The Ashfire King Novels & Stories

As if she had already chosen the world she wanted to live in. I rose. My knees left prints in the mud, half filled by the river’s edge. When I stood, the cold air pulled me back into myself. The moon trembled across the surface, broken by current. The ash began to move downstream, slow and gleaming, as if the river itself was carrying the dead toward whatever waited for them. I turned away and followed the sound of fire rising in the distance. Kael (POV) The ash came first.

“There’s an old Everley story about a dragon with more than one mate. Even in your kind, it’s rare, but it has happened. The bonds burned hot, and together, they were more than any others could ever hope to be. In fact, they were unmatched. But the same heat that made them powerful also could have destroyed them, and more than once, it nearly did. It wasn’t magic that saved them in the end, but the way they chose to wield it together.” The way she said “your kind” made my chest clench. “And if they hadn’t handled it right?” I asked. She didn’t look away. “Then the fire would have consumed them all. And everything around them.” I sat back, forcing my expression neutral while my mind whirled.

I hoped that when my son came back, he would see both of us celebrating his final birthday. The clock ticked again and again. Eight o'clock passed, yet Jennifer had not come home. I could not wait any longer. I went to look for Jennifer. … The moment I stepped outside our courtyard, fireworks burst along the roadside. It was deep winter, and the sharp crack of fireworks and firecrackers echoed through the dark street. I began to walk around them. Then Phillip's voice drifted over. "Jenny, be careful. Don't let Tommy get burned." He stood under a tree. His voice sounded gentle. Jennifer answered with a soft hum. She struck a match and lit the firework in the boy's hand.

Just as he makes it to the door, I call out to him. "Next time I'll take Diablo." I smile as I see Xavier stop in his tracks. "Which one is Diablo?" "The SSC Tuatara." "Lexi." Xavier calls out to me. But I walk briskly into my bathroom before closing the door in his face. "Lexi! Come back here!" I can't help but laugh. Callisto may be fast, but she has nothing on Diablo. Diablo is a true speed demon. He is the king of speed, with a top speed of nearly 540km. My lips go dry just thinking about it.

They had been ready to make their move the second he did. But now, Asher, who had been detained for several days, looked cheerful, almost as if he had become Andrew's biggest supporter. Asher was the third strongest figure in the Cavendish royal family, a heavyweight in every sense. The whole room did not know what to make of it. Had the man lost his backbone entirely?

It has a living quality. Kael's gaze was unreadable as he observed her for a while. "So it might be waiting for you to make a decision." Zara scowled. "I have no idea what that is." "Just figure it out," he added. "Or it will be taken from you by someone else." She felt cold at what he said. Feeling the weight of his warning, she gripped the shard tighter. They were moving again by sunrise. Kael was able to walk unassisted once his strength returned, albeit slowly and deliberately. With their sharp peaks piercing the sky like old sentinels, the Ashen Spires came closer.

I aimed at killing a few more then maybe, just maybe, it might calm my fury. I want this Park to bleed blood. I would love to see blood flow in the drainage system of this great Park. “Let a search party be conducted, bring me the last bloodline of Kayla.” I spoke to the elderly howlers, I made my way straight to the throne and seated as proudly as their Alpha sat. The elderly man drew to his knees alongside the rest of the chiefs, “Please master,” He said as he bowed to his feet before me, “I'll gather some wolves to run a search party for the ones who you've requested for, but please promise not to end our lives if we don't.” He said in a shaky voice.

I choked out, but his words were insidious, weaving themselves into the fabric of my deepest fears. “Is it?” he purred. “He’s the King of Ashes. He burns everything he touches. He let our parents die in that fire. He let me die. He let your father die. And he would let you die, too, if it served his purpose.” He reached out, and before I could flinch away, his fingers traced the line of my jaw—a grotesque parody of the tender gesture Alessandro had shown me. “He told me how you looked at him by the waterfall. So trusting. So naive. He found it… amusing.”

Oh, damn, it's one hell of a body. I heard a loud cough and looked up at the man sitting on the throne looking like a god. "You may rise, my men." He spoke to Kay and Kane, they both rose from their bowing positions and nodded at their 'leader'. "We have found her, my king." Kay spoke looking at the solid ground in front of him. King... What the hell? "Good job, Kay. You are dismissed." Kane and Kay left the room, closed the doors after them and left me alone with the hottest species in the fucking universe. Fuck, I really should stop thinking with my vagina.

I kneel, brush the ashes from the cracked stone, and whisper to the dark, “You promised me forever.” The wind answers, carrying the scent of salt and steel. And for a heartbeat, I swear I hear his voice — low, sharp, haunting — whispering my name again. “Amara.” I turn. And there he is. Standing in the ruins, rain dripping from his hair, eyes like burning coals. Alive. My chest tightens, the air ripped from my lungs. For a moment, neither of us moves. The world holds its breath. Then he steps closer, voice a rasp. “You built a kingdom from the ashes, cara mia. But tell me — do you still know how to burn?”