The Warrior King (Inferno Rising) by Owen, Abigail (reading a book txt) 📕

dropped her hands to her sides, though Samael could see in her expression that she was still hoping Jedd would come to understand. “It’s not about our family ruling all the clans, Jedd. It’s about taking out the man who destroyed things in the first place.”

Jed whirled on her, urgency in the taut line of his shoulders. “That’s not fate. It’s politics and strategy.”

She shook her head.

The wolf shifter studied Angelika’s face, and what he saw there must’ve convinced him. His head dropped forward, a sign of total defeat. If he’d been in his wolf form, he might’ve dropped to his belly, nosing at her ankles.

Then he pulled his lips back, baring his teeth in a wolfy way. “If you think I’m going to stand by and watch you make the biggest mistake of both our lives, then you aren’t the woman I thought you were.”

Jedd prowled from the room, though he closed the door behind him with a quiet click at odds with the anger vibrating around him.

At the sound, Angelika sighed, then slowly lowered herself to sit on the chest at the footboard of the bed. “That could have gone better,” she murmured to herself.

“Angelika,” Meira called softly.

Her sister stilled, obviously listening.

“In the mirror, baby sister.”

Angelika’s head snapped around, and she gasped as she looked directly at them. She jumped to her feet and rushed to the mirror, flattening her hands on the surface. From their side it appeared as though they were talking to her through a sheet of glass, her skin smashing up against it.

“Let me through,” Angelica practically begged, pushing at the reflective surface.

Meira shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Where are you?”

“You know where.”

Samael lifted his eyebrows. So, she had told her sisters where she’d been hiding. Just not Gorgon, her intended mate. What kind of trust did that show? Though, now he knew why. She was protecting the gargoyles. This phoenix apparently couldn’t resist the urge to protect any and everyone around her.

“What do you need?” Angelika asked. The sisters showed no questioning or hesitation with each other. Though, surviving for centuries with only them and their mother, he wasn’t all that surprised.

“Get Skylar and Ladon and bring them back here. I wish Kasia could be here, too, but that would draw too much attention. Meet in thirty minutes.”

Serafina Amon had trained her daughters well. Angelika didn’t quibble or question. She merely hurried out of the room even as Meira shut off her own fire then turned to face him. “That’s my backup. Now for yours.”

This next part was trickier. As part of her analytical walk-through of options, she had convinced him that rather than just his beta being informed, the only way to get his people on their side was to appeal to the entire Black Clan. Two people searching for the king could only get so far.

But if they were going to address everyone, they couldn’t do it from here. Not when they had made a promise to the gargoyles. Especially not after Maul had breached that edict.

“Let’s go.”

Meira’s fire crackled beside him, casting a pleasant glow around the cool castle room. Different from his black fire, which both illuminated a space even as it stole the light directly around it. Would her fire change once she was fully mated to a black dragon?

Again, the mirror in front of them changed, showing a new reflection this time. Samael studied the image, which was warped and curved, as though he was peering through a prism or maybe a crystal ball. The curving made it difficult to see exactly what lay beyond. Blobs of white and green and blue. A house, maybe?

“This might be a tight squeeze,” she warned. “I’d go through one of the bathroom mirrors, but I’m not sure what we’ll find there, so I’m trying something else. I’ll go first.”

“Wait.” Without thinking, Samael shot out a hand and grabbed her arm.

Just as fast he yanked his hand away as realization struck that he was touching her fire. Then he paused, lifting that same hand to hold it in front of his face, watching in silent fascination as the flames he’d taken away with him danced across his skin with no impact. No burning. Then, the tip of one licking red flame turned black, then another, and another, until the fire had become his own.

Samael lowered his hand slowly, his focus moving to the woman standing in front of him, watching in wide-eyed silence.

Her mouth parted, and he startled as it hit him that she knew, too. Or at least suspected.

Meira Amon was his fated mate.

In the worst possible moment, all he wanted to do was ask her if he was right.

“That wasn’t the smartest move,” she murmured.

“I’m well aware.” In more ways than one. More ways than she probably realized herself, which was either a blessing or a curse.

Through sheer will, he tipped his head at the image still displayed in the mirror. “Where are you taking us?”

When they’d discussed this earlier, she’d only said far away. Somewhere in the colonies not close to any dragon settlements. Somewhere safe.

She turned her head to stare at it, too, emotions playing across her features in swift array. He didn’t catch them all, but the one that was unmistakable was an anguish-laden dread.

“Home,” she said softly. And stepped into the mirror.

A dread of his own dropped boulders into Samael’s stomach, trying to drag him down as he watched helplessly from his side. Meira’s form twisted and warped until she appeared to drop out of the other side, but she was tiny from his perspective. From what he could tell, she got to her feet, dusted herself off, then her hand appeared through the center of the image on his side.

“Watch out for the last drop.” Her voice sounded as though she was speaking through water, muffled and slurred. “It’s a doozy.”

She’d doused the flames on that part of her body despite what just happened. He grasped her hand, soft but still warm from her fire