The Flames that Bind Us - Book cover

The Flames that Bind Us

Suri Sabri

Shadow Savior

LYDIA

“RUN!”

Lydia and Lux ran as fast as their feet and paws could take them. The dark gray werewolf, covered in bloodstains from some previous victim, bounded toward them, gaining speed, licking its chops.

They were about to be this monster’s next meal if Lydia didn’t do something—and quick. She knew what she had to do, but would she have the strength?

Flames circled around Lydia’s hands as she stopped, turned, and threw the ball of fire at the beast. But with one wave of its claw, the flames dissipated.

Oh no.

A second later, the werewolf slammed into Lydia, pinning her to the forest floor. If it wasn’t for the dim shield of fire she had surrounded her body with at the last second, he would have already torn her neck open.

She could see his hungry yellow eyes, desperate to feed. Somewhere inside the werewolf was a tortured man. The moon was full tonight, allowing the beast to reign.

Lydia wondered if she could get through to him…whoever he was.

He kept lunging and biting, but her shield was keeping him at bay. It wouldn’t last much longer, she knew. So much energy had been spent catching the thief and teleporting here.

“Lydia!”

She turned to see Lux bounding toward them, trying to help.

“Lux, no!”

But she was too late. The werewolf spun on the cat, slamming a paw against his chest and sending him flying. He smacked into a tree and collapsed in a heap on the ground.

“NO!”

All at once, flames burst from every pore of Lydia’s body, sending the werewolf skyborne. She didn’t stop to see where the creature landed. Instead, she scurried over to her feline friend and cradled him in her hands.

He was mewing softly, injured and alive.

“I’m so sorry, Lux,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes.

But then she heard the howl of the werewolf. He was coming to finish what he’d started. He was bounding toward them.

And this time, Lydia had no magic left to fend him off.

She shut her eyes and held Lux tight to her chest, rocking back and forth against the tree. If this was the end…at least she wasn’t alone.

The wolf was only a few feet away. She could hear his claws pummeling the earth, smell the hot air of his fetid breath, taste the iron of near-death on her tongue.

It was all about to be over. But just as the wolf’s fangs were about to latch around her throat, something impossible happened.

It froze.

A dark, illusory shape was holding the werewolf back. A savior made of shadow. But who was he?

GABRIEL

It didn’t take long for Gabriel to find her. His mind’s eye had guided him, bringing him to this remote meadow in the Imarnian forest.

As soon as he’d materialized, he’d seen the girl was, indeed, in mortal danger. A werewolf was this close to making mincemeat out of her.

Why she hadn’t used her Slifer powers to kill, Gabriel couldn’t understand. Perhaps she wasn’t as strong as she originally appeared.

It didn’t matter now. Saving her was Gabriel’s priority. He slowly focused his mind on the darkness within, summoning the shadows…

A dark, spinning hole appeared in the grass beneath his feet.

“Rise,” he commanded.

With a clench of his fist, a screaming black shadow emerged from the hole, circling around him, waiting for his order.

“Kill the beast,” he said.

And with that, the shadow launched toward the werewolf, its pitiless shriek echoing through the entire forest.

Gabriel watched calmly as the shadow grabbed the werewolf just as it was about to finish the girl off. The beast tried to break free, clawing and ripping at the shadow.

But the darkness would reconstruct itself constantly, growing larger, engulfing the wolf in darkness, imprisoning it.

The wolf let out one last terrified howl as the shadow consumed it and imploded into nothing, leaving the forest in silence…as if there were never a wolf nor a shadow at all.

“Good boy,” Gabriel said with a smirk. Then, he closed the black hole.

“Lydia!”

Gabriel frowned, confused. Whose voice could that possibly be? Then, he saw the cat nestled in between the girl’s arms, nudging her, speaking.

A talking cat?!

Gabriel had seen many a strange magic, but never in his three hundred and thirty-nine years had he seen anything like that.

“Are you okay? Gods, Lydia. I was so scared,” he purred.

“I’m fine, Lux. But how…who…?”

Then, she looked up and saw him, and her eyes widened in surprise. “You…”

“I think you mean, ‘Your Majesty,’” he corrected.

But the girl still refused to address him properly. She slowly stood up, frowning. “You saved me…why?”

“You have no manners, do you, Slifer? A simple ‘thank you’ would suffice.”

“My name is Lydia. Not Slifer.”

She said this almost between barred teeth. Gabriel couldn’t believe her audacity—especially after he’d saved her life.

“I’ll ask again,” she said. “Why save me?”

Gabriel shrugged. “I see it as a favor to Lucius. Over the years, the wizard has done much on my behalf. Seeing as you are his granddaughter…”

“His apprentice,” she interrupted. “We are not family. He’s made that clear.”

“Well, then. I suppose I’ve wasted my time. I could have just let you die.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.”

“But you certainly needed it, didn’t you? Why didn’t you use your fire?”

“I tried… I…”

She stopped. It was the first time Gabriel had ever seen the girl, this Lydia, show vulnerability. It made her fiery eyes look all the more stunning.

“I am too weak still,” she admitted. “I don’t know why. My magic is supposed to be the most powerful, but…”

It clicked. Gabriel understood what she needed in order to master the art of fire. It was something only he could give her—but he had no intention of doing that.

“Come, Slifer,” he said, nodding. “I’m taking you back to Vera where you belong.”

He held out a hand, but to his surprise, Lydia once again defied him.

“No. I’m not going back.”

He couldn’t believe his ears. “You dare disobey your King?”

A thick silence passed between the two, both refusing to back down. Gabriel could see her gulp visibly, but she wasn’t shaking. Her eyes still held his, but a hint of a blush rose on her olive cheeks.

For a second, he lost focus on her eyes and drifted to her pursed lips, feeling something hot form in his chest that wasn’t anger.

“You will come with me, whether you like it or not.”

He was about to grab her when she slipped out of his reach and backed away.

“S-stay away!” she yelled with a vicious glare.

A small fire lit between her fingers, circling in her palm. The flame was weak, but that didn’t matter. She was threatening him. Her savior. Her King.

“Who do you think you are?!” Gabriel bellowed. “I could have you thrown into a cell and—”

But he didn’t get to finish that sentence because, a split second later, a fireball flew past his face. He felt the flames whip past his cheek, singeing his skin.

He blinked in disbelief.

She’d attacked him.

“I’m…I’m sorry, you scared me,” she stuttered. “I didn’t mean to…”

But Gabriel was done playing nice. A wave of darkness exploded from his chest, ensnaring Lydia’s hands and feet and lifting her off the ground.

She floated mid-air. Hands bound. Helpless.

Though the King should have been overcome by rage, another feeling began to take hold of him.

Her legs, spread. Her shirt lowering to expose her cleavage. Her eyes, forever burning.

Lydia had set Gabriel’s desires alight.

LYDIA

“What are you doing?!” Lydia shouted. “Let me go!”

But something in Gabriel’s eyes had shifted. Where there was once anger, dismissal, and outrage, now, there was…lust.

Again, Lydia felt that foreign heat rise within her. Being held captive by his shadow magic, frozen, it was unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

She could feel his darkness slithering along his flesh—as if they were wicked expressions of his inner essence.

Carnal visions began to blur her eyelids. Her and the King, physically intertwined, rubbing and moaning against one another—a flurry, a fight of fire and shadow.

It was the strangest sensation—to be livid and aroused at once.

“Let her go!”

But then Lydia heard a small voice that pulled her out of her stupor. It was Lux. He was beneath Lydia’s feet, pacing, trying to reach her.

“Please!” he purred desperately.

“Will you behave, Slifer?” Gabriel asked, with a low, threatening tremor in his voice.

Although her body was bound by his dark magic, she still had control of her mouth.

“You may be the King, Gabriel,” she spat. “But I am my own boss.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Then he waved his hand, and Lydia fell to the ground in a heap. The shadows were gone. Lux nuzzled against her with comfort.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you,” he purred.

“That’s all right, Lux,” she said. “That’s my job. I’m the one who failed. It won’t happen again, though. I’m going to get stronger. Just you wait and see.”

“Enough!” the King demanded. “Get up. You’re both coming with me.”

“Where? I told you, I’m not going back to my town.”

As Lydia got to her feet, she watched Gabriel eyeing her up and down. His cloudy eyes were full of strange, conflicting emotions.

Emotions, Lydia admitted—she was feeling them herself.

“We’re not going to your town, Slifer,” the King said. “We are going to my palace.”

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