Free Remnants: Season of Fire by Lisa Tawn Bergren

doorway. The rest of us regained our feet and followed behind, finding it difficult to believe what we were seeing. But when the small funnel turned into a massive blast that sent our enemies somersaulting inside, we charged after them.
    Inside, the men seem dazed and out of breath. We quickly took hold of them and slammed them inside Kapriel’s old cell.
    “See how you like being left in here,” I said to Keallach.
    He rushed toward the bars, all trace of the deadly fury I’dseen moments before now gone. “Andriana, you don’t understand. There’s still so much I need to explain.”
    I backed away, trying to ignore the pain and loss within him that muddled the sheer loathing I’d felt toward him a moment ago. “We leave you to the Maker’s mercy,” I muttered. With that, I strode out.
    “Andriana!” he cried. “Wait! Andriana!”
    But I managed to ignore him. If he was to be redeemed, it would have to be later. Our immediate call was to get Kapriel to safety. Every one of us knew it.
    Outside, we found the prince curled up on the wet stones, eyes closed. Ronan was beside him, on his knees. Above us, the sky was clearing, the clouds lifting before our eyes. Here and there, shafts of sunlight met the sea.
    “Kapriel,” I said, kneeling beside them. I took his hand but it was cold and lifeless.
    His eyes rolled as Tressa turned him to his back, his head in her lap. She leaned forward to put her ear to his mouth, and her mass of auburn curls hid them for a moment. “He breathes,” she said briskly, straightening, feeling for a pulse at his neck, and I think we all took a collective breath with him.
    “Was it too much?” Vidar asked. “Him using his gifting to such a level, before he received the blessing?”
    Shouts from inside the prison echoed out to us, but we ignored them.
    Kapriel coughed, closed his eyes, then coughed again — so hard it turned to retching — then rolled back, gasping. When he opened his eyes, he looked about at each of our faces encircling him, then slowly grinned. “It’s all right. Help me rise,” he said, his voice raspy.
    Vidar reached forward, took his hand, and helped him tohis feet. The two stared at each other for a long moment, then briefly embraced. “I’m Vidar,” he said, thumping Kapriel on the back.
    I came up under Ronan’s arm, preparing to help him down the stairs, when Kapriel reached us. “She is special, this one,” he said to Ronan, wanly gripping his arm.
    “I know,” Ronan said, a tiny smile edging his lips. His good eye shifted to me, then back to our new brother. “I am Ronan.” The others quickly introduced themselves.
    “Come, my friends,” Kapriel said. “We must make haste. If we make our escape on Keallach’s ship before word reaches the mainland that there has been trouble here, we may be able to disappear.”
    “I’m afraid the Far North isn’t in working order,” Bellona said with an impish smile that betrayed a dimple on her normally sober face. She and Vidar shared a sly look that told me they’d laid waste to the ship’s engines. “We’ll need alternate transportation.”
    “And I think we have it,” Chaza’el said, looking over the wall. Ronan and I stepped up beside him and looked down to the churning ocean, a brilliant turquoise under the bright, sudden sun. I squinted down at the long, sleek motorboat, wondering if I could trust my eyes.
    “Am I seeing things?” I whispered. “Is that . . .” I couldn’t bear to say his name, raise their hopes, in case I was wrong.
    “You’re not,” Ronan said with a grin. “It’s him!”

CHAPTER
6
    ANDRIANA
    R aniero . I let out a breathy, shocked laugh as Vidar hooted and Bellona and Tressa shouted his name.
    Killian tied a quick knot in a thick rope and sent the heavy coils over the side. My stomach sank. I wanted to get down to the beach as fast as anyone. But did we really have to do it this way? Ronan’s hand covered my arm. Looking up at his handsome face, marred