Cast in Flame
Authors: Michelle Sagara
Any day that starts with dragon arguments is going to be bad
Kaylin returned from the West March in one piece. Now that piece is fraying. She’s not at home in the Imperial Palace—and she never intends to be. All she wants is normal garden-variety criminals and a place of her own. Of course, normal in her new life involves a dragon as a roommate, but she can handle that.
She can’t as easily handle the new residents to the city she polices, because one of them is Nightshade’s younger brother. On a night when she should be talking to landlords in perfectly normal buildings, she’s called to the fief—by Teela. A small family disagreement has become a large, complicated problem: Castle Nightshade’s latent magic is waking.
And it’s not the only thing.
Praise for
New York Times
bestselling author
MICHELLE SAGARA
and The Chronicles of Elantra series
“No one provides an emotional payoff like Michelle Sagara.”
—Bestselling author Tanya Huff on The Chronicles of Elantra series
“Intense, fast-paced, intriguing, compelling and hard to put down…unforgettable.”
—
In the Library Reviews
on
Cast in Shadow
“Readers will embrace this compelling, strong-willed heroine with her often sarcastic voice.”
—
Publishers Weekly
on
Cast in Courtlight
“The impressively detailed setting and the book’s spirited heroine are sure to charm romance readers, as well as fantasy fans who like some mystery with their magic.”
—
Publishers Weekly
on
Cast in Secret
“Along with the exquisitely detailed world building, Sagara’s character development is mesmerizing. She expertly breathes life into a stubborn yet evolving heroine. A true master of her craft!”
—
RT Book Reviews (
4 ½ stars) on
Cast in Fury
“Each visit to this amazing world, with its richness of place and character, is one to relish.”
—
RT Book Reviews
(4 ½ stars) on
Cast in Silence
“Another satisfying addition to an already vivid and entertaining fantasy series.”
—
Publishers Weekly
on
Cast in Chaos
“If you are searching for a rich and rewarding fantasy read different from the usual fantasy fare, then you can’t go wrong with
Cast in Ruin
and The Chonicles of Elantra series. Heartily recommended.”
—
SciFiGuy.ca
on
Cast in Ruin
“Sagara does an amazing job continuing to flesh out her large cast of characters, but keeps the unsinkable Kaylin at the center.”
—
RT Book Reviews
(4 ½ stars) on
Cast in Peril
“Über-awesome Sagara picks up the intense action right where she left off…while Kaylin is the heart of this amazing series, the terrific characters keep the story moving. An autobuy for sure!”
—
RT Book Reviews
(4 ½ stars) on
Cast in Sorrow
The Chronicles of Elantra
by
New York Times
bestselling author
Michelle Sagara
CAST IN SHADOW
CAST IN COURTLIGHT
CAST IN SECRET
CAST IN FURY
CAST IN SILENCE
CAST IN CHAOS
CAST IN RUIN
CAST IN PERIL
CAST IN SORROW
And
“Cast in Moonlight”
found in
HARVEST MOON,
an anthology with Mercedes Lackey and Cameron Haley
CAST IN FLAME
MICHELLE
SAGARA
This year, Worldbuilders (
www.worldbuilders.org
), Patrick Rothfuss’s charity drive for Heifer International (
www.heifer.org
), gave me an opportunity to contribute something to their series of auctions. I wanted to do this, in part because I like the charity, and in part because the money is used to make the world a better place.
But my contribution was…a manuscript for a book. This one. And in order for that contribution to have any value to the charity, someone was required to step up and bid on and win the auction. I was prepared to thank that person in the dedication to the book—or to thank anyone the bidder chose. I still want to thank Chad for his enormous generosity.
Chad, however, bid on and bought the book as a gift for someone else, and he has a few words he wants to say:
To that special someone in my life who shall remain anonymous. Mainly because I would not likely be among the living if her true name was mentioned.
There are so many things about you that I love, like your stunning smile and laugh, which I never get tired of finding ways of bringing out. The unconditional honesty you are willing to give or how you sneeze when the sunlight kisses your face. And the phrase “Oh Dear” will be forever special to me.
Life offers many challenges, but I have never stopped loving you, always have, always will.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
On the second day after her return to Elantra, the city she policed as a groundhawk, Private Kaylin Neya fell out of bed, daggers in hands, knees bent. After one confused moment, she sheathed her daggers, took a brief look around the otherwise empty royal guest chambers that served as her temporary home, and let loose a volley of Leontine curses.
The small, translucent winged lizard that habitually slept above her head squawked in protest; she’d swept him out of the way without a second thought. He hovered in front of her face as she cursed; she didn’t, at the moment, have anything left over for groveling apologies.
Leontine wasn’t the usual language heard in the halls of the Imperial Palace. Nor was it generally heard in the function rooms, and when it was, it wasn’t the particular phrasing she now indulged in. On the other hand, the thunderous sounds that had driven her from sleep pretty much guaranteed that no one who’d care could possibly hear her words. Kaylin could scream until she was blue in the face, with the same results. Anyone in the palace halls could, at the moment.
Dragons were having a discussion.
When she’d first heard Dragons converse in their native tongue, she’d thought of earthquakes or tidal waves. Distinguishing individual voices had been less important than covering both her ears in the vague hope she’d preserve some of her hearing. A couple of weeks in the palace with Bellusdeo for a companion had changed that. She could pick out three loud—painfully loud—voices in the crash of distant thunder: Diarmat’s, Bellusdeo’s and...the Emperor’s. While she generally enjoyed the arguments between Bellusdeo and Diarmat, she had zero desire to ever interrupt—or witness—any argument which also contained the Emperor. Even mention of the Emperor was probably career-limiting.
It was dark, but the storm of sound in progress didn’t seem like it would die down any time soon, and sleep was pretty much impossible—at least for Kaylin. The rest of the Dragon Court was probably in hiding, but Immortals didn’t need anything as petty as sleep.
The minute—the
second
—she had the time to find a new place, she was
so
out of here.
The small dragon landed on her shoulders. She’d named him Hope, but felt self-conscious actually calling him that, and she hadn’t had time to come up with a name that suited him better. He yawned, folded himself across her shoulders like a badly formed shawl, and closed his eyes. Clearly, Dragon shouting didn’t bother him in the slightest.
Then again, he probably understood what they were saying.
* * *
The palace was never dark. Individual rooms had lighting that responded to the needs of the guests who occupied them, but the halls—the grand, wide, towering halls—were always fully lit. The Imperial Palace Guard also adorned those halls, standing like statues in a stiff, grim silence that suited their pretension.
They didn’t stop Kaylin as she walked past them, heading to one of the only places that she was certain was somewhat soundproof. They knew her on sight, and if they’d had no issues treating her as one step up from a convicted felon in the past, she was now roommate to the Empire’s only female Dragon. The Emperor didn’t want anyone to piss Bellusdeo off.
Anyone, Kaylin thought glumly, but the Emperor himself. Dragons had never been famously good at sharing.
* * *
When she reached the tall and forbidding doors of the Imperial Library, she had second thoughts. It wasn’t that the Imperial Library was home in all but name to the Arkon, the oldest member of the Dragon Court. It wasn’t that the doors were closed; they were almost always closed. It wasn’t even his extreme dislike of being interrupted.
It was the door ward that straddled them.
She’d woken to the sounds of angry Dragon, which pretty much defined Bad Day. Having to place her palm against this particular ward took Bad Day and made it worse. At the best of times, Kaylin’s allergy to magic made door wards uncomfortable—but this ward could raise so much noise it might just interrupt the Dragons. One of whom was the Emperor.
There was no other way to open them. Kaylin briefly considered knocking. With her head. Before she could—and it was late enough, or early enough, that she might have—the doors surprised her by gliding open. No one stood between them.
At this hour, the library desk—the publicly accessible library desk—was unmanned. The display cases and the rows upon rows of standing files were shadowed. The robed clerks who kept the library spotless were conspicuous by their absence—but that was no surprise. No one sane visited the library at this hour.
As the doors rolled closed at her back, the sound of Dragon anger diminished.
The Arkon made his way toward her from the back of the large room, which surprised Kaylin; she’d expected to find him holed up in one of the many, many rooms that comprised his personal collection—none of which the public was invited to peruse.
