Heart of Ash (The Dark Arcane Series: Book 1)

Chapter One

The pale, cloying fumes in the smokeseed drug den had thickened to the extent that the lively tendrils took the form of dragons clawing at each other's throats, with wings carrying them higher and higher towards the cracked ceiling.

Ashyn followed them lazily, through eyes at half-mast.

While the smoke failed to completely obscure her vision, it succeeded in blurring the features of the stranger who was sprawled a small distance away from her.

One didn't get high on smokeseed to make good life choices.

She'd rented this quieter corner of the den—with what little extra money she had—to enjoy her drug induced haze, though the sounds of uninhibited laughter still slipped through the paper partition, bringing a scowl to her lips. Through her warped vision, she thought she saw a shadow appear behind the partition.

She shut her eyes, sinking into the cushions with solid determination.

There was a rustling from behind the screen before a tentative voice began, "I have a message for one Ashyn Reighstorm."

Without opening her eyes, Ashyn picked apart the facts, as she always did. The voice belonged to a young girl, in the region of twelve summers, and nervous— great mothers tits, she was positively shaking with nerves. This was certainly not the lovely woman who ran the den, with whom Ashyn had spent many a night tumbling in her sheets.

More rustling from the girl behind the screen snatched her attention back to the present. She was aware she had created a silence, but she didn't mind; it was her silence.

The girl had found her way into this dirty corner of town meaning she was either stupid or desperate. The message would be from someone rich enough to pay for a messenger—or someone dangerous enough to threaten an innocent girl into becoming a messenger.

Ashyn's eyes snapped open, the dim light revealing the ring of brown in her otherwise green eyes. Her voice was a cool, calm thing, "What does the Ka l'astrei want with me now?"

The girl shuffled again. Ashyn didn't blame her for being uneasy; the Ka l'astrei were outlawed witches, bloodthirsty as they were cruel. Precisely the reason a young Ashyn had sought them out those years ago.

"Your mentor has requested your arrival at the keep." The girl remained behind the screen.

Why didn't she send Allvitende? That blasted bird followed Meredith's every blasted command.

She didn't voice her question, very much aware of the male body lying a few feet away, and instead ripped away the paper divider, stealing her silence away with it. With a low growl, she replied, "There's a human in here, and you're talking loud enough for the damn dead to hear you."

She realised absentmindedly how Meredith would have smiled to hear her speak like a witch, as if she wasn't just a human. As if she weren't lesser.

She grabbed the girl's collar in her fist, and leant closer to breathe softly between her teeth, "Next time you make a mistake so stupid, I will rip your spine from your body, and shove it into your brain, so everyone can see what a complete bonehead you are."

Ashyn didn't bother to watch the girl scamper away, instead turning around to sure the man really was out of it.

She may have kicked him harder than necessary.