He froze at the panic in my voice, but it was too late.
A violent burst of light erupted between us.
Flame roared past the barrier of my skin to flood the tight space in a formidable, fiery orange that pulsed with every painful beat of my blood. The Captain’s face was briefly contoured in shadows and gold, the tense rounding of his eyes and mouth alight and shimmering in the cast of my magic before it dimmed to a soft glow in my chest.
I shoved him back, and he went without complaint.
Without a word in fact, the only sounds my own blood in my ears and the sawing of his breath as he stared at me, chest heaving. I didn’t know what to say, what to do. My brain had disconnected from my body somewhere between his lips on my throat and my Flame erupting, and I couldn’t get it back. Couldn’t reel my magic back in, couldn’t form words, couldn’tmove, although I’d have nowhere to go even if I could. He was watching me as one watched a dangerous predator happened upon in a dark, abandoned forest. Something in that look, lit to its most vivid green under the untethered light of my Flame, sparked a narrow path between my tongue and my mind.
He knew.
“I guess you’ve finally caught me out.”
“Rosie, don’t.”
That path blazed and suddenly the words were bursting forthwith the same raging heat as the magic spilling from my chest.
“Don’t?” I spat. “I haven’tdoneanything.I’ve donenothingwrong, nothing to hurt you or anyone else, and I never would!”
“I know.”
I couldn’t hear him, barely registered that he was speaking. My voice trembled even as it rose, and I knew I was ranting but I couldn’t stop. Not when every frantic word was the barest relief, blessedly drowning out the rushing in my ears and the roar in my chest.
“It’s not illegal, to be what I am–”
“I know.”
“–so you can stop watching me like I’m going to melt the marrow from your bones–”
“It’s alright.”
“–stop following me around like you’re going to catch me in some heinous act. I’m not the monster you’re supposed to be hunting, so if you think you can–”
“Rosie.”
He moved, reaching for me, and when I flinched back, light flaring again, something unreadable passed over his features. He paused with his hands held up, and spoke slowly, calm and steady, eyes firm on my own.
“I don’t think you’re a monster. I know you haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t suspect you of anything, or even of having thecapabilityto–” He broke off with a sigh and dragged one of those raised hands wearily down his face. I could only stare until he fixed his gaze on mine again, almost sternly now. “This is what I wanted to talk to you about. I had a feeling you might have been… wary of me. I just wanted you to know you don’t have to be. That’s why I’ve been trying to get you alone. That’sall.”
I thought back on all he’d said, and understanding sank through me, all the more cold and sobering for the contrast of the dizzying heat in my chest.
I just want to talk to you.
Maybe not something we should discuss here.
You’re afraid of me. A lot of people are.
“Oh.”
The rapid flicker of my Flame calmed to a pulsing lull as my heart rate slowed. My magic was docile now, more manageable with my steady pulse and some distance between us. I tugged at it out of habit, faintly surprised when it came easily and I began to reel it in. Caelan’s eyes dropped to my chest, catching the shift in the light. His throat bobbed.
“Wait.”
His hoarse voice made my stomach flip and I paused, the barest glow still throbbing dimly between my ribs.
“Don’t hide it away. I want to see it. I want to see your face in the light when I tell you that – that –shit.”
He took a long, steadying breath, then chanced another step toward me. I didn’t flinch away this time, but my body tightened all over, skin tingling as though my Flame was readying to ignite me from head to toe.
