A whimper answered him. Was there another way into the next room?Father, help me!
Like the day with the woman in labor, power sizzled through him. Heat still scorched his skin, but not from the flames. Peter raised his hands.
The flames shrank back, as though in fear of his touch. The air around him grew cooler, easier to breathe. He lowered his hands. The fire raged once more. Arms lifted, he chanted in some unknown tongue, commanding the fire to obey his will.I am stronger than you. You must do my bidding.
The flames shot upward once more. For one brief moment, Peter imagined a raging inferno crashing down on him and the child.
Then the flames wavered, growing smaller. His arms ached, muscles trembling. Still, he held his hands aloft. Slowly, slowly, the flames calmed, going from inferno to small fire, to embers.
In the center of the dirt floor sat a ring of stones filled with charred rags. Two stacks of smoldering flour sacks sat nearby, side by side. Had the boys tried to start a fire to warm themselves, using the flour sacks as blankets to sleep?
“Toby?” Peter called, advancing on the door, now a blackened ruin hanging from one hinge. Nothing. Oh, gods, no! Peter yanked at the door, ignoring the heat and soot on his hands. Once, twice. The door came free, falling to the floor.
“Toby?”
A matted ball of white fur huddled under a splintered wooden chair, whining and too afraid to approach. A dog. Not a child. Peter snatched the grubby creature by the scruff of the neck and inspected for injury. Nothing visible. He’d get Addie to perform a more thorough examination—on the dog and the boys.
The boys hadn’t heeded his instructions, waiting by the back door instead of heading for the safety of the docks, shivering in their too-thin clothes. If the fire hadn’t gone out…
Peter wouldn’t take the time to consider what he’d done. Had the boys seen? Had any of the Chosen been close enough to feel his use of power? Best to leave quickly. “Come with me,” he told the boys, handing over the dog to the older boy.
The boys, nearly as scruffy as the dog, bore a resemblance, the oldest maybe ten and the younger possibly six. “Do you have a home?”
The older boy glanced back at the warehouse.
Oh. Despite exhaustion and trembling from earlier fear, Peter put on a friendly face. “Come with me. There’s food aplenty at the tavern. I know someone who’ll want to meet you.”
The older boy gave off a faint whiff of power, but the younger was too young to detect. “Where are your parents?”
“They… they’re… gone,” the older boy replied, eyes wary. He passed the dog to his younger brother, who’d been reaching, carefully keeping himself between the smaller boy and Peter.
“How?” The twisting of his insides said Peter already knew the answer.
“They got taken to the temple and never came back.”
Peter would take them to Addie, who’d likely find someone with a ship to carry them far away from here, where they’d be given a home.
E’Skaara was no place for the mage-born.
Chapter Fifteen
Martinranhismouthover smooth skin, exploring a chest generously spattered with hair. A moan vibrated against his tongue. Farther and farther, he explored until his mouth hit roughness. What?
He pulled back, staring at a puckered scar… and a face that haunted his dreams.
Martin awoke with a start, breath coming in heavy pants. A dream. Only a dream. Of a man with a scar on his shoulder.
He lay on his bed, pulling in air while his heart calmed. Hints of light peeked through the wooden shutters. Time to start his day. In a minute. First, he closed his eyes, imagining the man from his dreams once more, slowly stroking his cock with one hand while clutching beneath his balls with the other.
Oh, to have continued the dream, buried himself inside his fantasy’s body. It had been too long since he’d plunged his cock into a willing hole.
Memories came back: a rocking ship, two fumbling young men, his first kisses…
The heat, the pressure.
Oh! He came, spurting across his furred belly.
Only a dream, but a good one.
