King of Mist (Steel and Fire Book 2) Read Free

something that had been there too often of late. Dara’s chest tightened at the sight. She knew how much Siv’s father had meant to him. And his life wasn’t supposed to turn out this way.
    “I’ll see what I can do,” Dara said.
    “Good. Now, when I’m done with my meeting I want you to come with me to talk to Zage about that Fire Blade we picked up during the attempt against my life.”
    The image of a tall, mysterious swordsman flashed before Dara’s eyes. They had faced him together. Dara had feinted, opening the man up for Siv’s killing blow. They’d made a good team, despite the fear rattling both of them.
    “What about it?”
    “I thought it was standard Guard issue, but I had a closer look recently and now I’m not so sure.”
    “Is that it?” Dara gestured to the dueling blade buckled at Siv’s waist.
    “Nope, this one’s Bandobar’s. They’re different. Check it out.” Siv drew the sword from his own sheath and handed it to Dara. “Captain Bandobar had his blade custom Worked by the army’s Firesmith, and it has the castle seal.”
    Dara took the rapier and hefted it, feeling the perfect balance of the weapon. She ran her finger over the stamp in the cold steel hilt. Or at least, it was cold when she first picked it up. Within seconds, warmth spread from the weapon into her fingertips. She nearly dropped the blade as the heat seeped into her blood and crept up her arm. Without thinking, she spun away from the king and dropped into a lightning fast lunge. The blade sang through the air.
    “You can show off your perfect form later,” Siv said, but he sounded impressed.
    The blade came alive in Dara’s hands. She could barely help herself as she thrust at an invisible target. The Fire imbued in the steel and the Fire sense in her blood worked together to make her movements uncannily fast and sharp. But when she felt a connection forming to the Fire seeping through the stones of the passageway too, she quickly straightened and handed the blade back to Siv.
    “It’s good steel.” She didn’t meet his eyes, hoping he hadn’t noticed the difference when she wielded it compared to a normal blade. It was the first time she had held a Fire Blade since she discovered she could Work the magic Fire flowing through Vertigon Mountain. She hadn’t realized how different a Fire Blade would feel in her hands. It was little wonder Fire Blades were forbidden in competitions.
    “I want to see if Zage can tell anything by comparing it to the one we found,” Siv said. “That one doesn’t have a maker’s mark at all. It might help our investigation if we know where the blade came from.”
    “No, don’t give it to Zage!” Dara said quickly. She hadn’t gotten a good look at the blade of the swordsman they had defeated together the day of King Sevren’s murder, but there was a chance it could lead right to her parents. They had sent Farr, and it was possible his companion got the Fire Blade from one of their allies. The assassin who had attacked Dara and Siv near Fell Bridge had carried a knife with a Firegold hilt too. It could very well have been a Fire Blade from the same source. Too much of the evidence pointed toward the Workers—and her parents were chief among them. She didn’t want the Fire Warden to be the one to discover the link. As much as she deplored her parents’ involvement in King Sevren’s murder, she didn’t want them to be executed either. She hoped to find some other way to stop them.
    “I mean, I can look into it,” she said, blushing when the king raised an eyebrow at her. “No need to bother the Warden.”
    “Is guard duty that boring?” Siv asked.
    “I know a lot of the Firesmiths,” Dara said. “They would probably be able to give us more useful information.”
    “That’s a good point,” Siv said.
    “I’ll have to wait until my shift is over, though.”
    “The blade is in my chambers. You sure you don’t mind doing some investigating?”
    “Of course