Hidden Embers

Jane Burrelli

Description

Can blazing passion melt a frosty heart?

When the gods breathed life into us, they blessed us with an element. It's a pity they didn’t care to bless anything else.
The Empress of the Throne of Flames is assassinated. Acting as a decoy to protect the next Empress, the undervalued Princess Nymira flees to the north. She must now carry the sacred sword, the symbol of her people, and rejoin the new Empress.

It is a mission Mira cannot fail but first, she must traverse the Western wastelands. The journey is perilous and the once sheltered princess finds herself rescued by the Ice Lord, Zorren. He is the leader of the Iceari, the natural enemy to Firelanders.
Zorren is reputed to be a ruthless leader and Mira fights the attraction that blazes between them, resulting in a clash of not only their wills but also their elements. After all, fire and ice don’t mix. Or do they?

This is book one of the new Bride of Fire series. Begin the journey to a mystical world and the adventure and romance that awaits.

Publisher’s Note: This fantasy romance contains elements of danger, suspense, mystery, adventure, and sensual scenes set in an apocalyptic world.

Sujets

• Gods
• Kingdoms
• Apocalypticism
• Alpha (ethology)
• Obey
• Royalty
• Power exchange
• BDSM
• Mystery
• Kings
• Adventure
• Suspense
• Danger
• Bondage et discipline, domination et soumission et sado-masochisme
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: Eclipse Press
• Date de parution: 12 avril 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781948140096
• Langue: English

Extrait

Hidden Embers
Bride of Fire, Book One


Jane Burrelli
Contents



Character List


Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

A note from the Author

Mustang Wild
©2018 by Eclipse Press and Jane Burreli
All rights reserved.

No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by Eclipse Press,
a subsidiary of
ABCD Graphics and Design
977 Seminole Trail #233
Charlottesville, VA 22901
The trademark Blushing Books®
is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Jane Burreli
Hidden Embers

EBook ISBN: 978-1-948140-09-6
Cover Art by ABCD Graphics & Design

This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.
Never forget that it is only when the night is darkest that a single brilliant flame burns the brightest.

A special thanks to my good friends Helen, Vanessa, and the ‘Sarahs’ for encouraging me to never give up and keeping my homicidal tendencies at bay when I wanted to murder my infuriating characters.
Character List

House of Pyria


House of Valker & Nevar


Other Notable Characters
Thallenth, The Heir’s Guardian
Astra, Iceari maid
Lord Gunnar, House of Ivrea
Lord Barek Trastmarra, No House, Chief advisor to the Ice Lord
Lady Druskia, Barek Trastmarra’s daughter, married into House of Ishmael
Rhinga, Priestess
Tarf, Iceari Blacksmith
Prologue

Mira
“Y our Highness, quickly, there is not much time.”
This was directed at the young woman ahead of me swallowed from head to toe in a dark brown cloak. There were a handful of loyal guards at our front and back as we hurried down the narrow path clinging to the mountainside. I swallowed hard and I tried not to glance over the edge at the sheer drop. Slowly, we edged our way down through the swirling mist, each step surreal as I placed one foot in front of the other. This wasn’t happening, my body was calm and composed as I screamed within my skin and my fires spiraled inward. I could barely breathe.
There was so much blood.
Shock, I realized inanely, the shock I’d read about ladies suffering on occasion. I never imagined I would be so lacking in character to experience it. Bits of rock crumbled beneath our feet and echoed solemnly as they bounced down into the abyss. My eyes fixed firmly on the brown cloak in front, focusing on the simple task of keeping the bland patch of color in front of me. The cloak grunted and stumbled. A steady, bronzed hand was there to catch her.
“Watch your step, Empress,” Thallenth cautioned as my cousin, Xhara straightened. Her head held at an unnaturally high angle and fixed straight ahead in a painful, unseeing stare. Tension stretched over our protector’s familiar features, the slight lines in his brow emphasized. “We must hurry,” Thallenth’s hushed tones urged. We picked up the pace ignoring the peril of the cliff, fearing what was behind us more than the long drop beneath.
“Horses are waiting at the bottom, all of them fast and fleet,” Thallenth continued. “You will go to the south through the jungles with me and my best men, we will guard you with our lives.”
The new empress drew her hood back revealing a shock of vibrant red hair and rubbed her glazed eyes. “What about my cousin?”
“She will go north and then west over the wastelands.” He answered curtly, his gaze flickering away in discomfort. Xhara stopped dead in her tracks and I almost ran into the back of her.
“The wastelands are a death trap and they won’t think to follow,” she rushed out, an edge of hysteria to her voice until she took a steadying breath and reined it in. “I should take the northlands,” she finished, regaining her layer of composure.
“No!” Thallenth said emphatically. “You are too valuable to our people to risk.”
It went unsaid that I wasn’t too valuable. Although it had been drilled into me that I was the weak link in the chain, it still stung to hear it from Thallenth’s lips, a man I’d known for years. “Nymira and two others will leave a clear trail and carry the sword.”
Xhara’s head snapped around, hissing. “I am not separating from the sacred sword.”
But she would separate from me.
“The sword and heir must be separated until you can produce the white flame and lead our people. We need to divide their forces. If they know that both the empress and the sword have gone south they will concentrate their forces and there will be little chance of escape for you.”
Xhara’s dark eyes flashed gold. “With my cousin as the bait,” she spat in a harsh tone, nostrils beginning to flare. All the signs that she was preparing for an argument.
Thallenth’s face became unyielding granite and, in that instant, looked every inch the veteran soldier. “Decisions must be made with logic not emotions, this is war and sacrifices must be made.”
As long as the heir was safe there was no need for a spare. I glanced furtively over my shoulder, the fine hairs on the back of my neck starting to prickle.
The shrill screams of the dying vibrated within me.
We didn’t have time. If we were to leave, we had to leave now . Striding forward I crouched at my cousin’s feet in a gesture of respect and subservience—oh, how that action grated against my prideful nature.
“Empress, I will go north and carry the symbol of our people.”
I raised my gaze, my eyes holding a silent entreaty with my hands clenched tight to my sides, stopping them from shaking. “I swear I will guard the sword with my life and wait for your return to bring it to you. I am strong enough for this, cousin. If sacrifices must be made, I will make them.” Taking me by the shoulders she forced me to my feet and embraced me. Gripping me tight like she might never let go or like she might never see me again, and she might not…
Still, she hesitated.
“We don’t have time to argue, Highness, we must go .”
Tears gathered behind my eyes and I saw my own watery reflection in my cousin’s eyes as we accepted our fate to be parted, the decision hanging like a weight around her neck.
Desperate, I reached out and clasped her wrist. “Live free,” she whispered.
“Until the day…” I replied, forcing the words past the aching ball in my throat. I couldn’t say ‘we meet again’, I didn’t think that was part of my destiny.
We were torn from each other and I was thrown upon the back of a horse. Tears blurring my vision, the last two descendants of the Throne of Flames riding hard in opposite directions. Only the goddess Khatri knew what fate awaited me.
Chapter 1

Mira
T he mountain pass blurred as my horse steadily put one hoof in front of the other. Only a fool would try to traverse the long journey north without preparation. Only a suicidal fool would attempt the cold when they were fire kind. My kind. The temperature was starting to plummet, and I poured my energy into my inner flame that flickered stubbornly inside me. For the thousandth time in the last forty-two days, my thoughts drifted to Xhara. I hoped she had made it. If she had, it would make the tortuous journey worth it. Gritting my teeth, I pushed on until my hands and feet turned numb and the sky was darkening fast, I needed to make camp. Swinging down from the saddle, my legs promptly buckled, and my arms almost wrenched out of their sockets as I clung to the horn to keep upright. I stomped my feet hard against the frozen ground trying to feel my toes.
A fire was badly needed, it was a small comfort that I could make one in the blink of an eye. Teeth chattering violently, I wrapped my arms tight across my chest and clamped my hands under my arms. I thought I would never be warm again. Barely time to get some wood and choke down unappetizing dried meat before I passed out from exhaustion. Right now, I was willing to swap the crown jewels for a warm bath, a feathered bed and a roaring fire. To spend one night not on the cold, hard ground and warm enough so I didn't shiver through the night and wake exhausted each morning. I hadn’t had a restful night’s sleep since before the uprising. Stop moping, this fire was not going to make itself. Shaking off the bone-numbing weariness I began searching for timber, the driest that could be found. There wasn’t much, and I journeyed much further from my camp than I intended. Stooping down to scour the thick foliage, I noticed the unnatural stillness. There was not a sound, no birdsong or rustling of animals.
Nothing.
Every nerve and sense strained, how could I have let my guard drop? I didn’t dare breathe or twitch a muscle.
If anyone was out ther