Evie
Kieran’s room materializes in a flash of orange flame.
His thermal residue is everywhere, and it’s like reading a map of his private life in infrared.
The heat on his bed is imprinted deep and layered from hours of restless turning.
The chair where he sits and sharpens his blades radiates a focused, sustained warmth that suggests he sits there for a long time, motionless, lost in the meditative rhythm of steel on stone.
There are fingerprints on the violin case, which means he played it recently.
Then there’s that trail from the bed to the window, where he must stand and look out at the academy grounds in the dark.
He is, unfortunately, not here.
On his desk, however, are the books from the Ember Archives.
I grab the top book from the stack, settle onto his bed with my back against the headboard, and open it.
Maritime Threats of the Lost Islands: A Comprehensive Survey.
Quickly losing myself in the research, I catalogue every detail and cross-reference account, building a mental map of everything we might face.
Eventually, the sound of the door opening makes me jolt upright, and Kieran steps inside, carrying a tray of food and looking like he’s been awake for days.
His dark hair is slightly disheveled, like he’s been running his hands through it, and his jaw is set so hard the muscle twitches beneath the skin.
He stops dead when he sees me on his bed surrounded by stolen archive texts, as if it’s totally normal for me to lounge around reading forbidden books in my combat instructor’s room mid-morning on a Saturday.
His eyes sweep over me, and one eyebrow rises. “Comfortable?”
Warmth crawls up my neck, but I force it down. Way, way down.
“I need to talk to Logan.” I sit up straighter, trying to look like a person with a plan instead of a first-year who was studying on her instructor’s bed while he wasn’t there. “He’s been training Jade for weeks, which means he has to know something about what she did last night.”
“And you thought you’d find Logan here?” He closes the door and places the tray down on his desk, focused on me the entire time.
“No. But the school’s on lockdown. We’re confined to our dormitories, and I can’t exactly fire travel into Typhon Hall and start asking people to direct me to Logan’s room.” I close the book on my lap and play with the leather binding that’s stripping away at the edges.
His gaze tracks from the book to my face, stopping there in a way that makes more heat flush up my neck. “So, you fire traveled onto my bed to catch up on your reading.”
I stop playing with the book and glare at him. “You told me to come to you when I needed help.”
“I did.” He reaches for the dagger on his desk and examines its tip as if it holds the secrets to the universe.
I set the book aside and square my shoulders. “Right now, I need your help so I can talk to Logan.”
He sets down the dagger and moves to the bed, my heart rate kicking up as he settles onto the mattress beside me, his heat bleeding across the narrow gap between us.
“Tell me about Logan and Jade’s training sessions,” he says, and it’s a command, not a request.
“They’ve been training in the Scorched Circles late at night.” I force myself to focus on the facts instead of the heat radiating from his body. “Logan’s been helping her with her fire magic, but I had no idea she had lightning magic. I’m guessing he was helping her with that, too.”
The admission stings. I’m supposed to see patterns that others miss, and here I am, having missed a huge detail about someone who shares a room with me.
“How long have they been training together?” he asks, cutting through my thoughts.
“Ever since you announced the duels.” The guilt of that admission tightens in my throat. “I thought I was being a good friend by covering for her. I didn’t realize I was helping her hide a secret this big.”
He’s quiet for a moment. There are only inches between us, and like what tends to happen when we’re this close to each other, I replay what happened in the Fury Loop a few weeks ago—specifically the moment when I stopped thrashing beneath him because I didn’t need my thermal awareness to register the blood rushing to the part of him pressed against my hip.
Warmth spreads low in my stomach at the memory.
I really, really need to push that moment from my mind. Thinking about it every time I’m near him isn’t beneficial in my current predicament. In fact, it’s detrimental.
Focus, Evie. Brother missing. Roommate hiding magic. Life-or-death situations.
But it’s nearly impossible to focus when Kieran turns his head and our faces are suddenly inches apart. His dark green eyes hold mine, and for one breathless moment, neither of us moves.
“Okay,” he says, and the word is quiet, as if he’s admitting a secret. “I’ll bring Logan here.”
The tension in my shoulders drops an inch. “Thank you.”
“Don’t make me regret it.” He stands, and I immediately feel colder. “Stay there. Don’t answer the door. Don’t leave this room.”
“Didn’t plan on it.”
He gives me a single nod. Then, orange flames rise around him, and he’s gone.
I slump back against the headboard and press my hands to my burning cheeks.
Get it together. You’re here because your brother is missing, not because you’ve somehow reached a level of proximity with Kieran Cross where materializing unannounced in his room seems like a rational decision.
So, I reach for the maritime threats book and read the section about Charybdis. The great whirlpool churns three times daily, the documented ship casualties are extensive, and the chapter details tidal patterns and timing windows that might give us a fighting chance.
The words blur together, and I check the clock on Kieran’s nightstand.
11:43 AM.
I read the same paragraph four times without absorbing any of it.
11:52 AM.
What if Logan won’t come?
11:58 AM.
I give up on the book and start pacing. Nine steps take me to the weapons rack, where blades gleam like teeth in the morning light. Nine steps bring me back to the bed, where the sheets now hold the thermal readings of my heat signature mixed with Kieran’s.
12:03 PM.
Two blazes of fire ignite in the room.
Kieran’s signature spikes and settles with each breath, hot and volatile.
Logan’s reads flat and even, like a candle flame behind glass, and his gaze instantly goes to me.
“Kieran told me you have questions,” he says, apparently happy with skipping the pleasantries and jumping straight to the point.
“I have a lot of questions.” I cross my arms over my chest. “Starting with: how long have you known about Jade’s lightning?”
Logan exchanges a look with Kieran. Then he moves to the chair at Kieran’s desk and sits, his posture rigid.
“I’ve known since the Hydra trial. When the Hydra had her cornered, she threw her sword at its mouth. The blade was laced with silver electricity. That’s what broke the protective ward.”
“I saw it too, but I thought it was a trick of the light.” I sink onto the edge of Kieran’s bed, my legs unsteady. “But you knew. Which means the training sessions, the late nights... you’ve been helping her hide what she is this entire time.”
“I’ve been keeping her alive.” He stops himself and takes a breath. “If the Council learned the truth, they would experiment on her until they understood how her magic works.”
I nod, because I’m well versed in the ways of the Council. My family’s worked closely with them for generations.
“Constance said Jade disappeared after the attack,” I continue. “Please tell me you know where she is?”
His expression closes off, his posture locking down. “She’s somewhere safe. Somewhere the Council can’t find her.”
“But you’re getting her out. You’re planning on leaving the island.”
“I am.”
“There are boats hidden in the depths of the island. Emergency vessels for evacuation purposes.” I gesture at the stack of books on Kieran’s desk. “I’ve been doing my research.”
Logan stares at me for a long moment. Then he turns to Kieran, and the look he gives him could strip paint.
“She found it herself,” Kieran says calmly. “I just helped her access the archives.”
“You knew?” I turn my glare on Kieran.
“I’m a professor at the academy. Of course I knew.” His eyes hold mine, steady and unapologetic. “But I had faith in you, and that faith wasn’t misplaced.”
I don’t know whether I want to kiss him or strangle him. Possibly both. Although at the thought of the first option, I have to look away, my fingers curling into the bedspread.
Logan, luckily, cuts in. “The seas surrounding this island are deadly. There are sirens, cyclops, and creatures that have been killing sailors for millennia.”
“I know. I’m coming with you,” I say without missing a beat.
Logan’s eyes widen. “Absolutely not.”
“Oliver didn’t leave this island voluntarily.” I stand, squaring my shoulders. “I’m going to find out what happened to him, and if that means sailing through monster-infested waters, then that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
“And I’m going with her,” Kieran says before Logan can protest. “The more people we have, the better our chance of survival.”
Logan’s hands clench on his knees. His expression is torn, conflicted in a way I’ve never seen from the usually composed proctor.
“I’ll tell Jade,” he finally says. “And we need one more person. Someone with skills none of us have, who can help ensure we survive the crossing.”
“Who?” Kieran asks.
And then Logan says the last name I expected.