Chapter Four #2
“Alright. Would you mind getting some water from the well?” I asked Adelmar.
He fixed his tunic, brushed his beard—only to sputter something about beastly wolves when he found its burned ends. He cleared his voice. “I will. There’s some cleaning he needs to do.”
Dierk growled again; Adelmar squared his shoulders; I rolled my eyes. “Of course,” I said to placate him.
He nodded, made it to the door, then turned. “Clearly, my teaching doesn’t work for him. He’s all yours now.”
And he left.
My stomach dropped. I’d never taught anyone before, and starting with him felt like beginning from the deep end without knowing how to swim. Still, I nodded, because what choice did I have? “His pride had been scorched,” I said on a sigh. “And he might have to part with the beard for a while.”
Dierk looked at me then, gold burned down to near-brown. The most human I’d ever seen him. “How do you do it?”
I tilted my head, waiting.
“You walked in, saw all of it–me. And your heart...” His big, scarred hand lifted as if to touch my chest. My breath snagged, but before he reached me, he let it fall. His gaze held mine instead. “It was steady. You were calm. I, we, felt it. How?”
I let out a quiet sigh. “Practice, mostly.” I sank onto the floor beside him.
“I spent my life learning not to let my father, my brother, or men like them get under my skin. Giving in to my temper with them would only earn me pain. If I want to change things, I have to be smarter than them, better than them. So I learned to master it. My nerves, my anger. There are moments when I let go. And moments I hold tight and use my mind.” I brushed a scatter of broken glass aside. “You can learn too.”
The look he gave me nearly made me laugh.
“Alright, maybe not as perfectly. I guess some of it is temperament. But you can learn to control better both your temper and your fire. Not smother it,” I added quickly when he stiffened and growled louder.
“Control it, so when you unleash it, it hits where you want. Right now, it’s a liability. You can make it into a strength.”
He frowned, as if the words warred inside him. “I don’t know if I can be what’s needed. This is what I’ve always been.”
His anguish was real, his doubt so out of character.
Or maybe it was just another layer of him that he kept hidden under the rage, and now, with me, he felt safe enough to let go.
“No one knows,” I said softly. “None of us knows if we are enough. All we can do is give everything we have. And if we fall, at least we’ll know we didn’t hold anything back. ”
“Bleak.”
“True,” I countered. “It will be hard, even with you. They’ve managed to rule through fear for so long for a reason.
They are strong and know how to twist magic to their advantage.
And even if we manage to bring them down, that will only be the beginning.
Not every corrupt wolf will come out after the fight, but that doesn’t mean they won’t still be there. .. after.”
“A year and a day. You gave your word.”
“And I’ll keep it. It doesn’t change what has to be done. Whether you stay afterward or not.”
“I’m not staying.”
“Then your only task is to master your fire, take your revenge, and let the rest fall to us. But for now,” I said, wrinkling my nose at the stench of smoke, “we need to clean up.”
The rest of the day dragged. The table, a chair, a sideboard–all ruined.
Half the shelves had collapsed, their contents buried under soot.
The walls were streaked black, the floor slick with ash.
But the walls still stood. We cleared what we could, patched what we couldn’t.
By dusk, the cabin stood. Scarred, but whole enough to hold us.
Adelmar had left after bringing us water.
I stayed.
Time slipped through my hands, and I refused to let the day end as a failure. “I want to try something,” I said, after we’d shared bread and cold meat on the floor.
“Burn the other half of this place?”
I laughed. “No. I want to show you you’re not beyond teaching.”
He wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t refuse, which had to count for something. “Close your eyes.”
“More breathing? We’ve established I can’t do that right.”
I sighed. “Close your eyes, Dierk.”
His stare burned into me for a beat, then he did what I asked. I said, “Where is the fire?”
“What do you mean?”
“Anger. Frustration. That’s what brought it out before. Go back there.”
“You want me to get pissed off?”
“Yes.”
“Careful, Princess,” he growled, eyes sparking gold again.
“Do it.”
And he did. Slowly at first, then all at once. I felt his power rise, his wolf pushing back hard before surrendering, giving the magic space to breathe.
“It’s running just under your skin.”
His breathing quickened, his jaw clenched tight.
“Feel how it wants to come out. How it wants to use you. You can’t let it.”
Heat pulsed from him in waves, his heart pounding. I should have pulled back. I took his hand instead, and our wolves stirred at the contact. The man hesitated at first, then tightened his grip like he would to an anchor.
“I’m real. I’m with you. When the fire wants to take you, focus on this,” I said, squeezing a few times.
He swallowed hard.
“It’s yours to wield, Dierk. Like a blade. It has only the power you give it.”
His hold tightened, crushing my hand.
“Hold it. Keep it inside. Steady it the way you’re holding me.”
Sweat traced down his temple.
“Now shape it. Take a sliver of it and release it. Just a little.”
Pain throbbed where his grip crushed into my hand, but I held on. His breath steadied. His heart still raced, but not madly. And there, trembling in the air between us, hovered a flame. Wobbly. Unstable. But his.
“Open your eyes.”
He did. And wonder broke across his face. The instant the realization hit him, the ember burst into sparks, scattering like startled fireflies.
“See?” I said. “You only need training.”
He was shaking his head, muttering under his breath, staring at the place where the ember had been, nearly more in shock than he had been when the fire had taken over him.
“We’ll work more.” I rose, but he stayed frozen. It was almost comical. I chuckled, heading for the scarred door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dierk.”