31
KALINDA
My fire streams through the Voider’s blue flames, dispersing them to plumes of smoke. Deven and Ashwin depart, on their way to the boat. I was there moments ago but ran back when I saw how close the demon rajah was to us. Indah is still at the vessel, waiting with the others, including Natesa and a fatigued Yatin.
The Voider starts toward me, his hands glowing with aberrant powers. “You are bold, Kalinda.”
I lock my trembling knees, rooting myself to the ground. I hoped, prayed, I would be given the opportunity to stop the flood of wrongs I undammed by killing Tarek. Ending his life was the gods’ will—fate. So this must be fate too.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” the demon rajah says.
“So have I.” The Voider has been plaguing me through my nightmares of Tarek. My burning hands and the eerie eyes I saw were signs of my real tormentor, this demon. Whether my soul is tied to Tarek’s or not for eternity, I am done with him in this life.
No more Tarek. No more guilt. No more mercy.
I throw a blast of fire. The Voider wisps it away as he would a pesky fly.
“You cannot earn redemption, Burner. None of this would have happened if you had been a dutiful wife. Tarek is very angry with you. He yearns for you to suffer for your betrayal.”
“You don’t strike me as the type to fight a mortal man’s battles.”
“This is my battle too, a vendetta as old as the ultimate betrayer, the sky-god Anu.” The demon rajah thrusts another blue flame at me. I blast it away with a stream of fire, and our tangled flames strike a row of huts. My flames attack the houses, feeding off the bedlam. “Anu ripped this world from Abzu and Tiamat and then left it to weaklings. Bhutas are an abomination, created to ease Anu’s conscience for abandoning the mortals he enslaved. No longer will demons be confined to the shadows.”
Smoke from the raging fire stings my eyes. Inside the flames, serpentine dragons slither. I extend my fingers to them. Protect me.
On my command, the serpents encircle the Voider, lunging and snapping at him. The demon rajah fends them off with his powers. One by one, the fiery dragons shriek and puff to smoke.
“You cannot hurt me with fire. Tiamat created the First-Ever Dragon. The demon Kur is my master. I am born of fire and venom.”
The demon rajah knocks me back with a blue burst. I hit the wall hard, rapping my head. With temples pounding, I reach for my power and throw heatwave after heatwave to slow his approach. He bats away the searing strands of light and gains on me. I brace against the wall. My injured leg aches sharply, and my side has begun to bleed once more. Indah’s pain blocker is wearing off.
He steps up to me and brushes the hair from my face. “So pathetic. So weak.”
He slams me against the wall with more frosty fire. While I am pinned by numbing cold, he presses his lips to mine and blows blue fire into my mouth. Icy flames flow inside me, chilling me so deeply my soul-fire begins to suffocate. He steps away, yet the wintry inferno still burns through me, freezing my veins.
I crash at his feet, immobilized by excruciating pain.
“My fire would have burned a mortal to ash by now. But you . . . I could leave you in this blistering misery forever.” He bends over me as I shiver in agony. “Wait here, love. I will end your dear captain and prince and then return to usher you into the evernight.”
The demon rajah starts for the waterfront. Shards of ice pierce my lungs. I search inside for my soul-fire. Only embers remain. The frosty blaze will fester until it smothers my powers completely.
A chunk of burning rubble falls near me, blowing ash into my face. I wait for Jaya to appear, searching for the same shining spirit that visited me when I was drowning, but she does not come. I must not need her, for she has never failed me.
Nature-fire feeds off the debris, the serpents staying near. I stretch out my fingers. Come for me. Nothing happens, so I direct the last of my strength to lifting my hand and pulling at them harder. You will obey.
They shed off of the firestorm and slink over, dancing around me. Their warmth radiates into my limbs and thaws the worst of the Voider’s chill.
I climb to my knees, shuddering in spasms. “Do it now,” I call at his back, my teeth chattering violently. “Or do you think I’ll get the better of you?”
He pauses with a disdainful smirk. “You err, Burner. I am not your husband.”
“My husband wasn’t afraid of a woman.”
He bares his front teeth like a snake preparing to strike. “I am the shadows. You are to fear me.”
I push to my feet, favoring my injured leg, and call to nature-fire. Rise up and show him who should be afraid.
The slithering flames amass beside me, entwining together with single-minded purpose. They weave into a smoldering mass that hisses and snaps like wildfire. I detect no immediate shape, but then the chaotic blaze rises taller than the highest hut and takes form. A face materializes with a long, distinguished snout and whiskers. The body stretches out into a sleek, curving wave, extending down the road, and sprouts short hind legs. Ridges rise and fall across its long, winding back. Spindly flames elongate into a regal neck and slide down into a slender, proud breast and strong front legs. A pair of red eyes burn hotly on its striking face.
A fire dragon.
I reach for its side, transfixed by the entity’s fearsome beauty. The fire does not burn me, nor does my hand pass through, but it meets a tangible body as real as if a cloud became solid ground. I rest my palm against the dragon’s serpentine form that burns a vengeful ember red. Blessed heat flows into my chilled veins. I do not understand how I created this dragon born of nature-fire, but I do not question its vitality or my ability to command it.
“Your serpent cannot stop me,” says the Voider.
The fire dragon bares its fangs.
Dropping my chin, I glare across the road at him. “I was created to light up the sky. I do not fear you.”
He pushes crackling blue fire into his fingertips. “You will.”
Get him, I call to the fire dragon, and it snaps at the Voider. He reels away, but as he turns back, he shoots at the dragon. A hole opens in its flank. The Voider throws more fire, and the gap widens. If he can outmatch nature-fire, he can beat me to the boat.
I leap onto the fire dragon’s back. Fly away.
The wingless beast carries me up. As we soar above the city, the Voider discharges blue flames after us. We dodge them, banking toward the river. Muddy green waters spread out beneath me. Indah’s boat waits below.
Arrowlike flames zip at us. I maneuver the fire dragon away, but the Voider’s cold fire pierces its breast. The crater spreads as the dragon is ripped apart by a hail fire of frosty blasts. The fire dragon falls apart around me, bursting to smoke, and I am knocked into the burning sky.