Emerald Fires

By S.M. Butler

Nicola Casimir has a talent for finding trouble, or rather, it finds her. Six months after most of downtown Austin was leveled, her new case with the sexy federal agent assigned as her handler pits her back up against the shadowy forces that almost killed her.
There's no hiding the sparks between them as they navigate their evolving relationship. Old adversaries become new allies. New enemies are unimaginally powerful, and both of them will learn that nothing burns as hot as someone who has nothing to lose.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Soaring Phoenix LLC
• Release date: Nov 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781938927348

S.M. Butler

S.M. Butler is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Lucky Thirteen SEALs series, the Reapers Strike Force series, and the urban fantasy series The Bloodlines Chronicles. She also streams video games in her off time on Twitch. She lives in Texas under a not-so-secret identity, writing books, and planning the next step in her evil plans for world domination into the twilight hours of the night because that’s when it’s quiet in the house. She loves to hear from readers. In fact, you can connect with S.M. Butler online via her newsletter, Twitter, or Instagram.

Book preview

For the two. They know who they are.

Prologue

Six Months Ago…

Ian Harrison leaned against the door he’d just shut. Inside, Casimir would be opening that bag and seeing the clothes he’d picked out for her. He’d picked jeans and a black t-shirt, something she always seemed to have in spades. He’d also given her a new gray leather jacket, something he’d bought for her because he couldn’t find a damn jacket in her closet, and winter would be here soon.

Seeing her made his chest hurt like someone had taken a dagger to his chest and tried to stir it around like a spoon in boiling soup. While she looked just like his Nicola, there were so many little differences that were mountains to get over. The smooth, unblemished skin, the lack of scars where he’d seen her get hurt before. She had no calluses on the pads of her palm. The leg where Hogan’s snake had bitten her was smooth and clear, completely devoid of the remnants of the venom that almost killed her only a week ago. He even missed the freckles that had coated her cheeks, along with that rosy blush that came with too much time outside. It was like the last five years of her life had been erased.

Reset. Gone.

He stepped down the hall, but every step felt like there was a lead block attached to his foot. His wrist burned with the aftereffects of the binding spell, making his hand shake so much he clenched it into a tight fist. He’d always hidden the way the binding spell affected him around Nicola. He’d always wanted to be strong for her so she knew she could depend on him. So she didn’t know how undone she made him. Even in the beginning of this entire mess, when he’d sat across that table from her and offered her that limited freedom of the work-release agreement, he’d kept all the emotions bottled up tight so she couldn’t see.

The truth was he was a selfish bastard who couldn’t take them being on opposite sides anymore. Despite her… criminal tendencies, she had a good heart, and it was that heart he wanted to possess. But he couldn’t. Though that moonlight kiss outside her foster parents’ house had been everything he’d ever dreamed of, he couldn’t have her heart. Not as things stood now.

Agent Harrison?

He stopped just before he hit the elevator button, closing his eyes for a brief moment to gather his strength back together. Then he faced his new visitor.

General John Lionel was not who he wanted to see right now. Not right after seeing the woman he loved in a hospital bed, not after seeing the sad shape she had been in, barely able to move her own muscles.

The man had dark hair, salted with light gray. He smoothed his gray jacket down like it might have had a stray wrinkle and that was unacceptable to him. A golden clip was stark against the black tie, marked by an emblem. The Mage Corps emblem. A phoenix with wings spread out.

It seemed a little more appropriate now that he knew what had happened to Nicola. Whenever they burned a copy of her, they just made another. How many more were out there? How many more times would he see her die, just to be reborn in a new body?

What do you want? he ground out. He hated this man for what he’d done to her. He hated that she’d been a prisoner and that instead, the Assembly wanted to punish her instead of this man and his goons.

The FMB was content to allow Hogan to go without charges because Bedford had volunteered to be the patsy. And taking on the Hogan Family was not in the FMB’s best interests. Joseph Hogan was indeed a force to be reckoned with and he’d slammed that foot down hard to protect his son. Something was going on he didn’t know about.

You did the right thing, the man said. Our common interest—

We have nothing in common, he breathed out, trying not to lose his mind in the fury that slammed into his chest. You imprisoned her.

You want to keep her safe. So do I. That was how it had to be done.

Safe? You tortured her. Hogan almost killed her. And Bedford… he swallowed the words back. He couldn’t even think about what Bedford had done. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her lifeless form in his arms, limp, her eyes vacant. She’d given up her life for him, for the woman in the tank that in some way, was her as well. He didn’t want to think about that either. He felt like he was betraying the woman that died in his arms by loving the woman that he’d rescued from that nightmare. But he couldn’t stop the way he felt, and she was as much Nicola as the other woman had been. Maybe more, because she was the original. But he’d never really known the original. He’d only known the copy since she’d been in that tank since before he’d ever caught her trail.

It was necessary. Her role in—

Harrison growled and grabbed the man by the lapels, slamming him against the hospital wall. I’m going to tell you this one time and one time only. Stay away from Nicola Casimir. She barely survived the trip here, and she has a long road of healing to go. Because of what you did to her.

Six months, Agent Harrison, he said. I’ve given you six months.

Fuck you, Harrison said as he stepped back like he might catch something from the older man. Our agreement wasn’t…

Our agreement is for six months. I can stall for six months. After that, I couldn’t stop the events already in motion if I wanted to. The man glanced over him, curiosity in his expression. Which means you have six months to determine if what I told you is the truth.

He shook his head. My father would not… Even as he said the words, doubt crept into his heart. Alexander Harrison was ruthless in most aspects of where it concerned the Family. If came down to the Family’s survival versus the government’s wishes, there was zero doubt where his father’s priorities would lie. I don’t believe any of this could be true. Secret organizations. Balances and checks over people’s lives?

Are you willing to pledge her life to that statement’s truth? The older man’s lips twitched, one corner turning up into a half-smile. I think not, since you outbid me at Crestview.

No. He’d never endanger Nicola. Especially now. She could barely move her own body. She was… vulnerable. But if what General Lionel said was true, she had yet to learn who her real enemy was. That was truly the most terrifying aspect of this whole situation. Because it might just be Ian himself.

I will find out the real story, he promised Lionel. After everything here, I don’t trust you.

The man nodded. I would never presume to have your trust, nor do I need it. He paused, looking thoughtful. His voice was quiet when he asked, What will you tell her?

Ian shook his head. I don’t know. Because how did you tell the woman you loved that your own father might be trying to kill her? No, he wouldn’t tell her anything for now. She had to heal. She was so fragile, so… weak right now, it hurt his heart.

Lionel smiled, a thin line of malice and determination. Then I will see you in six months, Agent Harrison.

As Lionel turned on his heels and walked away, unhurried toward the stairs, Harrison looked after him. Life was funny. A fickle beast that didn’t care who got slapped in the long run. Ian had long been educated to believe John Lionel was the enemy, all of his life, in fact. But he knew Nicola. She would never stop, not as long as people need to be saved. It was part of her, part of what made up everything she was. That heart, that drive to save people, was part of why he loved her so much. Why he still loved her.

The thing was… if what Lionel had told him was true… Ian was her enemy.

Meanwhile…

Two books sat on the thing, my father’s journal on top. I couldn’t remember where I’d put it down or how it had made its way here to the hospital. Carefully, I leaned over and picked it up. I ran my hand over the worn cover. The magic sealing it reacted to me, a glow following the movement of my hand. It was a delicate glyph, specifically keyed to me.

Actually, much of the last few days were hazy as hell. My body no longer hurt but moving was still a challenge. I had relative movement of my upper body, but leg strength was going to take a lot of magical regenerative work and plain old sweat. As much, I’d had time to do a lot of reading.

I opened the journal, thumbing through the handwritten pages. Some had diagrams of circle spells, some just random sketches, some large blocks of text. This journal spanned years of my father’s life, most of my life. It couldn’t be his only one, so what made this one special? Why did George need me to have this one?

More than anything, I wanted to ask, but even if George had survived, he probably wouldn’t have told me anything. George was a big fan of people learning things on their own.

The book underneath was even more of a puzzle. I set my father’s journal down and picked that one up. Alexander the Great: The Life and Death of a Ruler Beyond His Time. What was this for? And who had left it?

A piece of paper stuck out the bottom corner of the book. I opened the book to see the sticky note stuck to the title page. The handwriting was nothing I recognized.

Alexander was truly the greatest military general of his time. Upon ascension, he killed every threat to his power and every rival to the throne without prejudice. You are well on your way to greatness. I look forward to your dynasty.

A gift from the General, no doubt. Who else in my life would use military parallels? But it didn’t read like something the General would say. But if it was from him, he was going to have to rethink his strategy. I wasn’t about to become some leader of his making. I wasn’t going to be the puppet whose strings he held. If George had taught me anything in my life, it was that no one could make me do anything I didn’t want to.

But if this book wasn’t from the General, that meant there was something else at play. Like… maybe someone was pulling the General’s strings? That… was scary as fuck to think about. But likely, not true.

I sat up fully with a little effort and reached for the brown bag sitting at the foot of my bed. I was being released from the hospital today. My special agent handler had brought this bag, though he hadn’t said what was in it. I opened it and peered inside with slight trepidation. Though I wasn’t sure what I was afraid of. Ian Harrison had proven he wasn’t out to hurt me.

I pulled the clothes out. A black top, jeans, and a gray leather jacket. Black boots like the ones I had were underneath, as well as a cell phone. Huh. I supposed my fed had thought of everything for me.

Caleb and Ian, both had told me that my magic didn’t have to be all destructive. I wanted that to be true. My fear of it wouldn’t be eliminated that easily, though. It would take some effort to figure out how to control it, to work with it instead of against it. But I would, because that would be how I beat the General.

And I’d start small.

I focused my magic, more gently and precisely than I’d ever tried before. When I was in the copy, I couldn’t focus it enough. It was like having a shroud over my face, so I couldn’t see or use the magic as clearly. But now that I was back in my body, I had full command of it again.

Maybe I could wield that scalpel instead of the chainsaw. I reached for that scalpel, curving the path of the magic under my phone. Levitating the phone should be easy, simple, seeing as I just needed to manipulate the space beneath it. But being so precise… it was harder than I thought. I zoomed down to the particles, trying to see how I could expand the air under the phone. I’d never tried that before and I was half afraid that I’d ignite something or reduce my surroundings to dust.

Okay, more than half afraid. I was terrified. But I was in a hospital already and my magic wasn’t at full strength yet. This would be my only time to try this where I had a little bit of a safety margin.

Balancing it in the air was the hardest part as it lifted into the air. At points, it moved too fast, and I was afraid that it might punch through the ceiling. Others, it wavered like it might fall.

It took me twenty minutes and a crazy number of attempts to get that phone to levitate nice and easily to me, and thankfully, I didn’t punch it through the ceiling.

I wrapped my hand around it and held tightly to it. I switched the phone on and waited for it to boot up. I was already exhausted from the magic use, but I could get to like that. Levitation wasn’t a real power that I knew of, mostly it was a result of manipulations of other mage abilities. But I’d gotten the idea after remembering that I’d been levitating when I’d lost control of my magic. If I could do that with my body, then why couldn’t I do it with objects?

It was something I wanted to work on. But first, I had to deal with this current situation. I glanced at my wrist. It was no longer pulsing soreness or the magical hue of emerald and amethyst it had been. This binding wasn’t as forced as the first one had been.

But I’d still forced it because I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t let the FMB put me back in prison, and I didn’t want Harrison to have to be the one who did it. I had to remain free because I still had things to do out here.

But I also needed a backup plan in case everything blew up in my face. I dialed and waited as the phone rang on the other end.

I didn’t think you’d call today, said the deep Southern voice at the other end. You should be resting.

Yeah, I am.

How are you feeling? Caleb’s voice was clear and strong. Not even a hint of judgment in it. But that was the thing with him. He’d been there for the worst of me. Hell, he’d been my partner for most of it. If anyone understood me, it would be him.

I’m going to be in the hospital for a while. They’re going to do some regeneration therapy or something, and then I need to do regular old physical therapy. I wasn’t sure exactly how much he’d found out about what happened, but knowing Caleb as I did… I was pretty sure he had a handle on the entire situation.

But how are you feeling? he asked again.

I’m… I paused. Feeling? How was I feeling? As good as I can be right now. At least, that wasn’t a lie. And I wasn’t even sure what I was feeling, let alone put that into words.

That’s good. I’m glad you’re okay, he said.

How’s Fi?

She’s good. She misses you. He sighed. She worries a lot.

I miss her, too. But if she’s safe, it’s worth it.

She understands more than you give her credit for, he said. You need to talk to her.

Well, I’m not sure I have a handle on this stuff yet, to be honest.

You didn’t call to talk about Fi, did you?

That’s not true. I always want to know about her, I said. Thank you for taking her. For keeping her safe.

Turned out to be a good thing, he said. The Assembly is all up in arms. Feds came looking for her. That power of attorney we signed helped me keep her out of it, at least until she turns eighteen at the end of the year.

Good. I need your help again, Caleb.

You know you have it, he said softly. It won’t matter if I’m married, or you are, or if you’re a twin of yourself. I will always help you when you need it.

Well, that confirmed just how much he knew. And man, I needed to hear that from him. Caleb had been my best friend for as long as I wanted to remember. With everything up in the air with my life, I’d hold on to all the people I loved as tightly as I could, right until I had to let them go.

Remember what we talked about the first day I was released from prison?

Sure? he said, drawing out the word into a question. I told you, it’s tricky. It might not even work.

I don’t have a choice, Caleb, I whispered. Things are getting complicated.

What happened?

Harrison is permanently my handler, I told him. Do you understand what that means?

They realized if you lost your shit, you could make them all pay.

That’s true of any of us who trained under him, I told him. The him didn’t need to be explained.

Yeah, but you were always in a class of your own, he replied. If we manage to break the binding, and that’s a big if, you’d have to run. There would be no safe place for you.

I took a shuddering breath and whatever else he was going to say died off. I swallowed hard.

The General would be back eventually, and he’d made no secret that he wanted me back under his thumb. The feds didn’t want me out there unsupervised and unchecked. And they’d drafted Ian to be their leash holder.

I can handle running, I said, finally. I had to.

Okay, he said like he didn’t believe me. He cleared his throat. Look, I’ll work on it and let you know what happens. It’s an… intricate spell. It may take some time to unravel it.

I’ll send you the new design tomorrow, I said, running my fingertips over the inside of my wrist. Time is all I have right now, Caleb. But even that could change.

I ended the call and placed the phone on the table next to the bed. I picked up both books but put the Alexander the Great book back on the nightstand. I ran my fingers over the worn journal cover. If there was something concerning the Old Magic Families, my father would have known about it. Shit, as an Influencer, he might have been right in the thick of it. And I needed to know what that thing was.

There was still another one of me out there. Twin wasn’t the right word for it, seeing as she was younger than me. Copy or clone didn’t work either… Now, I knew she was more than that. She shared my DNA, but that was the extent of our similarity. At least, from the few seconds I’d seen of her.

Sister. That’s what the copies were to me. Sisters. Like Fiona.

As far as I knew, there were only a total of five. The first three died early on, their bodies not ready to accept the magic I held. The fourth… she’d saved my life. And the fifth? If she was anything like I was when I was that age, the world was in trouble. And who knew if there were more out there, hidden somewhere in a lab. They’d had the fifth one ready to go when it was time to transfer, but in reality, they couldn’t have just whipped her up. They had to have a lab somewhere with more.

I needed to find that lab. Frank Bedford probably knew where it was. Hell, he probably built it, but there was no way I was going to get access to him, and I didn’t want to see him. Not after what he’d done to me. I wasn’t ready for that.

The best lead I had was in my hands. My father had been involved early on. Whether he knew about this experiment or not, I didn’t know, but his journal could get me started in the right direction.

I swallowed the lump of fear in my throat, pushed away the nerves, and opened my father’s journal. I wasn’t sure what I’d find in it, and I probably wasn’t ready for any of it, but I had to see it all with my eyes wide open.

Chapter 1

Six Months Later…

Smoke billowed up from the pan, and magic rumbled inside my rib cage in answer, my irritation weakening the latches I kept on it. I really needed to buy a toaster. Or hire a cook. I held my hand over the pan and pushed a little magic at the toast. The tiny particles I saw when I used magic slid closer and closer together until the burnt toast turned into dust. I tossed the remainder into the trash. I didn’t use the magic I was born with much because it tended to run out of control when I did, but a little waste compacting never hurt anyone and it was good for the environment.

I sighed as I looked at the mess I made in the kitchen. I’d been trying to be more of a parental-like figure since my sister Fiona had moved back in with me a few months ago. Cooking, cleaning, all that jazz. I felt like after she’d taken care of me during my rehabilitation, I owed her that much.

But mom life was never something I’d ever considered I’d need to do or learn. I seriously sucked as a parental figure. How did everyone else in the world do this? Many people doing it multiple times? This was harder than I thought it would be.

Fiona! I called. We’re going to A Latte Coffee for breakfast.

She didn’t answer immediately, but I knew she’d heard me. Our apartment was under a thousand square feet and had only two bedrooms. A far cry from the beautiful house she’d been living in with our foster parents, the Redhills, who had been killed six months ago.

My sister appeared in the doorway, adjusting her jeans, and pulling her t-shirt back over the waistline. She sniffed the air, surveyed the kitchen, and then rolled her eyes. Maybe I should just take over breakfast from now on.

It’s not my fault, I insisted. I’d spent a large part of my formative years in the military, learning how to fight and kill in numerous different ways. I could survive for months alone in a jungle, but they hadn’t covered much on the subject of cooking for a teenager.

It’s fine, she said as she picked up her purple backpack from where it sat on the chair. I could pop down there right now and grab something for us.

No, I told her sternly. She’d been angling to use her magic lately, which she’d been trained to use but also trained to hide. Every mage had to be registered and tested for power level, per the Mage Family Act of 1992, by the age of ten. The Redhills and I had decided to register her secondary magic instead of her primary powers, for her protection. The last thing I wanted was for her to end up like her big sister, and if anyone knew about her ability to open portals into the magic realm and use them for travel, the line of people wanting to use her to their own end would never stop.

No one will see, she insisted. I’ll be careful.

Fi… you know why you can’t right now, I reminded her. Her sister—me—was currently on Austin’s Most Hated list. Six months ago, I’d almost leveled the entire Mage Family sector of downtown Austin in a grand display that scared the shit out of every elite mage Family. I’d already had a reputation for destruction, but most people were content to ignore it as long as they didn’t see it for themselves. Everyone is watching, even if you don’t think they are.

Fine. She slung the backpack over her shoulder and her brown eyes locked on mine. I’m ready.

You are far too put together to be a Casimir, I told her as I grabbed my jacket. March in Texas was a crap shoot, weather-wise. It could be sunny and blazing hot one minute and then cold and rainy the next. So naturally, the gray leather jacket went everywhere with me this time of year. You have an umbrella? It might rain later.

She nodded. In the backpack.

I glanced around, trying to remember what else I needed. She scooped up my house keys and tossed them at me. I caught them before they hit my face and shoved them in my pocket as we left.

Our apartment building was close to what used to be downtown Austin before the Change but now the area functioned as the Mage Assembly’s headquarters. The Assembly Hall had been the centerpiece of the city until six months ago when I happened. When I said that people were content to ignore what they didn’t see, most of the mage community watched me completely level a magically fortified building. Of course, someone had bombed it first, but I helped it along. It was right after I’d gotten out of prison too, and let me tell you, I almost ended up back in a cell for that.

As we walked down the stairs to the ground floor, I couldn’t stop the contented feeling inside. Sure, I still had General John Lionel nipping at my heels and I was magically tied to my federal agent like I was a wayward stray dog, but for this part of my life? I was happy. I had my sister. I was walking on my own again and I was learning how to be a normal person again.

It had been six months since I had moved in here. Four months since Fi had come to live with me. I’d watched the place grow from a dump—which to be fair, I kind of caused that too, but I was totally provoked—into something full of life that paid for the expensive private school Fiona went to. The ground floor turned into commercial property, littering with all kinds of shops, including one quaint little coffee shop called A Latte Coffee.

The barista waved to the two of us as we came into the place, smiling and revealing pearly white teeth that only an illusion mage could pull off. Sometimes, I wondered what illusion mages really looked like under the magic they used. Every one of them turned to fixing their physical imperfections, or changing their hair, or whatever else they could do to change themselves.

My father was an Influencer, which was similar to Illusion mages in that they both hid who they were. He’d never used his active magic, but his passive field had helped him to get ahead in business, influenced decisions, and pushed people the way he needed them to go without them realizing he’d done it. Obviously, people weren’t super happy with him. Hell, I wasn’t, because he’d basically shaped my entire life for me. But both my parents were long dead, killed in a helicopter crash nearly seven years ago now. Even that had shaped my life in unexpected ways as well.

Fi fidgeted with her backpack. Both of us had lost people we’d loved in the last few months, and I didn’t think either of us had processed our grief correctly, if that was a thing.

So, what’s on the school agenda today? I asked her, trying to distract myself from the thoughts running through my head.

Got a test in my circlework class and then I think we’re getting a project in our financial planning class.

Financial planning? That’s an actual class?

Fiona’s eyes rolled so hard I was afraid they’d stay back there. It’s part of the core curriculum. Really, Nikki.

Huh. Didn’t have that in boot camp. Guess they replaced it with Woodland Survival class, I quipped. There was a lot I missed in my teen years. Apparently, this core curriculum was one of those things. I tilted my head and thoughtfully stroked my chin. Or was it Jungle Animals 101? Or it could have been Weapons of Mass Destruction 303.

Fiona’s eyes rolled again. You’re ridiculous. But she had a small smile on her face, so my work was done. I liked seeing her smile, and she did it so rarely lately. I thought maybe taking care of me while I was recovering and learning how to walk and use my muscles again might have destroyed her good nature.

My phone rang, its shrill tone filling the air. I cursed. It was about that time, wasn’t it? One glance at the screen confirmed my suspicions. Fiona eyed me, her eyes narrowing with some thought I probably didn’t want her to voice. I sighed and answered the thing. Yes, your royal agentness?

You’re late, Casimir. Ian Harrison’s deep timbre bit through the phone, slicing almost like a knife. I could just see him standing there with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

"I am not. I’m inside A Latte Coffee getting