Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
“And the wings you summoned? The night you scared off Toryn?”
“Sometimes I use my magic to blend in… and other times, I do not.” He looks down at me, a slight smirk moving over his face.
“Back at Shadow’s Keep, you were in the House of Midnight? With the other shadow magic wielders?”
“I would have been, technically, but I was kept separate from the other trainees since I’m viewed as a threat.
” His eyes grow darker as he speaks, a depth of emotion swimming beneath the surface for a moment.
“There are not many shadow wielders. And most cannot move through things or night travel like I can. That’s why Toryn fears me. ”
“And he is House of Sky… power over the wind.”
Daemon nods. “Right. Little use against shadow magic. But he will be able to use it against yours.”
I can feel a knot of anxiety forming in my stomach. I don’t need more odds stacked against me.
Sensing my feelings, Daemon steps closer and runs a finger along the loose curls falling past my shoulder. “You can do this, little blacksmith. Let’s get started.”
We’re standing within a small glen in a dip between the emerald peaks.
The night sky feels so close up here, the stars glittering and the moon casting silver light through the clouds.
A breeze comes in off the ocean, carrying the scent of salt and far-off places I’ve never seen.
A whisper of lives that I could lead, places I could travel, if I get through this tournament and somehow shake off my family.
It seems impossible, but then, I’ve just traveled through the night as if my body were made of nothing but shadows.
I turn and face Daemon. “Back up, okay?”
“You’re not going to hurt me.” His eyes dance slightly in amusement. “Though I appreciate the sentiment.”
“Humor me, will you? I need some space.”
He dips his head in acquiescence and takes a few steps back so we’re standing a dozen feet apart.
I close my eyes and think of fire. A thousand fires in a thousand forges I’d tended over the years.
The crackle of the wood as its devoured, the rainbow of colors within the flames, blue and purple and white-gold and deep orange and garnet.
The heat of it on my skin, the flush of my cheeks, the sweat at the back of my neck. The feeling of home.
There’s a tingle and a spark of heat at my fingertips.
But then, in my mind’s eye, there is an inferno. And I am nothing but a fourteen-year-old girl standing in front of a house that has been consumed by the fire I wrought.
I gasp and my eyes fly open.
“What is it?” Daemon asks, his eyes flickering in concern.
I shake my head. He’d said before, when I told him what I remembered from that night, that he knew I wasn’t to blame.
But he’d been wrong. What would he think of me if he knew that it had truly been my fault?
That I’m a foolish human girl who burned her family alive because she can’t control her magic?
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll try again.”
And I try. Again and again and again. But every time, it’s the same. Wildfire, burning out of control. Confusion. Devastation. The knowledge that I’ve lost something precious that I can’t even fully remember.
After the sixth attempt, I can feel hot tears coursing down my cheeks.
A shudder moves up through my ribcage, and I spin, unable to face Daemon while I fall apart.
I flee across the glen, moving toward the sea, the wind flinging my tears back behind me.
When I reach the end of the glen, a place where a small spring bubbles out of the earth and cascades over the cliffs a few feet away, I stop and cover my face with my hands.
Daemon’s footsteps announce him a moment before I feel his arms wrap around me from behind. He doesn’t say anything, he just holds me, and he waits.
It’s a few minutes before I’m able to speak. When I do, my words come out wet and raw, my voice half-strangled by tears. “I…I’ve done terrible things. And every time I try to summon my magic, that’s all I can think about.”
Daemon’s voice vibrates in my ear, his face pressed into my hair. “We’ve all done terrible things, Embyr. But your past doesn’t define who you are. Only you, right now, get to decide that.”
I turn around slowly and look up at him. “But I don’t know who I am. I’ve been trying to figure it out for almost a decade, and I’m more confused now than ever.”
He reaches up and wipes the tears away from one cheek, and then the other. “Do you know what I see? I see someone who is the bravest person I’ve ever met. Resilient. A fighter. A survivor. Someone who never gives up. And I know you’re not going to give up now. Not after you’ve come all this way.”
There’s a rumble in the sky above us as dark, roiling clouds move in off the ocean. The wind picks up, blowing strands of my hair, and rustling through Daemon’s like a jealous lover.
“Why do you even care?” I ask, my voice cracking. “I don’t get it. I’m a human. I am nothing compared to the fae. My life will be over in the blink of an eye, and you will live a hundred times over.”
“Does it matter why?” He reaches up and tucks my hair behind one ear. “What matters is that I do care. You are not just a human, Embyr. Your life means a great deal to me, and if you give it up so easily, I will never forgive you.”
His words end with a growl that rumbles against my chest, and I feel a spark of heat through my veins. There’s another roll of thunder overhead, and off in the distance, out over the ocean, a flash of lightning illuminates the whole sky.
“And here I thought we were enemies,” I respond breathily, my heart doing that beating wings thing again in my chest.
There’s another rumble, and this time it’s Daemon and the sky both.
He snakes one arm around the small of my back, and runs the other up into my hair, cupping my cheek for a moment while his eyes burn into mine.
And then his lips are on mine with all the power of the storm brewing in the clouds above us.
He is not gentle. He devours me like I am some precious treasure he’s been searching for his whole life.
His lips taste like salt and like fire and like night sky.
Our mouths crush together and his tongue tangles against mine, probing and claiming me in a way that instantly awakens a throb of electricity between my legs.
A moan escapes me and Daemon growls against my lips, his grip tightening and pulling me even closer against him.
I wrap my arms around his back, feeling the strain of his hard muscles like there’s some sort of beast inside him about to claw its way out.
I dig my nails into his flesh, pressing him harder and harder against me, needing more and more and more.
I’d been fighting this connection since I first saw Daemon at Shadow’s Keep.
Fighting it so, so hard. And now that I’d finally unleashed my feelings, I feel like I’m drowning in them, like they’re going to swallow me whole.
When Daemon’s lips travel from my mouth down the side of my neck, his teeth grazing the soft skin there, I let out another gasp, pleasure sparking through me…
And then, I realize it’s not just my pleasure that’s sparking.
Daemon’s tunic is ablaze.