Chapter 13 #3
For a while, we worked in silence, comfortable, unspoken. Then I spoke, voice quiet but steady. “I saw Erebus today in Elemental Magic… and I noticed his shadow didn’t follow the sun.” The flame blossom flared slightly beneath my fingertips.
Firebeard didn’t look up from his task. “Strange thing for a cadet to notice,” he murmured. “Stranger still for a shadow to misbehave.”
“Something’s off about him,” I said, glancing over. “He gives me these… weird feelings.”
“Weird feelings are normal, cadet Yarrows,” he replied, finally meeting my gaze.
“Yeah, but this is different. He wasn’t here on the first day. And he definitely wasn’t there during the Fourfold Rite. It’s like he just… appeared.” I shifted, unease prickling at the back of my neck as I tried to replay the memories in my mind. “Maybe I should check the cadet roster.”
“Those can be edited,” Firebeard said plainly. “Especially by someone who doesn’t want to be found.”
I looked at him sharply. “So, you think I’m right?”
“I think you should follow that instinct,” he replied, plucking a bloom from the stalk and handing it to me. The petals immediately brightened under my touch, flickering gold.
“How do I do that?” I asked, watching the flicker match my pulse.
“You keep listening. You keep watching. And you don’t—” A soft creak behind us interrupted him. Erebus stepped into the greenhouse light, his dark leathers absorbing the glow as shadow carved across half his face. Too much darkness for how much sun still lingered outside.
“Evening, Professor. Yarrows,” he greeted, voice smooth—too smooth.
“Cadet Erebus,” Firebeard said, tone flat and unreadable. “Out rather late, aren’t you?”
Erebus offered a faint smile, black eyes flicking between us as if he were collecting data. “Could say the same for you. Just walking the grounds. Needed air.” His gaze dropped to the blossom in my hand. “Flame blossoms. Dangerous to touch if you don’t understand how.
I met his stare, refusing to blink. “I know how.” A tense silence followed. The flame in my palm flared higher, brighter, like it sensed my pulse rising. Erebus tilted his head, studying me in that unsettling way, like he could hear thoughts I hadn’t spoken.
“I suppose you do,” he said at last. “You’re full of surprises.” Everything went still, the kind of stillness that screams. Then Firebeard shifted slightly, stepping in front of me with subtle purpose. He placed a steady hand on the table.
“Cadet Yarrows was just leaving,” he stated calmly but firmly.
I gave a small nod; eyes still locked on Erebus. “Yes, I was.” I stepped past him without flinching, but the moment I passed close enough, a chill washed over me like walking through a shadow that didn’t belong. His smile lingered. Not warm. Not kind. But… deliberate.
“Be careful in the dark, Rynlee,” he called after me. “The wrong flame can burn more than it lights.” I didn’t look back. But the fire blossom in my hand wavered violently, and behind me, I could swear the shadows in the greenhouse weren’t just swaying from the wind…They were breathing.
That night, as I lay in bed, the flame blossom on my desk flickered softly from inside its vase, casting warm, golden light across the walls. I couldn’t sleep. Erebus’s words echoed in my mind, looping endlessly. Be careful in the dark, Rynlee… There was something wrong with him, something off.
The air around him didn’t just feel strange. It felt unnatural. Wrong. Firebeard was right. I needed to keep digging. With a heavy sigh, I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. But before my feet could even touch the floor, the room was shimmering.
Blur. Fade. My breath caught as the world melted away, and when it settled again, I was standing in the golden field.
Sunlight spilled across my skin like a balm, soft and warm, chasing away the chill that had settled in my bones.
The air was thick with the sweet scent of citrus and wildflowers; the sky above was painted in lazy puffs of clouds that drifted without urgency.
The wheat swayed gently, brushing my fingertips as I wandered forward, the hushed rustling soothing and surreal.
Then I saw her. Seated on a stone bench nestled between two tall stalks of golden grain, the Sun Goddess Hemera twirled a piece of wheat between her fingers.
Her fiery curls blazed like molten light, catching the sunshine with every tilt of her head.
She looked both regal and wild, as if the sun itself had taken human form.
“Hemera?” I called softly.
Her head lifted, blue eyes bright with recognition. “Rynlee. Hey.” She smiled gently. “How are your powers coming along?”
I stopped a few paces away, nerves prickling beneath my skin. “Um… okay, I guess. I kind of lost control today in magic class. My fire—” I swallowed. “It almost seemed like it was going to consume me.”
Her expression sharpened instantly as she rose with fluid grace. “What caused you to lose control?” I shifted my weight, the memory still too close.
“Another cadet lost control of their element, and it snapped my focus. The flames just—” I gestured vaguely. “They were crawling up my arms. I could feel it in my bones. And I’ve been reading The Way of the Light, but honestly? It hasn’t helped much.”
Hemera’s lips curved faintly, almost amused. “Well, technically, it’s not my book. I never wrote it.”
I groaned. “Figures.”
Her tone softened. “The fire inside you is powerful, yes, but it is not your enemy. If you embrace it instead of fearing it, control will come easier than you think.” I nodded slowly, brushing my fingers through the golden wheat at our feet.
“Guess I just need more practice.”
“Not just practice,” she corrected gently.
“Confidence.” Her eyes gleamed like molten gold.
“You are strong enough to carry this fire, Rynlee. Believe that.” Something in her certainty pressed against the doubt lodged in my chest, and for the first time in days, I felt a flicker of hope.
Then her voice shifted, softer, but sharper, too. “And the mate bond? Any progress?”
“Nope,” I replied immediately. “Still hate each other.” I hesitated, before adding, “And just so you know, he’s dating someone else. He refuses to help me. So, I’m leaning pretty hard toward breaking the bond.”
Hemera sighed. “He’s seeing someone else?” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I told Khonsu to make it clear to Aiden that this bond is what he needs to focus on. And breaking it, Rynlee, will only make things more difficult.”
“Difficult?” I shot back. “Newsflash! Aiden still hates me, and I hate him. We’re not compatible. We’re not star-crossed lovers. We’re more like… oil and water. With knives.”
She studied me for a moment, then murmured quietly. “I understand.”
I blinked. “You do?”
She nodded slowly. “Khonsu and I didn’t exactly get along at first, either.”
I snorted. “Okay, that’s just false. I’ve read your history. You two were soulmates from the start.”
“That’s what they wrote,” she said, sitting back down. “But before love, there was war.”
I frowned and joined her on the bench. “What do you mean?”