Viola grace elymyntyls.., p.1
Viola Grace - Elymyntyls 01 - Liquid Heat, page 1
Jin Bosun enjoys her life on the Raven's Rest station above Jotunheim. Her Terran mother, Myka, encouraged her to go out and meet new people. She has the perfect partners, Terran descended elementals like herself, so they opened a bar together. Elymyntyl. When the lord of Jotunheim puts a price on their bodies and their bar, Jin is worried. When folks start arriving to claim that price, she is caught off guard. Rescued by Ragnar, a fire giant from the planet below, Jin finds herself in protective custody and things are getting hot.
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Liquid Heat
Copyright © Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-55487-680-8
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Liquid Heat
Book 1 Elymyntyls
By
Viola Grace
Introduction
Welcome to the Elymyntyls miniseries.
The first book of the Gaia Group, daughters of the Terran Times.
Three women, Djihntalia, Solial and Fehniel have opened the bar Elymyntyl and use their talents on a day-to-day basis on the space station Raven’s Rest. Djihntalia Bosun is half-Dremarai, half-Terran and full water elemental. Her partners, Solial Kellan embodies air and Fehniel, of Aleyn by Baileez of Hickom, fire.
Jin works the bar, pours the drinks and waters down the customers when they get out of hand and their clientele is prone to getting out of hand.
Sol is their bouncer, an air elemental with a penchant for lightly suffocating troublemakers and blasting them out the door. She watches the floor and keeps the patrons’ hands off the waitresses.
Fen loves numbers, an odd thing for a fire elemental, but she manages the books and keeps them operating in the black.
Together they are an incomplete set of elements, but they like it that way.
With the full spectrum of alien, magical and mundane creatures wandering through their doors, these women are more than capable of manning their facility and keeping it safe.
Thosnas, lord of Jotunheim, the world beneath the station, wants their bodies and most importantly, their bar, but they don’t know why.
He has been steadily buying businesses on the station and is determined to have their cooperation. They have been dealing with lesser creatures and emissaries for weeks when two fire giants walk in to the bar.
Two fire giants walk into a bar… Give me a joke to go with it and you will win a copy of either of the sequels— Eryth and Ayr on Halloween, Frost and Fyr for Christmas.
Chapter One
wo fire giants walked into the bar and Jin Twent
on high alert. Representatives of Jotunheim were not good news. She was pulling pints for a trio of troll-like Skogar and the burn across her senses warned her of the newcomers’
approach.
She finished serving the trolls and turned to the men who stood at her bar. Giants they were, six and a half feet tall, both of them. One had the glint of anger in his eyes, the other had a calm interest.
“Gentlemen, what can I get for you?”
“Vodka straight.”
“Flaming Orgasm.” The twitch to his lips and expectant look in his eyes made her smile.
She was proud of her mastery of the Terran drinks of her mother’s land and the alcohol was an import that Elymyntyl was the sole proprietor of.
“Coming up.” She turned and gave the first giant his vodka with a smile, assembled the Orgasm, the beer standing ready as she poured the rum into a glass and flamed it. At her nod, he lifted the rum and dropped the entire glass into 1
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the beer before slamming the whole thing back.
“Now, gentlemen. Why are you here in this fine establishment?”
The area around her bar was remarkably quiet.
A sound-deadening unit that she and her partners had paid dearly for when they opened Elymyntyl worked wonders. Jin needed quiet—her watery nature sent sound reverberating through her.
These giants were not here because they wanted a fun evening flirting with alien ladies.
They were here on business.
“Our lord, Thosnas, has sent us to negotiate for the purchase of this establishment.” Mr. Grumpy-face was all business.
“It is not for sale.” Across the dance floor, she met the gaze of Sol, one of her partners and the air elemental who acted as security and bouncer. The bright blue eyes of her partner indicated she was standing by.
“You don’t know yet what he is offering, lady.”
The scowl didn’t flex an iota as he tried to glare her down. His hair was charcoal black, his eyes the dull grey of ash. The only features that the two had in common were the red-grey skin and their height. The smiling giant had red hair with black streaks and eyes of burning orange.
“I do know that none of my fellow partners have an interest in selling to a creature who would use the goodwill we have sponsored here for 2
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personal gain.”
“If you continue your refusals, our sponsor has authorized us to take whatever means we see fit.”
The air around him was crackling hotly. Jin scowled at him. She didn’t want the fire suppression systems to kick in.
“Refusals will continue. In light of your starting to smoulder your chair, I will ask you now to leave.”
She knew what he would do, what his kind of bully always did. He rose from the barstool and summoned his power. Jin raised her hand and nailed him with a stream of water from the seltzer hose. The cloud of steam that erupted alarmed a few patrons nearby and they scattered.
“Well, if steam won’t do it…” A nod to Sol and the air elemental came forward.
A column of water froze the fire giant in place.
He locked into a snarling attack stance and Sol summoned wind to lift him and together, they shoved him out the door.
They tapped their heels on the doorstep and when the giant in the outer hall recovered, he charged straight into a DNA block.
“You have been banned. Now go back to explain to Thosnas that you lack manners!” Jin high-fived Sol and returned inside.
A smattering of polite applause greeted the ladies as they resumed their posts. Sol took up her 3
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position near the sound system and stood with her eyes half-closed against the pulsing beats.
Jin returned to her bar and resumed service.
“I do apologise for his manners, but I don’t think Usul was born with any.”
She jumped when the voice of the other giant sounded within a few inches of her ear. How he had snuck up on her, she didn’t know, but he was right there.
She stilled her racing pulse with difficulty before turning to face the centre of his chest.
“Please remain on the other side of the bar. This is not a place for unauthorized personnel.”
He grinned down at her and nodded politely.
“Of course. Do pardon me.”
There was a fluttering in her stomach that should not have been there. He was affecting her hormones and it was unacceptable, so she shoved him back with words. “Who are you and why aren’t you pressing the same suit as your companion?”
“Do pardon me, lady Djihntalia. The sight of you has struck me dumb with admiration. My name is Ragnar and I was once a prince amongst the giants. Now, I am merely relegated to the position of courier and negotiator for a single-minded overlord.”
“Poor you. You owe me five credits for your drink and the one for your little friend there.” She 4
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felt the shudder of the walls as the giant outside went on the attack.
“You are forcing me to pay for that ingrate?”
“If you want to remain here and not get the same exit invitation, yes. Everyone here pays their own way. One way or another.” She gave him a look under her brows.
It was an effective look, one that had cowed lower dhemons in its time, but he merely gave her a good-natured grin in response. She drummed her fingers on the bar and used water ropes to serve the refills to the Skagars. They didn’t mind the extra moisture on the glass and paid after every round.
When Fen counted the money at the end of the night, she didn’t care how much water was in the bottom of the till. She merely flared on her talent and gently toasted the credits dry.
“Elementals working together is an unusual occurrence. What drew you three to each other?”
Ragnar was a curious fell
“Magnets. Really big ones.” She crossed her arms and frowned at him. Jin turned and left him holding up the corner of the bar.
Business was steady and that was the way she and the others liked it. Wine, beer and spirits flowed, three fights were stopped by Sol’s quick action and nobody stiffed their waitress. It was a good night.
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Fen made her appearance at precisely one thirty to take the evening’s money to the back for security purposes. “Why is there a man of flame in the corner?”
Jin whirled around, water balls at the ready and found her target in the gently smouldering Ragnar. “Why are you still here? We closed down half an hour ago.”
He rose to his considerable height and walked toward her. She didn’t back down, just compressed the water in her palms for a more effective charge.
He bowed low, “Ladies, I have been sent to tender a fair financial offer for your business and barring that, I will make sure you all make it to your quarters safely.”
“We have no need of your escort. Please leave.”
Fen wrapped her power around her in bands of flame, but Ragnar did not look away from Jin, so she put a wall of standing water between them and pushed him backward out the door.
Steam filled the air and his orange eyes kept a lock on her green ones as she moved him out into the hall and locked Elymyntyl’s doors in his face.
She turned and leaned back against the locked doors to be faced by her partners.
Fen smiled, “Who was that?”
“Thosnas’s new negotiator. His name is Ragnar.”
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Sol chipped in with her own observations. “He seemed a little fixated on you and you didn’t eject him with his companion, so I am thinking there is a little mutual action there.”
Jin scowled, “Zip it, Sol.”
“You have really mastered our mothers’
language. You do the slang better than any of us.”
Fen smiled and her dark brown eyes showed her amusement.
“You would not believe some of the things she taught me during deliveries. Her Dremarai words were calm, but her Terran terms could singe your ears.” Jin felt the smile on her face as she thought of her mother. She had inherited not only Myka’s love of caretaking, but also her blonde hair and green-blue eyes.
Her mother had lobbied long and hard to get her daughter the right to leave and go into business with other members of the Gaia Group, a community comprised of the daughters and some sons of the original Terran Volunteers.
With six brothers and sisters, her mother’s line had been secured and Djihntalia Bosun had been allowed to go as far as Raven’s Rest station and Sol and Fen had received the same authorization.
Together, they opened Elymyntyl and had been engaging in successful business on the station until now.
Over the last four months, Thosnas had become 7
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more aggressive, seeking not only their business, but also their DNA. He wanted to own the Terran descendants and he made no secret of it in his communications and his couriers had not been shy about the proposals.
At first, the ladies had laughed at his offer to keep them as concubines, but after the third attack on their business, they had to believe that he was serious about taking over. That was when they had made a few calls.
“My mother would not curse, simply elbow my father when she needed his attention or hold our shoulders and glare us into submission.” Fen grinned.
“Not all of our mothers were Minders, Fen.”Jin smiled. “The evening’s receipts are totalled and ready for you. Shall we head for the drop?”
“Give me a minute.” Fen wandered over to the credit chits and receipts and rapidly checked the numbers.
Sol bumped her hip into Jin’s. “You liked him, didn’t you?”
She sighed. “I did. He woke something inside me and it scared the hell out of me.”
“He’s fire.”
She groaned and put her face in her hands. “I know. My father would never understand.”
Jin felt Sol’s arm around her shoulder. “It’s okay. He isn’t here and even if he was, if you were 8
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with that fire giant, the steam would be enough to hide you.” Her friend jumped away before Jin could swat her.
Fen scowled at Sol and nodded to Jin. “Okay.
Let’s go and make the drop. Powers up.”
Together, they powered up and exited their establishment. They were keeping to central time on the planet below. They used to be open constantly, but the attacks on their business meant that they needed to protect it personally.
Jin kept defensive water in her hands. Only a few shoppers were left on the decks of the entertainment level, but they had been attacked during the credit drop before. They now took no chances. Sol carried the bag, Fen kept her hands hot and Jin was ready with a water jet at a moment’s notice.
The drop was made and recorded by the station’s systems without any interference. They rode in the lift back to the private level and parted ways. Jin was so relieved, she let her guard down when she was on her level near her private quarters.
The pain that ripped through her body and mind when the stunner hit her blinded her. She woke on the floor.
Usul’s grin as he reached for her was a promise of pain and humiliation and she couldn’t move an inch to stop him.
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Chapter Two
ball of fire struck Usul in the chest, a snarl in Athe
hall denoting another fire elemental. Jin hoped with all her might that it was Fen.
Usul retaliated and Jin could only watch helplessly from her position on the floor, lying on her side, facing the wall. Fire broke and shattered in the halls, the air waved with heat and she was distinctly uncomfortable as the embers that broke on Usul rained down on her.
The flaming bits hissed as they struck her shirt and skin. The heavy canvas scorched on impact while her skin blistered. On the floor, she waited and when the fire suppression system went off, she rolled to her feet in the mist that clouded the halls and ran for it.
The heat almost blinded her, but she made it to her door and palmed the lock. When the door hissed open, she dove through it, landing heavily on her stomach. As a masculine body landed on top of hers, she oofed in surprise. A roar of a fireball deafened her for a moment and then her door hissed shut and locked.
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“Get off me.” She tried to struggle out from under the burden on her back. Without a doubt, she knew it was Ragnar. She knew it with every inch of her that was pressed against him.
He groaned and rolled away. His skin was smouldering from his fight and his orange eyes were half-closed.
“What were you doing outside my quarters?”
She asked the question before she offered any kind of aid—her focus would be gone once she touched him.
“I was waiting for Usul to go on the attack. He is not one to take a quiet no for an answer. He was planning your abduction before we even landed on the station.”
She scowled at him and used a heavy mist under her hands to put out the surface flares that were still sparking his clothing. “You could have warned me.”
“I could have, but didn’t. I didn’t think you would believe that I had your best interests at heart.” He arched under her hands and she made contact as he squirmed.
“Hold still. I don’t want to steam your skin.”
His tunic was basically intact—a practical assembly of thick-wrapped leather belted with metal and his trousers were the same dark leather that matched his boots.
With all the fires out, she sat back on her heels.
