That hit harder than it should have.
I dragged a hand through my hair, the lighter still clicking uselessly in my fist.
Click. Click. Click.
“I just need to burn something for five minutes,” I muttered. “Somewhere no one’s going to freak out.”
Sable’s gaze flicked briefly to the lighter. Not disapproval. Assessment.
“You haven’t burned anything since Darkmoor,” she said.
I froze. “How do you—”
“I pay attention,” she replied calmly. “Especially to the people who are trying not to fall apart.”
Something in my chest twisted. I hated that she could see it. Hated that she’d named it so easily.
“I’m fine,” I snapped automatically.
She didn’t argue.
“That may be,” she said. “But fine people don’t usually end up on the floor begging their skin not to tear itself open.”
I swallowed hard, my throat burning. The pressure under my skin surged again, heat rolling through my veins like a warning.
“I can’t sleep,” I said finally. “If I don’t burn something, I don’t sleep. And if I don’t sleep—”
My voice cracked. I clenched my jaw and looked away. “It gets bad.”
Sable nodded once, like this confirmed something she’d already suspected.
“You’re controlling it,” she said. “That matters.”
I barked out a laugh. “Yeah? Because it feels like it’s controlling me.”
She leaned back on her heels, unthreatening, steady.
“Control isn’t about absence. It’s about direction. About choosing who you point it at.”
I stared at her despite myself.
“There are places here,” she continued, “shielded training zones. Reinforced. Isolated.”
She paused. “Places where you could light a fire without anyone panicking. Without risking anyone.”
“No one needs to know,” she said calmly. “And no one will be in danger — if we do it properly.”
I searched her face for the catch. For the hook.
For the moment she’d tell me what this would cost.
“And what,” I asked warily, “you just… give me access?”
“If you want it,” she said. “I can walk you through the protocols. Help you set boundaries that workwithyour magic instead of against it.”
No one had ever saidwithbefore.
My fingers stopped clicking the lighter.
