Free Embracing the Flames by Candace Knoebel Page A

him.
    His eyes sparkled wickedly. Then he leaned in, inches away from my face, his lips daring me to kiss him. “It’s pretty cool if you ask me.”
    I was going to kiss him. I could feel his desire melding with my own — another perk we could add to the list of being mated together. It’s what I wanted, but his playful tease stopped me. I rolled my eyes instead and stepped around him.
    “Just what I need — to be tied to you.” I tried to sound repulsed. He snickered and shook his head. “I am still angry,” I threw in for good measure. “Eavesdropping by my door won’t earn you any brownie points.”
    “Point taken.” He smiled wryly, his hands held up in defense. He turned for the door. “It won’t happen again.” Something in his tone told me that it would and that didn’t bother me one bit.
    I wanted to ask him not to go, but I stopped myself. I had a date with my dad that I needed to prepare for.
    He paused at the door and said, “Have fun tonight, Rory. You deserve it.” I turned back to my closet, looking for something to wear as I heard the door gently close. How was I going to rid myself of him? I needed a love exorcism.

    Ten minutes later I was at the front door, leaving with my father. “Where are we going?” I asked anxiously, tucking my hair back behind my ear. The cool night breeze had swept in with the fog that always seemed to settle around the cottage at this time of night.
    “It’s a surprise,” he said, his voice heightened with elation. His energy flowed out of his palms, opening a portal for us underneath the dark gray sky. His hand ushered me forward. “Ladies first.”
    I stepped into the tugging force and found myself standing on the other side of the portal, still underneath the same shaded moon.
    I looked around curiously, shivering from the draft that seemed to have followed me through the portal. “Where are we?” Without thought, I snapped my fingers, igniting a flame and setting it on my shoulder, revelling in the feeling as the flame rushed down my arms and warmed me through.
    Wherever we were, we had to be close to the ocean. The sound of waves crashing played through the soft, swaying grass dancing along the top of a hill.
    “This was where your mother and I used to come just to get away and think before everything changed.” His lavender eyes sparkled with love underneath the moon’s light.
    That made me think of something I had been meaning to ask him. “I saw you before...back when I was in the other realm. You were in a vision I had where Zordon was given the prophecy.”
    He turned to look at me, his face shaded with regret. “Things were different back then.”
    “Different how?”
    He tucked his hands behind his back as he started to lightly pace in front of me. “Before Zordon, Lev was Liege and he was the greatest Liege this realm has ever known. There was peace between all races. When he disappeared, the Pyre Magium was left with nothing but devastation. That’s when Zordon stepped in.
    “Zordon was his chosen apprentice and succeeded Lev as the next Liege in line. I knew shortly after Zordon had taken over something was wrong when his cruelty started to show. Shortly after, I took the assignment to decipher the prophecy — the vision you saw me in — and that’s how I came to meet your mother.”
    He stopped pacing and looked back at me. “She is the reason why I left Zordon’s leadership. She showed me the error in my judgement. With the decision being made, we met Astral and things progressed to where we are now.” His face brightened. “To having my daughter back where she belongs.”
    I hugged him tightly, smiling into the fabric of his shirt. It felt good to have a better understanding of who my father was as a person.
    “But that is not why I brought you here,” he continued after he let me go.  
    I felt my face crinkle. He tilted his head back, his silvery hair catching glints of light. I eagerly followed his gaze and