, and smells of the festival. He bent down to remove a hidden sack and opened it up to reveal a dozen long tubes with pointed ends. Fireworks.

“Where did you get these?” I asked.

“In Flamedale on my last trip.” Blane was the only one of us who had ever left the village. His mother died in childbirth, and his father died ten years later after years of being an alcoholic. After that Blane took whatever jobs he could get in order to keep food in his stomach and a roof over his head. He was the best fighter in the village and often worked as a mercenary for traveling merchants or whatever else was required of him. Rumor had it he had joined up with some bandits at one point too. But he always came back to Sparkport.

“Did you steal these?” Falon asked, as he picked up one of the fireworks.

“It doesn’t matter how I got them,” Blane said.

Derel crossed his arms. “Do you even know how to use them?”

Blane shrugged. “You light this end with fire and aim it at the sky. How hard can it be?”

“You’re going to get us all killed,” Roth muttered.

“Then Calla had better kiss us first, just in case,” Blane said.

My jaw fell open. “All of you?”

Blane grinned. “Why not?”

I was speechless as I glanced between them, though I couldn’t help but imagine it. I knew how good it felt to kiss Blane and Roth, and I’d just been in Derel and Falon’s arms while we’d danced. I pictured moving from one man to the other, or all of them surrounding me, their hands and mouths sliding across my skin…

The five of us had once been best friends and practically inseparable. When you grew up in a small village it was natural to form close bonds with the other people your age, and for me it was the four of them. But when we got older my feelings for each of them shifted and grew into more. We began spending less time together, especially as we all became busy learning our trades, though I wondered if there was more to it than that. Sometimes I wondered if it was because of me.

I had the opposite of the problem my mother had when she was younger: I had four men I could see potentially marrying, but my relationship with each one was complicated and in the end I was with none of them. Besides, how could I ever pick one when I had feelings for all of them? Yes, even Derel, though I hated to admit it to myself.

I’d heard that in the Air and Water Realms many people took multiple partners the way the Spirit Goddess and the Black Dragon did. Some considered it a way to honor them and believed it was normal to love more than one person. But here in the Fire Realm we were more traditional and it was almost unheard of—I certainly knew my mother would never approve.

“Now you’ve scared her,” Falon said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Blane picked up one of the fireworks. “Come on, the town will love it. Help me light one.”

“I want no part of this,” Roth said, stepping back.

“Nothing is going to happen, I promise. Besides, there’s nothing here but sand and water.”

“And us,” Roth muttered. He threw an arm in front of me, as if to block me from the fireworks.

“Let’s do one and see how it goes,” Derel said. He was always the first one to jump on Blane’s wild plans, despite being the town guard. After he joined in, Falon always did too, and then Roth would finally cave in. And me? I was always happy to be near them, no matter what trouble we were getting into.

I watched as the guys debated the best way to light the fireworks. Eventually they decided to prop one of them up in the sand right next to the water, in case it went wrong.

But then a huge rumble sounded in the distance coming from Valefire. The ground beneath us shook violently, making me lose my footing in the black sand. I clutched onto Roth for support as the world trembled and the mountain roared. We all stared as ominous white smoke burst from its peak in a huge plume, illuminated by an eerie light coming from inside of Valefire.

The volcano had awakened.