From Flame and Ash: An Elements of Five Romance Read online

  From Flame and Ash

  An Elements of Five Romance

  Carrie Ann Ryan

  Contents

  Praise for Carrie Ann Ryan….

  FROM FLAME AND ASH

  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

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Afterword

  About the Author

  More from Carrie Ann Ryan

  From Flame and Ash

  An Elements of Five Novel

  By: Carrie Ann Ryan

  © 2019 Carrie Ann Ryan

  978-1-947007-74-1

  Cover Art by Charity Hendry

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  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.

  * * *

  For more information, please join Carrie Ann Ryan’s MAILING LIST.

  To interact with Carrie Ann Ryan, you can join her FAN CLUB

  Praise for Carrie Ann Ryan….

  “Carrie Ann Ryan knows how to pull your heartstrings and make your pulse pound! Her wonderful Redwood Pack series will draw you in and keep you reading long into the night. I can’t wait to see what comes next with the new generation, the Talons. Keep them coming, Carrie Ann!” –Lara Adrian, New York Times bestselling author of CRAVE THE NIGHT

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  “Carrie Ann Ryan never fails to draw readers in with passion, raw sensuality, and characters that pop off the page. Any book by Carrie Ann is an absolute treat.” – New York Times Bestselling Author J. Kenner

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  "With snarky humor, sizzling love scenes, and brilliant, imaginative worldbuilding, The Dante's Circle series reads as if Carrie Ann Ryan peeked at my personal wish list!" – NYT Bestselling Author, Larissa Ione

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  "Carrie Ann Ryan writes sexy shifters in a world full of passionate happily-ever-afters." – New York Times Bestselling Author Vivian Arend

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  Carrie Ann Ryan's books are wickedly funny and deliciously hot, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. They'll keep you up all night!” USA Today Bestselling Author Cari Quinn

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  "Once again, Carrie Ann Ryan knocks the Dante's Circle series out of the park. The queen of hot, sexy, enthralling paranormal romance, Carrie Ann is an author not to miss!" New York Times bestselling Author Marie Harte

  Dedication

  To Liz & Jillian.

  Thank you for always being there, for loving these worlds, and for showing me who else I could be.

  FROM FLAME AND ASH

  NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan continues Lyric’s epic journey in this spellbinding sequel to From Breath and Ruin.

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  Lyric lost her past, her friends, and even her connections to both worlds when she found out about the Maison realm and her calling. But now she must put that aside and travel back to the Maison realm to continue her training as the Spirit Priestess. Only her journey isn’t to Rhodes and those she fought alongside before. This time, Easton and the other Obscurité warriors will stand by her side as she tries to unlock her final three elements.

  * * *

  However, just as she starts to learn more about what she’s been prophesied to do, a Seer’s wish and the calling of the Lumière kingdom calls her forth, thrusting Lyric into another journey where she must trust those on both sides of the age-old war to survive…and keep those she loves safe.

  Chapter One

  I hadn’t had this dream in a while. The fact that I knew it was a dream right off the bat told me I wasn’t going to like where it led. Of course, knowing what I did now, none of the dreams from my past had been very good for me either. Though they might have told me some important things, stuff that meant something, it didn’t mean I had to like them.

  Or their underlying message.

  This time, I stood at the center of a star with five points. Before I knew that everything I dreamed was true, I’d always thought of where I stood as the four corners of the seasons, each of the elements, or the four cardinal directions.

  But I had been wrong…even as I’d been right.

  I hadn’t known there was a fifth.

  But then again, I hadn’t known much at the time.

  I still felt like I didn’t. Not at all.

  I stood at the crossroads, my hair blowing in the wind and the screams of a thousand voices echoing in my mind. I knew they were my own. My screams mixed with those of my friends, those I loved, and others I didn’t know.

  These were memories. My dreams weren’t really dreams.

  But each time the visions came, I didn’t know if they would be my memories or a future that would never come. I didn’t know if they were the memories of those who kept sending me these nightmares, or if it was just something to try and scare me into coming back.

  I didn’t want to go back.

  Or maybe I did.

  The fact that I was still deciding on when told me I wasn’t ready. But I pushed those thoughts out of my head and tried to focus on what the dream was trying to tell me—if it was trying to tell me anything at all.

  The element that I was most afraid of was in front of me. Spirit. And I did not know a single person who possessed it. I didn’t know anyone who could Wield it like the others. Every time I looked into the face of this element, I could feel the fear crawling up my back, into my shoulders, moving down to my belly to latch on. Because I didn’t know what Spirit Wielders could do, other than walk in my dreams. Yet I knew it could be so much more.

  It had to be.

  Because if it weren’t, then the others wouldn’t have tried to kill the Spirit Wielders for their powers.

  In the far right upper corner of the star, there was Fire. Below that, Earth. To the left, Air, and above, Water.

  All elements. All coming at me…and yet not.

  The Air blew my blond hair back from my face, and I lifted my chin, letting the heat of Fire warm my pale skin. I’d gotten slightly tanner outside of my dreams this past year by being outside, but within my visions, it was as if the sun had been leached from my skin altogether. As if I were just a pale shadow of who I once was.

  As with the elements, and like with anything, there were different types of people, various Wielders who used their powers and magic in ways that were either helpful or hurtful depending on the individual. There were those who Wielded their elements and u
sed them to protect others or to harm even more. They used them to their advantage and had had hundreds of years to perfect those skills.

  I had been born human. And I still was…maybe. Even in my dreams. Here, I didn’t possess the elements that had been thrust upon me, unlocking inside of me with bone-breaking agony and pain. The torment of which was so haunting, I knew I would never forget.

  In these dreams, I was the girl I had been before. And I was powerless.

  I hadn’t been without power in the end, and yet in these dreams, I was reminded of what I’d been, and what I might become if I went back without knowing what was to come.

  I had left the Maison realm because I was afraid. Because I had been beaten. I’d lost my best friend and so much more. I’d died with a sword in my belly and blood on my hands.

  And the Spirit Wielders, those who’d remained hidden for centuries from the other Wielders, saved me.

  The boy I loved—who I thought I could love, at least—the one I thought was my soulmate, hadn’t been able to save me. There hadn’t been that true connection. Legend said that a soulmate could heal a mortal wound. And he couldn’t heal mine.

  Now, Rhodes was gone, off to his own kingdom. And I was in the human realm, hiding. He had his people to protect…and I had to find a way to heal.

  But what I was living right now was a dream, I reminded myself. Just a dream.

  Water from its corner of the star lapped at my feet, cold and icy. It wasn’t like that time on the beach as a child, playing in the sand and letting the waves crash into me. I had been a strong swimmer, but my mother had always warned me about the rip tides, the strong currents. They could take you out into the abyss and drown you, take you away from everything you’d ever known, and no one would be able to hear you scream.

  As I thought that, the waves grew stronger, knocking into my knees until I went weak, shaking just slightly. Sand scraped my skin, but I did not fall. Not now.

  This was just a dream.

  And I wasn’t that girl anymore.

  The ground rumbled beneath my feet, and I knew that Earth was angry. I reminded myself that there was more to come from that land. More to take. Because while the king of the Fire and Earth territories was one man—one who had saved me—the Lord of Earth was not as welcoming, not as forgiving.

  I owed their lord a favor, one I was afraid I might not ever be able to repay.

  The man who ruled the territory had not killed me, and therefore, I owed him. It was funny how being able to breathe could be something owed, a favor. The mere idea that I could walk away with my life in my hands, that was what I owed someone.

  The earth cracked ever so slightly beneath me, jagged lines appearing that sent dust spiraling into the air, but I did not falter. I did pull myself back from thoughts of what I owed, however.

  Because unlike with Water, I could Wield this element. I could feel Earth, and it tugged on something within me, a part so deep that it caused warmth to spread through my fingers. And though I didn’t actually possess that element in this dream, I knew that once I woke up, I would be able to.

  And then the Fire came at me, and I held back a wince. Fire, such heat.

  I didn’t possess this element, even though its twin, Earth, called to me. Earth and Fire were friends, tangling with each other not only in magic and genetics but also within a kingdom that was falling apart under its new king. The new ruler who had come into his title as the kingdom fell apart around him.

  I didn’t know if I would be enough to save it.

  I disregarded the Fire and what it represented, ignored its temptation. It had called to me since I was a child, and it still called.

  It was not the Water with its siren song that lured me, but the Fire that burned.

  And then I remembered that Water could douse the flames, even though Fire could dance above the waves.

  All of that might soon unlock within me. And I wasn’t sure I was strong enough.

  I turned myself fully within the star to face the first element that had ever unlocked within me. Air. I had unlocked it to save the boy that I thought I could love—and myself. I could still feel the wind dancing between my fingers and tangling in my hair. It was the warmest of elements, even more so than Fire in my opinion. Because Fire raged and burned, while Air hugged and caressed.

  But it could kill.

  I knew that firsthand.

  And I possessed this element.

  That was something I was still coming to understand.

  Even a year later.

  “You’re wondering why you’re here,” a voice said from behind me. I turned in the direction I had faced at first, towards the Spirit element.

  That element meant nothing to me. All I knew was that it was a void. That was the only way I knew it was Spirit at all. I had no idea what it could do. Hadn’t truly met anyone who could Wield it.

  While the rest of the elements were physical, Spirit seemed to dwell within.

  I knew the Spirit Wielders could walk within my dreams and give me dreams. I knew that they could heal. But I didn’t know if that was because it was me, or if it was their element.

  Though it wasn’t as if I could ask them.

  When the Spirit Wielders came into my dream, they tended to talk to me, not with me.

  I should have found that annoying, but that was how all of my training had gone for the past year once I returned to the human realm and moved away from the Maisons.

  I had quickly found out that the world was not as it seemed. Another world was pressed tightly up against ours, connected by portals that led from the human world to the Maison realm.

  And a thousand years ago when the Maison realm was five territories, five kingdoms with kings and queens who worked together, there had been peace. And then, over time, Earth and Fire had become the Obscurité Kingdom, and Water and Air had become the Lumiére.

  Light and dark. Opposites.

  And they had warred.

  I didn’t know the reason for the war, although it is said that the King of Obscurité started it all.

  But after meeting the latest king and his mother, the late queen, I wasn’t sure if anything I had been told about the Fall was true. When the war had paused and became what it was now, at least in its abstract form, the Fall had begun. The Spirit Wielders had left the Maison realm to hide with the humans.

  I didn’t know if my ancestors had been among those to hide, but none of that mattered now. Because everything had changed. The Maison realm was fracturing. It was failing.

  People were losing their ability to Wield. Some had been stripped of their Wielding powers by magical forces, others nearly losing it because the crystals that powered the Maison realm were dying, as well.

  And I knew all about this because, apparently, I was the fabled Spirit Priestess.

  The one who could save them all.

  Or so they told me.

  “Why am I here?” I asked the Spirit Wielder in front of me. I couldn’t see his face, his cloak covered him completely. Although I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to see the Spirit Wielders’ faces. For all I knew, this was all just my imagination trying to help me come up with answers for what I needed to know to remain sane.

  “You are here to learn. You are here to remember. You can’t stay here forever, Lyric.”

  I shook my head, not wanting to hear the words.

  It had been a year since I ran from my responsibilities and what could be. I’d needed to figure out who I was, and I still wasn’t sure.

  But I didn’t have time for myths and dreams.

  But they apparently had time for me.

  A movement in the dream, a shift in the wind, caused me to pause. Then the elements around me burned, flooded, ached. This wasn’t my dream. And it wasn’t the man in front of me.

  “You must go, Lyric.”

  “Where?”

  There were so many places I could go within the kingdoms once I left the human realm. But it wasn’t like I could just figu
re out my journey without help. I didn’t know what I needed to do, and nobody was actually guiding me. Not anymore.

  “All is not what it seems.”

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes because that was the understatement of my year. Of my life.

  But then, before I could speak again, Earth rumbled harder, and Fire lashed out at me. Water seemed to wrap itself around my ankles, and Air slammed into me, so hard that it felt like ice sticking to my skin.

  This was different. This wasn’t the same type of dream I’d had before. And then the Spirit Wielder lifted his hood, vacant, dark pools of shadow where eyes should have been.

  “You must go. Before he finds you. Before they all find you. The Gray is coming. And you are still too weak.”

  And then the elements slammed into me with such ferocity that I screamed.

  I startled awake and winced as the others in the classroom around me clapped. I wasn’t in the Maison realm, and I wasn’t alone. I was in a classroom with a bunch of students, most of them glaring at me. I had fallen asleep, and the others had seen.

  I had left the Maison realm to find myself, to heal. But I had been left wanting. I waited to learn the next step, but the nothingness around me only pulled me farther away from where I knew, deep down, I needed to be. A place I was afraid I’d never reach again.