And nothing. There was no sizzle. No pop. Noagony or cry as she jerked her hand away.
She cracked one eye open to make sure shehadn’t missed and actuallyhadput her hand into the fire.And there it was, sitting in the middle of the flame like it hadevery right to be there.
She gazed in astonishment as fire encircledher hand like it was giving a tender embrace. It warmed her fleshbut didn’t torch her skin or burn the hair from her arms.
The edge of her sleeve blackened but notenough to catch fire. She moved her arm a little further into thefire. The second she did, her blackened sleeve caught, and flamesflickered to life.
Instinctively, she slapped the fire out. Itdidn’t burn her other hand either as she succeeded in smotheringit.
She lowered her arm and stepped away from thetorch to examine her flesh carefully. There wasn’t a single mark onher other than her scorched shirt.
“It worked,” she breathed.
And then a rush of excitement ran throughher. She was getting there. She was doing this! Slowly but surely,she was gaining new abilities and learning to control them.
Lifting her head, she grinned at Kaylia.“What’s next?”
Kaylia smiled back at her. “Now we have tofigure out how an arach throws fire. Learning to bring out yourmagical abilities will be more complicated, but I think we canunlock the fire.”
“How?” Lexi asked.
“I’m thinking we either piss you off or putyou in danger.”
“What good will either of those things do?”Cole demanded.
“There’s a reason they call it a fiery rage,”Kaylia replied. “If making her mad doesn’t work, then maybe puttingher in danger will. Her survival instincts will kick in and mightmake the fire come out.”
“See!” Orin declared. “I knew you wanted meto catch a dragon!”
CHAPTER 31
Over the next week, Cole returned to theGloaming every night while Lexi slept, or at least attempted tosleep. He wasn’t fooled into believing she slept well; the circlesunder her eyes didn’t lie.
However, she was doing better now that shecould keep and hold the shield in place for long periods. She’dstarted venturing out of the manor again and returned to workingwith George and the horses for an hour every day.
Cole had met with George a couple of times toensure he could trust the man around Lexi. Once he discovered heliked the middle-aged human, he made sure George was happy here andwell paid.
The man took good care of the horses thatmeant so much to Lexi, she liked him, and Cole didn’t want her tolose him. She was helping George again but didn’t have the time sheused to have for the horses.
Her training continued to take up most of herday. She still hadn’t figured out how to unlock her fire ability,and that had become her main focus.
Orin had taunted her with reminders of how hekept her father locked away, and while she looked about ready totear off his head, she hadn’t set him on fire. Something, Colesuspected, that disappointed her a little.
Though Cole considered it a bad idea, he wasbeginning to wonder how they could safely put her in contact with adragon. Everything in him argued against putting her in such aposition, but they had to test her around the creatures at somepoint.
He was hoping for later when she had morecontrol overallher abilities, but the Lord, and life,often had a way of throwing things into chaos.
A little over a week later, Lexi announcedshe wanted to return to the Gloaming with him. At first, he wasagainst it.
The last thing they needed was for her tolose control while there, but she would be his queen, which meantthe fae had to see her. And, at some point, they all had to trustin her ability to maintain control over her shield.
She trained with Brokk and her dad outside atnight, and she often sat outdoors for her meals. She spent moretime in the light than out of it now, and she hadn’t slipped.
Even still, as she walked with him throughthe portal toward the Gloaming, the lycan part of him prowledbeneath the surface. It begged to break free so it could take heraway from this realm and put her somewhere safer.
No one would attack her in the Gloaming; hewould ensure that. But if she had a slip while here, then whoeverwas reporting back to the Lord would surely tell them if they sawit.
He wasn’t sure if the Lord would know whatthe glow and markings meant, but there was a good possibility hewould. And even if he didn’t, he’d still come for Lexi because hewould be determined to learn more about her.
