House of Fire
Parallel Magic: Book Two
Emma L. Adams
This book was written, produced and edited in the UK, where some spelling, grammar and word usage will vary from US English.
Copyright © 2020 Emma L. Adams
All rights reserved.
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Contents
House Of Fire
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
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Thank you for reading!
About the Author
House Of Fire
I'm Bria Kent, paranormal rogue and former inmate of the House of Fire. As the Death King's official Fire Element, my first order is to help my boss negotiate with the Houses of the Elements. Yeah, my former jailors. Nobody ever said this was an easy job.
All our negotiations go out the window when someone shows up dead, and my former best friend turns out to be the prime suspect. Worse, the deadly mages who raised me are on the loose, and I'm almost certain they're involved with the trouble brewing in the Houses.
With a war on the horizon, the Family are all too ready to step in and take advantage of the chaos. And there's nothing they want more than for me to fight at their side…
1
The first enemy I made as the Death King’s official Fire Element was a zombie horse named Neddie.
The skeletal beast hissed and snapped its sharp teeth at me when I tried to climb onto its back. Its polished forehead reflected the weak sunlight from the overcast sky above, while a shadowy figure floated up to my side, laughing under her breath as I tried to mount the stubborn horse.
“What’s the problem?” I said to Neddie.
“Probably scared you’ll set him on fire,” commented Harper.
I withdrew my hand before I lost a finger. “Good chance of it if he keeps biting me.”
Harper was a lich, a reanimated ghost of sorts whose soul was bound to an amulet in exchange for immortality. Nothing out of the ordinary for a castle full of similar shadowy beings without any visible features and reanimated skeletal wights that far outnumbered any living people. The zombie horses, though, I hadn’t expected.
Neddie snorted again and snapped his teeth inches from my hand. I gave him a glare. “Have it your way, then. I’ll find another steed.”
“Why do you need a horse, anyway?” asked Harper.
“I’m sick of getting mud on my boots,” I responded. “We can’t all wear nothing but a semi-transparent cloak and defy gravity. Besides, I like to know there’s an easy way out if I’m being chased.”
My first rule for living in the Parallel: always be ready to run. Or ride, as the case may be. If my steed cooperated, that is. The swamp was hard to traverse on foot, even wearing the new heavy black boots the Death King had given me. He’d also given me matching dark trousers and shirt, laced with armoured material which offered protection while being lightweight enough not to slow me down. I also wore a cloak lined with fiery crimson and embossed with the Death King’s symbol of four elemental symbols surrounded a skull. Kind of overkill, pun intended, but I looked actually intimidating for once in my life. It didn’t hurt that my dark brown hair was positively glossy after having access to adequate showering facilities for the first time in forever, while a disguise charm I wore around my neck hid my pointed ears and elven features. I hadn’t quite got used to showing my real face—old habits died hard—but it was nice to command a little respect for once.
Footsteps sounded and two people wearing armour like mine, a tall black woman and a tall Asian guy, walked into view. Felicity, the Water Element, gave Neddie the horse a confused look. “What are you doing, trying to tame him?”
“He doesn’t like fire mages,” said Cal, the Earth Element.
“Told you so,” said Harper.
Neither of them appeared bothered at talking to a floating cloak without a face, but they’d lived here in the castle for years. Felicity had been nice to me so far, unlike the other Elemental Soldiers, but I knew better than to expect it last. I had secrets up to my eyeballs and a family which made the Death King’s denizens look like cuddly bunny rabbits.
My second rule for living in the Parallel: adapt to survive. And taking on the job from the Death King had been necessary for my survival, so I’d deal with the consequences.
I went looking for another horse, but Neddie didn’t like that. He cantered into my path and would have headbutted me across the swamp, had I not pivoted away at the last second. “What did I ever do to him?”
“Perhaps he senses nefarious intentions,” said Ryan, joining their fellow Elemental Soldiers outside the castle. The Air Element looked more intimidating than the rest of us put together, with a shaved head and broad shoulders under their armour.
“I haven’t got nefarious intentions,” I protested. “I’m risking my neck for His Lordship’s sake, you know.”
“You should have more respect for our master,” said the Air Element.
A small humanoid fiery figure floated past and snorted loudly. “I have no respect for anyone, and His Deathly Highness still lets me guard his hall of souls.”
I felt an unexpected rush of gratitude towards Dex, which vanished when Neddie lunged out and knocked me flat on my arse, causing the fire sprite to burst into laughter.
“The Death King wants you, by the way,” Dex said between snickers.
I lifted my head. “Did he mention why?”
“I assume he has a mission for you,” Felicity said. “I wouldn’t dawdle.”
I tried to get to my feet, only for Neddie to knock me backwards again. Harper burst out laughing. Her voice was colder and higher as a lich than it’d been as a human,
