Her Elemental Dragons: The Complete Series
Her Elemental Dragons: Stroke the Flame: Chapter 3

I had the first dream that night.

A roguishly handsome man with hair the color of autumn leaves drew a large sword, then lunged at an opponent. Both of them wore the black-scaled armor of the Onyx Army with the red shoulder markings of the Fire Realm division. A small crowd had gathered around them as they sparred, but the auburn-haired man was the only one I could see clearly. Even though I hated the Black Dragon’s soldiers, I found I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him, nor banish the unexpected desire he stirred inside me. As I watched, he dodged, parried, and swiftly disarmed his opponent, winning the training match without breaking a sweat. He bowed to his opponent, and when he rose up, I caught a flash of flame in his brown eyes.

When I woke my skin was so hot I had to throw the blanket off me. I was certain I’d never seen him before in my life—I would have remembered a man that attractive. I wasn’t sure what the fire in his eyes meant either. The only man who could control flame was Sark, the Crimson Dragon, and that wasn’t him. I’d never forget that monster’s face.

I brushed it off as merely a strange dream, a result of my loneliness and nothing more, and forced myself to go back to sleep. But the next night, I had another dream. This one featured a different man who stood in a library wearing some of the finest clothes I’d ever seen. Clearly a nobleman of some sort, with golden hair, fair skin, and a finely sculpted face I wouldn’t mind staring at for hours. He was extremely tall, but as he reached for a book on a very high shelf, his fingers barely touched it. A burst of wind suddenly swirled around him, and the book dropped into his hand.

Impossible. I’d never seen the Golden Dragon before, but somehow I knew this wasn’t him. But if not, how could this man control the element of air? Only the Dragons, the representatives of the elemental Gods, were blessed with such power. Including the Black Dragon, of course—their wife and our supreme ruler.

It was nonsense, I told myself. Simply my dream brain coming up with strange images because I’d been worried about the Dragons coming for me. That was all.

But the dreams continued.

One night I encountered a ruggedly handsome green-eyed man with dark skin, a trim beard, and a broad chest. With muscular arms he hammered a sword, but when he raised it up I swore the metal bent by nothing more than the power of his mind. I had the strongest urge to run to him and bury my face in his strong chest, knowing he would protect me with his every breath.

In the next dream, I saw a black-haired man who exuded danger slip through the forest like a wraith. Rain battered against the leaves, yet somehow left him untouched. He pulled down his hood, and I caught a flash of sharp, deadly beauty. Upon awakening, my entire body was doused in cold sweat. Like the others, he filled me with a strange sense of desire and longing I couldn’t understand or explain.

Every night I was visited by one of my strange elemental dream men, although they never seemed to know I was there spying on them. Soon they all began to travel, though I couldn’t tell where they were headed or why. All I got were brief glimpses into their lives without any real context. Or whatever lives my mind was inventing for them, anyway—none of them were real, of course. Even if I began to secretly wish they were.

The traveling dreams were clearly a sign I should be on my way as well, yet I hesitated. A month passed. I told myself I needed more time. Time to gather my coins. Time to learn more about the Dragons’ intentions. Time to make sure Tash would be okay.

But I was only delaying the inevitable.

“Heard there’s a Fire Realm soldier in the tavern,” the fletcher said, as I handed him my coins in exchange for more arrows.

My fingers clenched around my bow. “A Fire Realm soldier? Here?”

“That’s what Brant said when he dropped off the wood. Seems like the soldier’s looking for someone. Searching for Resistance members maybe?” He shrugged.

I stiffened. “None of us have anything to do with them. Everyone knows we all serve the Black Dragon loyally.”

“I’m sure he’s just passing through.” He frowned and glanced at the door warily, where two Earth Realm soldiers could be seen patrolling the town. “Still, I’ll be glad when he’s on his way.”

“Me too.”

It had to be a coincidence. Soldiers from the Fire Realm didn’t often come to Stoneham, but nothing about the fletcher’s story implied the man would be the same one as in my dreams. Still, it couldn’t hurt to get a look at him, just to ease my mind. I needed to head into the forest and bring back some game for Roark, but first I had to be sure.

I slipped into the back of the inn, where I found Tash and her mother Launa working in the kitchen, their eyes worried and their hands frantic, as if they needed to be doing something. Usually a clue that Roark was drinking again, although I didn’t see any sign of him.

“Is everything all right?” I asked, as I removed my cloak and hung it by the door.

“There’s a Fire Realm soldier in the tavern making everyone nervous.” Tash tugged on her braid and gave me a concerned look. “And he’s looking for someone who sounds a lot like you.”

“Me?” I blinked. “What would a soldier want with me?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it.”

“Perhaps you should hide,” Launa said, her voice as soft as a dove’s. “We’ll tell him you left town.”

I seriously considered it, or grabbing my things and running, like I should have done a month ago. But if this was the soldier I saw in my dreams, I had to meet him. It was the only way to replace out more about this strange connection between us.

I touched Launa’s arm gently. “I’ll be okay.”

She nodded, though her face was lined with concern. Tash gave me a hug and whispered for me to be careful, before I stepped out of the kitchen and into the tavern.

The soldier’s back was to me, and the first thing I saw was his dark auburn hair, the same shade as it was in my dream. I swore my heart stopped beating as I took a step toward him, and then another. He must have heard me behind him, because he rose to his feet and turned around, his brown eyes meeting mine.

“You’re her,” he said.

Recognition slammed into me and I had a hard time speaking. Everything about him—from his perfectly tousled hair to his broad shoulders in a black and red military uniform—was familiar to me. I felt like I knew him already, even though we’d never met. But how was that possible? How could this man from my dreams be standing in front of me?

And did that mean the other men were real as well?