Light The Fire: A Reverse Harem Fantasy(13)

“Has the Fire God spoken to you?” Heldor asked.

“No,” I lied.

“Why should we believe you?” Isen asked, before his eyes fell on my mates. “Maybe we should make sure she’s telling the truth.”

“You think this girl could have awakened the Fire God?” Doran asked, with a haughty laugh. “Even if she did, the others are still bound. He is powerless on his own.”

“I wouldn’t call a God powerless,” Isen snapped.

“We’re wasting time here,” Doran said. “I don’t see any evidence of the Fire God. And Sark would know if he’d broken free, wouldn’t he?”

Sark grunted in response, still staring at me in a way that made my skin crawl.

“This is your temple,” Heldor said to Sark. “Find out the truth and deal with it. Or Nysa will be forced to come here herself, and you know how she’ll feel about that.”

With that, Heldor shifted back into his dragon form, his dark green wings glimmering under the sun as he leaped into the air. Though I was sweating, a chill ran through me at his words. Nysa, the Black Dragon, rarely left the city of Soulspire where she ruled, but when she did, destruction and death followed.

“Return when you have answers,” Isen told Sark, before his golden scales flashed bright as he took off toward the sky.

Sark grumbled and pushed his way past me inside the temple, leaving me alone with the Azure Dragon. The golden-haired man gave me a quick nod, before shifting and flying off, his glimmering dark blue body quickly blending in with the sky.

“What was that about?” Derel asked, once they were gone.

“I’ll tell you later,” I said. “For now, just follow my lead.”

The other guys nodded and we headed back inside the temple to find Sark. He’d opened the door at the back of the great room, which had been locked up until now. It led to another room with a large bed on a raised platform, almost like an altar. The room was coated in a layer of dust and I got the sense it was meant for some kind of ritual. How odd.

Another door on the other side opened to the outside, behind the temple. I stepped through it and was hit with a wave of heat coming from the mouth of the volcano, which was only a short distance away.

Sark stood over the edge of it, looking down into the smoking abyss. He spun around to face me as I approached. “Tell me the truth. Why are you here?”

I bowed my head. “I serve the Gods, as do you. Isn’t that right?”

His lips pressed into a tight line. “Of course. That’s why I must know if he’s been freed.”

I tilted my head. “I didn’t realize the Fire God was imprisoned.”

He grabbed my chin in his hand. “I can make you talk, you know. I’ll burn off your limbs. Throw your mates into the pit. Turn your entire village to ash. Unless you tell me the truth.”

“You would truly harm your own granddaughter?” I asked, keeping my voice sweet, even though I was more scared than I’d ever been in my life.

Behind me, my mates gasped, but Sark’s eyes only narrowed. “You don’t know what you speak of.”

As his fingers tightened painfully on my chin, I met his gaze without flinching. “I wonder what the Black Dragon would say if she knew you had a child with someone else?”

He glared at me for a few more seconds, then shoved me away so hard I hit the ground, scraping my palms on the black rocks. Sark then turned to my mates and gave them all a dangerous look. They each stood poised to fight, even though there was no way any of them could win against Sark, the deadliest of the Black Dragon’s mates.

“If the Fire God awakens, I expect you to send word to me immediately,” he snapped.

I bowed low. “Of course. I live to serve the Dragons.”

“See that you do, or everyone you love will suffer for it.”

Sark’s body seamlessly shifted into his terrifying dragon form before he launched into the air and flew over the mouth of the volcano. He let out a huge blast of fire as a warning, before he flew away.

Once he was only a tiny speck in the distance, my shoulders finally relaxed. The other men all surrounded me and wrapped their arms around me.

“Are you okay?” Falon asked.

I nodded. “I think so.”

“What was that about?” Blane asked.

“Let’s go inside,” I said. “I have a lot to tell you.”

But as we headed back toward the temple, the volcano began to rumble loudly and the ground shook beneath our feet. The air suddenly became much hotter, to the point where it became hard to breathe, and my skin tingled with awareness. As we turned back to the gaping maw, lava and sparks shot out from it as a monstrously large dragon reared up from inside it. This one was much larger and more incredible than the ones we’d just faced, and its skin seemed to be made from lava itself.

“Calla of the Fire Realm,” the dragon’s deep voice said, while it pinned me with its fiery eyes. “You have served me well.”

“The Fire God,” Falon whispered, while the ground continued to rumble around us.

“It’s really true,” Blane said, while Roth and Derel could only gape and stare in awe.

This must be the Fire God’s true form, only seen here at his most holy place. I bowed my head low, while the volcano surged around us. “I’ve done everything you asked. I came to the temple and brought four men to serve as my mates. Will you calm the volcano now?”

In response, the glow from the mouth of the volcano dimmed and the ground stopped shaking. “Very well. But there is still more for you to do.”

I swallowed and glanced at the men at my side, who nodded and gazed back at me with determined eyes. “What would you have us do?”

“You must prepare for the next Dragons to rise—the ascendants.”

I tilted my head, unsure if I’d heard him correctly. “The next ones?”

“The Dragons were created to protect the world, and were meant to bring balance between the humans and elementals. Many years ago that changed and the current Dragons allowed their purpose to be corrupted. Now their time is at an end. The next Black Dragon has been born, and in twenty years she will visit this temple with her mates.” His fanged mouth dipped low. “And you will be ready for them.”

“But the Dragons have ruled for as long as anyone can remember,” Derel said. “How can they be replaced?”

“The Dragons were only meant to rule for a short time, before passing the torch to the next generation. Nysa and her mates defied the Gods to gain immortality. Now their rule must come to an end.”

I glanced at my mates again, the four men I loved, and knew they’d stand beside me no matter what we faced. If our purpose was to prepare for these ascendants, we’d be ready. If we had to defy the Dragons, we’d do it.

I stepped forward and gazed up at the fiery god. “We’re ready to serve.”





Chapter Fifteen





Twenty Years Later





I stood in front of the temple and gazed out across the barren landscape surrounding the volcano. Small figures approached in the distance on horseback, getting closer with every minute. Purpose and determination smoldered inside me, along with the Fire God’s flames. I’d waited for this day for twenty years and it was hard to believe this moment was finally here.

I turned around and headed back through the temple, where my four mates waited for me. Blane, Roth, Derel, and Falon all wore the red and black robes of the Fire God’s priests and I gazed at each of them with love nearly bursting inside of me. Even after twenty years together, we were still as much in love as when we first came to the temple, if not more so. Every day we’d spent together was a true blessing, and I was so thankful the Fire God chose me—and that these four men had agreed to become my priests.

“It’s time,” I said.

“The new Black Dragon?” Blane asked, arching an eyebrow.

I nodded. “She and her mates are approaching now. They should be here in a few hours.”

“I’ll start preparing a feast,” Derel said. “They’re going to be hungry after they climb that mountain.”

“I’ll prepare the bonding room,” Falon said, glancing back at the room with the altar and the bed that we rarely went into, which had been waiting for the ascendants all this time.

“Thank you,” I told them both with a smile.

“Any sign of the other Dragons?” Roth asked. “Sark?”

“Not yet.” I glanced back at the smoke-filled sky. The Fire God had kept his promise and the volcano had been quiet for the entire time we’d lived here—until now. We all knew what that meant, and were prepared to leave on a moment’s notice if needed. “But I’m glad we sent the children to Sparkport, just in case.”

I’d been blessed with four children, one from each of my mates, which we considered gifts from the Fire God. Our oldest daughter would one day become the High Priestess after me, if she wished to take that role. For now, they were safe at the bakery with Loka and her wife. Once this was over, we’d be reunited again.

Though the Fire God had never appeared to me again, I knew he’d been watching over us, waiting for this day. He’d given me purpose, and over the years I’d devoured every book in the library and studied up on the Dragons, or what little was left about them anyway, while my mates and I prepared as best we could for the new Dragons’ arrival. Change was coming to the four Realms, but if our plans were successful, we would no longer live under Nysa’s oppressive regime. Soon the new Black Dragon would rise, with her four mates at her side. Only then would balance return to the world.