Taming Fire Read online

  Taming Fire

  Dragon Descendants Book Three

  J.L. Weil

  Dark Magick Publishing, LLC

  Also by J. L. Weil

  DRAGON DESCENDANTS SERIES

  (Upper Teen Reverse Harem Fantasy)

  Stealing Tranquility

  Absorbing Poison

  Taming Fire

  Thawing Frost

  THE DIVISA SERIES

  (Full series completed – Teen Paranormal Romance)

  Losing Emma: A Divisa novella

  Saving Angel

  Hunting Angel

  Breaking Emma: A Divisa novella

  Chasing Angel

  Loving Angel

  Redeeming Angel

  LUMINESCENCE TRILOGY

  (Full series completed – Teen Paranormal Romance)

  Luminescence

  Amethyst Tears

  Moondust

  Darkmist – A Luminescence novella

  RAVEN SERIES

  (Full series completed – Teen Paranormal Romance)

  White Raven

  Black Crow

  Soul Symmetry

  BEAUTY NEVER DIES CHRONICLES

  (Teen Dystopian Romance)

  Slumber

  Entangled

  Forsaken

  NINE TAILS SERIES

  (Teen Paranormal Romance)

  First Shift

  Storm Shift

  Flame Shift

  Time Shift

  HAVENWOOD FALLS HIGH

  (Teen Paranormal Romance)

  Falling Deep

  Ascending Darkness

  SINGLE NOVELS

  Starbound

  (Teen Paranormal Romance)

  Casting Dreams

  (New Adult Paranormal Romance)

  Ancient Tides

  (New Adult Paranormal Romance)

  For an updated list of my books, please visit my website: www.jlweil.com

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  Taming Fire © copyright 2019 J. L. Weil

  www.jlweil.com

  All rights reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Read more by J. L. Weil

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  The griffin kept its sharp claws on my upper arms as it flew us over the Veil. Perhaps I drifted out of consciousness once or twice, because when I blinked, the landscape beneath us was no longer green, but barren, dry, and dusty as hell.

  I wanted to thrash. I wanted to fight for my freedom. I didn’t want to die. And I was most definitely going to hurl.

  Jase. Kieran. Zade. Issik. I silently chanted their names over and over again to keep myself from dwelling on the horror of my situation. Were they searching for me? Dumb question. Obviously, they were. Without me, the key, they would never be free of their curse—Tianna, the witch, would win. I took comfort in knowing how important I was.

  They wouldn’t abandon me.

  They wouldn’t.

  A little voice in the back of my head nudged free. Are you sure? Everyone in your life has left you. What makes them any different?

  I rattled my head, banishing the dark thoughts from my mind. No! I refused to believe they wouldn’t come for me. Some demons were harder to fight than others. It was the ones you couldn’t see that often did the most damage.

  The griffin tugged me along in the sky with gliding gait, sending harsh whooshing noises through the air, so different than the sound of dragon wings. Where the griffins had tattered feathers, my dragons had sleek wings like buttery leather.

  We had been apart mere hours, and I already missed them something fiercely.

  What would happen to me? Where were they taking me?

  I longed more than anything to use my new powers on the foul beasts, but to do so would be a death sentence with no dragons to catch my fall. My time would come to strike. It just couldn’t be twenty thousand feet up in the air.

  We slowly began to descend, but not low enough. Although the clouds were no longer swirling around us, they remained about our heads, so out of place in the unforgiving environment below. Countless mountains of burnish red sand, and rock, carved the landscape in sharp plateaus. The wind rushed over my face, carrying traces of grainy particles and dust. The air lacked any moisture, making it tough to breathe in and out easily. It was a vile place, and I ached for the lush and vibrant lands of Viperus. I’d even take the damn snakes.

  The griffin hurled me forward, releasing his sharp hold on me, and the world spun. I was falling.

  My knees slammed into a giant nest of twigs, straw, and bones, causing me to groan and pain to shoot up my body as the branches scraped over my skin. I shoved myself up into a sitting position, ignoring the bark of my muscles. Bright red blood cascaded down one of my legs and I winced, my belly rolling at the sight of the cut marring my cream skin. I forced my gaze higher, telling myself not to think about the nest of bones, of who they’d been, of how they’d died, that I wouldn’t end up like them.

  The two cruel and vile faces of the griffins leered over me in the nest, and a chill slithered down my spine. Were they going to peck me to death with their curved, razor beaks?

  My flight or fight response kicked in, and I peered over the side. Perhaps I could run or use one of my abilities now that we weren’t flying.

  Fuck.

  The griffin’s horrific nest was at the top of a pointed red sand plateau, so high I could nearly touch the clouds. So much for my plan to strike. Even if I managed to poison or tranquilize them, I had to find a way down. Without wings, I was screwed.

  Now what, smarty-pants?

  The countdown to doomsday had begun.

  Four months—I had found the Star of Tranquility.

  Three months—I managed to do it again with the Star of Poison, but also managed to get kidnapped.

  Go me.

  Talk about an overachiever.

  “What do you want from me?” I yelled, surprised by the raspy rawness of my voice.

  They only stared at me with vibrant amber eyes. I wanted to carve them out, and given the chance, I would.

  “You can’t keep me here forever,” I hissed, not that I expected anything I said to set me free. Hell, they probably didn’t even understand me.

  The one who had carried me for god knew how long cocked his head toward me. Its wings flapped once, before blasting my face with a squawk. The foulness of its breath heated my cheeks, burning my nostrils. Feeling I might vomit, I threw my body toward the edge of the nest, and threw up what little I had in my belly.

  Dragging the back of my hand across my mouth, I sat back and tilted my head to the sky. I screamed. I screamed in anger. I screamed in terror. I screamed in grief. My voice carried over the barren land, echoing and thundering through the nothingness, but no one was out there to hear my cries. My throat felt so raw and burned that I was afraid it was bleeding too. The cuts on my legs had clotted and were crusty with dried blood, but the aches and pains still pulsated throughout my body—every muscle and every limb.

  Tea
rs gathered in my eyes as I lay down in the nest of what felt like thorns. I couldn’t stop the surge of emotions from bubbling up in my throat. Sobs dragged through my chest, racking my shoulders in violent tremors. I seemed to have lost track of time and drifted into sleep more than once, for when my senses finally returned to me, day had given birth to night.

  Surrounded by darkness and starlight, the moon offered very little light, as if it too had hidden from Tianna’s horrors. I tried to move, but my arms were tingling and weak, hardly able to hold my weight. With each tiny movement I made, the pain became worse than the last. I forced myself to try and get a bearing on my surroundings, or where the griffins had gone off to—were they still guarding me or had they left me here to rot? I didn’t know which would be worse, being abandoned on top of a mountain I could never climb down from, or being the prisoner of Tianna’s lackeys.

  Shadows and wispy wind crept over the dry land, giving this place a petrified ambiance as my eyes adjusted to the blackness. I wet my lips, tasting the salt of my tears. I would not panic. I wouldn’t panic. I couldn’t panic. I told myself, reciting it like a chant.

  No more tears. I had to keep my wits and figure out a way to escape. There was always a way. I might not see it at the moment, it might be days, but I would fight to live. I was a fighter, not a helpless ninny. If only I could use this one-sided bond in my favor, but no matter how long I thought of a way to convey my location, my mind was blank. Emotions weren’t places.

  Through the black night, my ears picked up the wispy beating of wings. I strained to identify what or who it could be. A dragon? A griffin? Or something else even wickeder?

  My fingers clutched onto to branches of the nest, not caring about the rough bark digging into my sore flesh. The thundering of my own heartbeat drummed in my ears as a shadow appeared directly over my head. I scrambled to duck further into the nest, flattening myself as low as I could. Not that it did any good.

  I knew without seeing their faces the griffins had returned from wherever they had roamed off to earlier. The stench of beast filled the air. One of them threw back its head, letting a shriek pierce the star-strewn sky above, as if it were answering a silent call my ears couldn’t hear.

  Landing on a corner of the nest, its front claws sunk into the straw and bones. It peered down at me as if it couldn’t decide whether to eat me or smack me with its serpent tail. I’d rather choose option C—Let me go.

  “No. No. No,” I whimpered, shaking my head back and forth.

  The creature bent down its massive eagle head as the other circled above us to keep watch. They appeared to work together, and the intelligence of the pair alarmed me. My hopes of outsmarting them dimmed, but shit, I had to believe I was wittier than two hybrid beasts. The griffin’s coarse hair rubbed against my cheek and I ground my teeth, suppressing a shudder. The hot putridness of its breath was like acid on my face.

  Click. Click. Click. Its beak clamped together.

  Braced against my own terror, I tried not to think about what that beak could do to my nose, my eyes, and my ears. Too swift for me to follow, it once again snatched me in its claws, and took to the night. One minute I was in the nest, and the next I was soaring with darkness, the cool evening wind splashing over my pale cheeks.

  I needed to be strong and didn’t allow myself to think where they were taking me, or what Tianna had planned for me. She was undoubtedly behind my kidnapping. The griffins were merely pawns following orders.

  My body went rigid under its claws, and I wondered if I would get my chance to fight back. Feathery wings spread out wide on either side of the griffin, slicing through the night as if it were liquid darkness. I concluded the creatures must have keen eyesight to see through such blackness. As we flew further, the air grew thicker with dust, clogging my nose and lungs. It was gritty.

  The trip this time was shorter, still a distance away, but we hadn’t left whatever barren land of the island we were in at the moment. With a ripple of the griffin’s wings, our altitude dropped, and its partner mimicked my captor's movements with eerie grace. It was awkward to be dangling from the claws of a beast, and I was grateful at the sight of ground closing in on us. In the night, the sandy floor looked nearly obsidian, but I knew it to be the same burnish red I’d see earlier today.

  What was this section of the island? Was I even still in the Veil Isles, or had they flown me out of the barrier?

  No. They couldn’t have, not until the summer solstice. The curse didn’t allow it, except for twice a year during the winter and summer solstices.

  An outline of a mountain appeared directly in front of us and the griffin’s sailed for it. Though, I didn’t see the jagged opening on the side until we were flying through it, straight into a cave. The griffin’s didn’t stop, but continued to maneuver deeper into the mountain, a maze of tunnels and caverns in its depths. It only took a few twists and turns for the mental map I’d tried to memorize scrambled in my brain. Even if by some freaking miracle I managed to render them asleep or dead, I still had to find my way out of the labyrinth. Everything seemed bleak and hopeless.

  My spirits were at an all-time low when a speck of light flickered up ahead. Someone was here. Someone was waiting, and I didn’t have to think hard to guess who.

  The griffins glided past two carved pillars and entered a vast chamber, glittered by more than a dozen floating candles around the room. Its flickering flames cast shadows against the rocky composite of coal and limestone.

  Was this Tianna’s secret lair? The villain always needed one, and my bet was she’d made herself quite cozy inside this secluded mountain, far, far from the four surviving kingdoms of the Veil.

  Suddenly, I was propelled into the center of the room, onto the unyielding stone floor. My already bruised knees and palms screamed in agony as I slammed into the ground. How many more times were these damn assholes going to toss me about? I shoved upward and whirled, prepared to unleash a mist of poison, but the deadly breath got lodged in my throat. A few feet in front of me was the witch of darkness herself. Tianna was perched on a black throne.

  That bitch.

  I’d known she was behind this, but seeing her right in front of me stunned me for a moment, or perhaps it was the jarring of my body catching up to the trauma. My nails curled into my palms, a combination of fear and rage. I wondered if the descendants could sense my emotions right now. A part of me hoped not, I wanted to spare them the agony.

  Tianna was as devastatingly beautiful as I remembered. Long, silky red locks of hair peeked out from either side of her black hood, spilling over her breasts. Her porcelain skin and delicate features were carved into my memory—a face I would likely never forget in both waking and sleeping hours. She would haunt my nightmares for years to come, and what I was about to face now would surely leave deep, wounded scars.

  I braced myself, chin rising slightly. My nightmare was only truly beginning.

  Those ruby lips curved into a false grin that didn’t reach her calculative silvery eyes. Something about her was off, and the longer I studied her, the less I could decipher what it was. The answer had been on the tip of my tongue, only to be blown away like a soft eyelash on a baby’s cheek.

  This witch had managed to capture and isolate an entire island—imprisoning a rare dying species singlehandedly, and with little effort. She had lied to the five kings and abused their trust, all now dead, survived only by four of their sons.

  The first moment of opportunity, I was going to cut her again. And again. I didn’t care how many times I had to sink a blade into her heart. I would do so a million times until she was nothing but dust under my shoe. No matter how hard, I would get my grubby fingers on a weapon that would end her existence. I would make it my personal mission in life… other than becoming the dragon savior—or some divine name the descendants came up with for me.

  “So nice of you to join me, Olivia dear,” Tianna greeted, as if I’d kept her waiting. The witch looked me up and down, assessing
and weighing, only to decide I was a pesky fly that was standing in her way.

  “Like I had a choice,” I huffed, brushing away the loose pebbles and dirt embedded in my hands. My eyes took in my surroundings, making note of any exits. I eased to my feet, regardless of the grumbling my body barked at me. It was important to meet Tianna on level ground, not coward on the floor in a ball, like I wanted to do.

  Her lips curled into a scandalous smile. “Yes, my methods might have been abrupt, but those overbearing boys of yours were just hogging you all to themselves. I had to do something, for your sake, of course.”

  I scoffed. She had a warped way of twisting things, I’d give her that. “As much as I appreciate the gesture, I’ve got more pressing matters waiting for me.” As she damn well knew.

  Those silver eyes sparkled as if she enjoyed the game and banter. I was amusing her. “Why dear, after all the trouble I went to get you here, you wouldn’t want to leave, would you? You must stay a night… or two.” The way she lingered over the end of that sentence lead me to believe two might turn into days, weeks, or months. “We have much to discuss.”

  The blood in my veins pulsed, but I kept my face stoic, refusing to let her see the fear making my insides tremble. “Why are we wasting time? What is it you want from me? Why did you bring me here?” The questions rattled off my tongue one after the other.

  Tianna tsked, shaking her head. “Humans are so impatient. All will be revealed in good time.” Her long black nails tapped the armrests of her throne as she spoke. Turning her attention away from me, she focused on the griffins who had moved to flank either side of her. “Well done, my pets.” Delicate fingers stroked the top of the griffins’ feathery head. “I have no other need of you tonight. Go.”