Chapter 3 : Come Back, Flameheart

*Kieran*

“Flameheart? Flameheart!” I yelled, trying to get her to come back.

Nothing.

Frantically, I searched the forums, but not only was she not there--she no longer existed!

“Shit,” I murmured to myself.

Luckily, we’d exchanged numbers not long ago. If I’d scared her, I’d make it up to her. I just had to get her back.

Though my message went through, I did not get a reply. I waited for hours.

Zephyr, my best friend and fellow refugee, poked his blonde head in my office at about three in the morning, looking peeved. “Do you know what time it is?”

“Yes,” I snapped, trying to text Flameheart5694 again.

“Banging on your keyboard and shouting ‘Flameheart’ does not make for great sleeping conditions for everyone else,” he griped. “Just in case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t.” I gave my phone a shake, as though scrambling the technology’s brains was going to make her text me back.

Zephyr walked over and closed my very expensive laptop with an ominous thud. “I know you don’t sleep, but some of us would like to.”

“‘Some of ‘us’ can fuck off,” I grunted, opening the laptop again.

He slapped it closed. “Go to bed.”

“I can’t. I have to talk to her,” I replied, trying to open my laptop, but being thwarted by Zephyr’s hand leaning on top of it.

“You break it, you buy it,” I said, scowling at him.

“I’ll buy it if it’ll get me more than two hours of sleep,” he grumbled. “And why do you need to talk to your girlfriend so badly? Did you fuck up somehow?”

When I didn’t answer, he sighed. “What did you do?”

I smacked my phone down on my desk so hard that the screen cracked. “Damn it!”

“Yeah… still doesn’t tell me what you did wrong,” Zephyr said.

I raked my hands through my hair, making it fall back into my eyes. “I saw her naked.”

“Without her permission?” he inferred.

I waved a hand. “Not the point. She–”

“How can that not be the point?” he asked, a brow raised.

“Stop interrupting me,” I growled. I knew my eyes were flashing fire even before he took a step back. “For the love of FUCK, Zephyr, you know my dragon’s contained.”

“Well, there’s always the possibility the magic won’t hold.”

“It’ll hold. And that’s not the point, either. Her hands…”

“What about her hands?” he asked when I didn’t continue.

I rolled a pen on my desk between my fingers. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but… her hands GLOWED.”

“Glowed?” he echoed.

“Yeah. Glowed,” I said. I rolled the pen away. “What could that possibly mean?”

Zephyr stroked his carefully manicured goatee. “It has to be something. Glowed? Really?”

“I shit you not.” I reached in my desk drawer for a piece of paper. “Actually, I’d like you to look into it–”

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” he scoffed. “Why would I look into this shit when we’ve got to start making a plan to go back home and get your thrice-cursed uncle off the throne.”

“No,” I said, and started jotting down suggestions of where Zephyr might find some clues about the Flameheart conundrum.

“What do you mean ‘no’? You can’t just let him hang out there like some fascist dictator! What about our people?” he protested.

I stopped writing and handed the paper to him. “I’m thinking of our people. That’s why I’m not going back. Without my dragon, I am useless to them.”

“And whose fault is that? You’re the one who had it bound,” Zephyr snorted, crinkling the paper in his hands.

“That’s because I was a berserk, killing machine. What use is my dragon if I can’t control him?” I grunted, checking my cracked phone again.

Zephyr banged his head against his fist. “Isn’t that some damned convenient catch twenty-two.”

“What do you mean by convenient?” I growled.

He leaned over my desk, crumpling the paper further. “I mean you’re not even trying to control your dragon. You should give it a shot.”

“You don’t understand anyth–” I began shouting.

Another head popped around my door frame and I groaned. “Thorne.”

“Your Majesty,” Thorne replied, stretching and cracking several of his joints. “I didn’t know we were having a strategic meeting.”

“You didn’t miss anything. His strategy is to stay away, to stay here, in the human world,” Zephyr snarked. “But, oh look, I get to go on a scavenger hunt for what glowing hands mean.”

“Glowing hands?” Thorne repeated.

“His girlfriend has glowing hands. You know, the one he hasn’t actually met in person yet.” He began pacing. “The least you could do for our people is produce an heir. It’s possible for a human to be a surrogate - it’s been done before. But no, you’re wasting your time fiddling around with a girl who won’t even MEET you, much less have your kid.”

I slammed my fist down on the desk, making the wood creak ominously. “That’s enough. Flameheart is my business, not yours.”

“And yet, you’re having me research her,” he said, waving the paper in my face.

I snatched it back. “Fine, I’ll give it to Nola instead.”

“She would enjoy such an assignment, if I’ve assumed correctly that Flameheart is the one with the glowing hands and you want that fact researched,” Thorne said.

Nothing got past him. “Do YOU think we should be going home?” I asked him, exasperated.

“No,” Thorne replied, and Zephyr threw up his hands. “I believe we should stay here. But, Zephyr is right about the heir.”

“I don’t think there’s any great rush…” I argued.

Thorne shook his head. “Time is of the essence. You should find a surrogate soon.”

I thought of Flameheart. “I hope I already did.”

“Excellent,” Thorne said. “Bring her here and we’ll see if we can’t explain the situation in such a way as she’ll agree. Otherwise we could force her–”

“There will be NO forcing!” I snapped.

“Alright. No forcing. But it does need to happen soon. We have been safe here thus far, but one never knows when your uncle might send a contingent through the portal after us,” Thorne responded.

“Which is all the more reason for us to go home and kick HIS ass first!” Zephyr insisted.

I rubbed my temples. “Ugh. The both of you, just… get out. Thorne, if you could give this list to Nola and explain about the glowing hands…?”

“I would be honored, Your Majesty,” Thorne said with a bow and took the paper from me.

‘I would be honored, Your Majesty,’ Zephyr mouthed sarcastically behind his back.

“I’m going to bed,” I announced. Usually, Zephyr’s sarcasm would have me in stitches, but not with Flameheart disappearing on me. Without another word to either of them, I picked up my cracked phone and made for my bedroom.

Zephyr called out behind me, but I was completely wrung out. I got to my room, closed and locked the door behind me.

There was a California king-sized bed in the middle of the wall opposite the door. I had a six-screen gamers’ dream setup in its own little recessed sitting area, and the castle walls were covered with heavy, black drapery to keep the cold out. I closed the thick wooden shutters on my windows, then climbed into bed.

I tried messaging Flameheart5694 one more time, but it was useless. With a sigh, I sat back and thought of her naked and facing the camera. Her rose-tipped breasts were absolutely perfect, as was every other naked inch of her body.

Unable to stop myself, I reached into my silk boxers and pulled out my cock. “Flameheart,” I whispered, imagining it was her mouth on my shaft and not my hand. “Fuck… yes… Flameheart…”

I thought of her heavy with my child and came with a shout. With a sigh, I cleaned myself off and laid back on the bed, one arm behind my head, the other holding up my phone while I willed her to return my message.

Any message.

Even though I stayed up all night, there was no reply.

***

Nola was nearly vibrating outside my office when I pulled my sleepless self down the hall to do my work for the day.

“Coffee…” I croaked, knowing I’d be dragging ass all day.

As expected, Nola produced a thermos from behind her, as well as a sheaf of papers, which she shoved into my hands as well.

“I found it, Your Majesty, I found it!” Nola chirped, following me into my office.

It was far too early for this kind of optimism, but it was Nola so I just grit my teeth and bore it. “Okay, what did you find out, Nola?”

“Well, there was actually more than one possibility. I mean, I like lots of possibilities, but oh, there was this one that was SO exciting I can hardly wait for you to read it!” Nola said, bouncing from foot to foot.

I sat heavily in my chair and gestured for Nola to sit as well. “How about you just give me the highlights and I read the research later.”

“Okay!” Nola responded. She perched on the end of her chair like a hummingbird, her limbs flitting around in her excitement. “Well, the first thing I found out she could be is a Healer. Glowing hands is kind of their thing.”

“Healer. Got it,” I said, then waited patiently for her to continue.

I didn’t have to wait long. “The second thing she could be is a Destroyer. Which would kind of suck because I think you like her,” Nola said with a wince.

My eye ticked at the idea that my beautiful Flameheart could be any kind of Destroyer. “Next.”

“Oh, the last one is so exciting. So exciting! You’re never going to believe it, it’s so exciting!” Nola grinned.

“Okay,” I said, stopping myself from barking at her to just spit it out. “What’s the last one?”

“Fire Mage!” Nola bounced right out of her seat and stood over my desk. “Isn’t that exciting?! Wouldn’t that be cool?!”

“A Fire Mage,” I repeated. “Where could she possibly come from if she’s a Fire Mage? You’d think our side of the portal… You’re sure she could be from there and still have powers on this side?”

“Yes! Which means she’d have both powers, of course, but it also means she could release your dragon and we could go home and, like, kick your uncle’s ass!” Nola beamed.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Nola. We’re not going home. This is home now.”

Nola stopped bouncing. “What? What do you mean? Zephyr said–”

“Zephyr wants to go home, but not all of us do. And you remember what I was like when I had my dragon. I couldn’t go back that way, anyway. I’d be just as likely to eat all the villagers as kill my Uncle,” I reminded her.

“But… maybe with a Fire Mage by your side…” Nola suggested.

“Enough!” I said. “Nola, you’re speaking out of turn.”

Nola ducked her head. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

I sighed and leaned my head back on the chair. “How do we figure out which of the three she is for sure?”

“Oh, that’s easy. She comes here and we see what she can do,” Nola said. “We can test her magic. I mean, I suppose you could go to her, but I don’t think it would be a good idea for her to display her magic in front of the humans. They get a bit burn-at-the-stake-y about that.”

“Good point,” I replied. “Okay, I’ll see if I can ask her to come here.”

“Zephyr says she’s not answering your calls,” Nola murmured. “How will you get her here if she won’t answer you?”

“I’ll try for another couple of days,” I sighed.

“And then?” Nola asked.

“And then… I’ll have to try something else.” But what would get her attention?