A Heart of Flame

A Heart of Flame The Unlocked Series ~ Book 1 Rebecca Maeve Hartwell Dedication You are not your abuse. You are not what they did to you. You are not your trauma. You are the cleverness that survived. You are the courage that escaped. You are the power that hid and protected a tiny spark of your light. You will fan that spark into a bonfire of rage and love, and with it you will burn all of their lies to ash. ~Unknown Content and Trigger Warnings: WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!! Depicted (on the page): Death (human/demon only), Death Threats, Demons, Homelessness, Guns, Explicit Sex Scenes, Language and Profanity, Alcohol, Transphobia/Outing (very mild, immediately called out), Police Brutality, Blood. Mentioned (NOT on the page): Rape, Domestic and Sexual Abuse, Birth Control Failure, Pregnancy, Abortion/Miscarriage, Human Trafficking. All of these are depicted or mentioned in ways meant to help heal from them and/or address them in productive and honest ways. None are designed to be traumatizing or brazen. Bonus Material To claim your free eBook copy of the prequel novella for the Unlocked series, visit www.rebeccamaevehartwell.com/a-life-of-stone Contents 1. Chapter One 2. Chapter Two 3. Chapter Three 4. Chapter Four 5. Chapter Five 6. Chapter Six 7. Chapter Seven 8. Chapter Eight 9. Chapter Nine 10. Chapter Ten 11. Chapter Eleven 12. Chapter Twelve 13. Chapter Thirteen 14. Chapter Fourteen 15. Chapter Fifteen 16. Chapter Sixteen 17. Chapter Seventeen 18. Chapter Eighteen 19. Chapter Nineteen 20. Chapter Twenty 21. Chapter Twenty-One 22. Chapter Twenty-Two 23. Chapter Twenty-Three 24. Chapter Twenty-Four 25. Chapter Twenty-Five 26. Chapter Twenty-Six 27. Chapter Twenty-Seven 28. Chapter Twenty-Eight 29. Chapter Twenty-Nine 30. Chapter Thirty 31. Chapter Thirty-One 32. Chapter Thirty-Two 33. Chapter Thirty-Three 34. Chapter Thirty-Four 35. Chapter Thirty-Five 36. Chapter Thirty-Six 37. Chapter Thirty-Seven 38. Chapter Thirty-Eight 39. Chapter Thirty-Nine 40. Chapter Forty 41. Chapter Forty-One 42. Chapter Forty-Two 43. Chapter Forty-Three 44. Chapter Forty-Four 45. Chapter Forty-Five 46. Chapter Forty-Six 47. Chapter Forty-Seven 48. Chapter Forty-Eight 49. Chapter Forty-Nine 50. Chapter Fifty 51. Chapter Fifty-One 52. Chapter Fifty-Two 53. Chapter Fifty-Three 54. Chapter Fifty-Four 55. Chapter Fifty-Five 56. Chapter Fifty-Six 57. Chapter Fifty-Seven 58. Chapter Fifty-Eight 59. Chapter Fifty-Nine 60. Chapter Sixty 61. Chapter Sixty-One 62. Chapter Sixty-Two 63. Chapter Sixty-Three 64. Chapter Sixty-Four 65. Chapter Sixty-Five 66. Chapter Sixty-Six 67. Chapter Sixty-Seven 68. Chapter Sixty-Eight 69. Chapter Sixty-Nine Author Notes Also By Rebecca Maeve Hartwell About The Author Acknowledgements and Copyright Chapter One Angie gasped, dropping her side of the crucible. Molten iron splashed across the mold of the Imperial emblem. The early spring sun was pale overhead, and Angie ripped off the hood of her protective suit, examining herself as she tried to figure out why every inch of her skin had burned. Something plucked at her very core, an intimately invasive sensation of change so deep within her soul, she could barely comprehend it. “Hey,” the man holding the other handle yelled, stepping back with his hands up. “You could have killed me!” Angie tried to apologize, but confusion and overwhelm stopped her throat, unwilling to draw more attention. “You two!” Angie turned to find the foundry foreman watching her with evident horror and delight. She backed away from the spluttering liquid metal at her feet, pulling out her headphones. “That’ll mean no pay today,” the foreman said, and the heat in Angie’s suit flared as if in response to her thrill of panic. She quickly stripped the rest of it off, ignoring the hardening, wasted clumps of glowing iron around her feet, and was dismayed to find her clothing charred. “And I’ll charge you for any damage to that suit!” the foreman added, stomping forward and fussing over each piece, disregarding the worker beside her trying to pacify him. Angie felt across her skin for any burns but found none, even in the two places where her thin T-shirt was burned right through. “I don’t know what happened,” she blurted, turning back to the foreman. “I think a spark got in through a patch, or… I don’t know.” He grabbed her by the arm, her suit tucked under his other, and marched her toward the dingy little office by the front gates, beckoning the man who’d been helping to follow. “It doesn’t matter,” the foreman said beside her as she marched beside him, his breath reeking of chewing tobacco and sardines. “Shift ends in fifteen minutes, so it’s a full day’s free labor for me.” Other workers watched as they passed, quickly dropping their eyes back to the sweltering, backbreaking work as each fell under scrutiny from the man who made their working lives torment, and was paid twice what they were for the privilege. “Look,” Angie’s coworker said, raw fear in his voice as the foreman slammed the door to his office behind them. “I’ve got a wife and kids. We’re behind on rent as it is, we can’t afford to lose a full day’s pay…” The foreman ignored him, sitting down at his ancient computer, smiling as he typed. A chill ran through Angie beneath the heat filling her body that wouldn’t dissipate, and spoke before she could stop herself. “It was my fault. Let him off. I’ll take the full penalty.” Both men froze, turning to her with surprise, and when the foreman gave him a sour nod, the other worker whispered his thanks before dashing out of the door. “You’d better not think I’ll be easy on you,” the foreman said, his beady eyes boring into Angie. “He’ll still get half pay for the day, and you…” He turned back to his computer, narrating as he typed with maddening slowness. “Wasted. Time. And. Imperial. Resources. Endangering. Foundry. Property. And. When. Given. The. Opportunity. To. Provide. Repayment. Failed. To. Do. So.” Angie felt like the walls were closing in. “You didn’t give me a chance.” She shoved her hands into her pockets, hating the pleading in her voice. “So you can pay for the delay in getting those castings done?”