The Fire Rose
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The Fire Rose is a book written by Mercedes Lackey and part of her Elemental Masters series. It is set during the turn-of-the-century and is based on Beauty and the Beast.
A young medieval scholar named Rosalind Hawkins (Rose for short), is left penniless after her father's death. A professor and her mentor from the college she attended tells Rose that he received a letter from a man named Jason Cameron, looking for a governess for his two children. Rose, fitting all the qualifications and having no other options, accepts the job and heads out West.
But when she arrives at the home of Jason Cameron, her new employer, she finds that he has no wife, nor children, and the only servant she ever sees is his secretary, Paul du Mond, to whom she takes an instant dislike. Instead, she learns that Cameron has hired her to read to him because he can no longer conduct his research due to an accident.Therefore, she is to spend her nights reading from archaic and magical texts to Cameron through a speaking tube. After several days, Rose begins to realize that the large mansion is well taken care of, though she sees no servants, other than Paul. After reading a book on magic, she becomes suspicious, as well as a little afraid. She confronts Jason and discovers that he is an elemental master of fire and the house is being taken care of by salamanders, the fire elementals.
After a visit to San Francisco, Rose is called into Jason's room by a salamander. There she discovers Jason's secret, that he is half man, half wolf, due to a botched up lycanthropy spell. Rose is horrified at first, but she is able to overcome it and forget her employer's appearance. Jason begins to depnd on Rose more and leaves his secretary a free rein so he won't have to deal with him. Rose later learns that she is a master of air and calls up a sylph, an air elemental, and binds it to service.
Meanwhile, Paul allies himself with another fire master who is evil. Rose takes another visit to San Francisco and while she is there, an earthquake occurs. There is a showdown between Jason and the opposing mage. Rose asks the sylphs to help Jason and he wins. Two Chinese elemental masters and friends of Jason help Rose and Jason back to Jason's home. Master Ho, the air master, and also an ordained minister, marry Rose and Jason.
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