Dance of Fire (33 page)

Mine,
a voice said inside her head.

Chloë teetered, her legs trembling as she fought to maintain her balance. Using all her strength, she forced her lips to move. “No!” she screamed convulsively, and fell out of position.

The dancers stopped midstep, their faces empty and dis
torted. From somewhere in the darkness, the choreographer's
voice cut through the room. “That, my dear, was a fatal ­mis
step.”

“What?” Chloë whispered. “How can
—
” But her words ­were consumed by a stifling breath of heat. It enveloped her, licking at her legs, and she twisted in pain as the presence took hold, her blood boiling as it pulsed through her fingers, her arms, her chest, until she was filled with an unbearable, burning ecstasy.

The colors around her sharpened until they ­were so bright they burned her eyes. Something screeched in her ears—­a shrill, deafening cry that she suddenly recognized as her own voice.

She blazed into a brilliant, coruscating light, her body dissolving into ash.

Bloomsbury Publishing, London, New Delhi, New York and Sydney

First published in Great Britain in March 2015 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP

www.bloomsbury.com

Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Copyright © The Inkhouse 2015

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

eISBN 978 1 4088 2998 1

To find out more about our authors and books visit
www.bloomsbury.com
. Here you will find extracts, author interviews, details of forthcoming events and the option to sign up for our
newsletters
.