title: Fire & Brimstone
author: Haber, Jase
description: His third mounting of a horse is a little smoother.  It’s really just a matter of throwing himself on and hoping for the best.  As the grooms guide his and Arabella’s horses back to the castle, he catches her eyes on him.  “What is it?”
  She looks away, and he could almost guess there’s pink tinting her cheeks.  “Nothing,” she replies, “I was just thinking you might be the best Fires lord we’ve had in a long time.”
  Brymston’s cheeks definitely heat as he shakes his head automatically.  “I, ah...  Well, it’s not as if it’s difficult.”
  “The wrong person can make it difficult,” she informs him tartly, “Were you in the village last year?”
  Once a year for the Feast of Fires, a commoner is chosen among the villages to act the part of a lord, to hold mock courts, direct tourneys, and help the local village relieve the stressors of a hard year of labor and war with feasting and fun. A local smith often too serious for such antics is chosen by a wide vote; and no one could have predicted what happened next...