Page 14 of Reforging Onyx

Onyx nodded again, focusing on the target. It wasn’t that he was being suicidal per se, but more carried away than anything as he sought to make the flames grow larger and larger. The sheer heat rolling off of what had been a moderately sized target reached him, and he laughed, delighted.

He could easily burn himself alive just to feel the flames, his flames, all around him.

But before they could get too close to him, he halted them. It was exhausting, but he was showing off — whether he wanted to admit it or not.

Dominic already knew he was powerful; Onyx had displayed as much during the attack that had landed him in Dominic’s ownership. There was no point in holding back, and besides, his pride hadn’t allowed him to do anything else.

“Beautiful,” Dominic said, his voice full of strange admiration. “Truly beautiful. A few more minutes, my tiger. Then it will be time to go back.”

Onyx’s back stiffened. “No!” he protested. “I’ve barely had it back!” No amount of time would be enough to feel satisfied again, and now that he’d gotten a taste …

He twisted the fire in front of him, making the flames come apart, then stood panting. He’d exerted himself quite a bit, and he needed to save the last of his strength. Dominic had to at least get close to put him to sleep, and closer still to put the collar back around his throat. Right?

He wouldn’t allow it. He wouldn’t.

“We are nearing an hour that you’ve been playing with your fire, Onyx,” Dominic said. “And as good as it is to see you so happy, we need to return soon. But we will be able to come back and do this again. Be good for me, and we can do this again very soon.”

Sheer desperation raced through him at the idea of losing this again, and he frantically shook his head. “You don’t need to re-collar me. I won’t use my fire against you if you don’t try to collar me again.”

“Don’t lie to me, Onyx,” Dominic replied, his voice almost gentle. “Especially about something that we both know to be false. Do you wish to spend these last few minutes exercising your magic, or arguing with me over the inevitable?”

Loathing built up within him again, and Onyx hated Dominic so fiercely that even the thought of seeing him made him want to lash out. How could Dominic take his magic away again? Didn’t he know what it was like?

No. He didn’t. Because no one would dare collar a Bancroft witch.

He growled, but he threw another fireball at a different target, adding to the raging inferno several feet away from him. Maybe he needed to cast around him in a circle and cut himself off from being reached? It seemed like a solid idea, except the targets had only been arranged in a semi-circle.

He still set fire to what he could, his sheer strength and determination overwhelming the wards on one of the other targets.

Onyx was on a rampage, and while he knew that exhausting himself in a fit wasn’t the brightest thing to do, he couldn’t help it.

On he went, and the spell to force him back into a magical sleep caught him off guard. He didn’t even have time to yawn before he collapsed to the ground amidst the flames.

Chapter 7

Dominic

Allowed the opportunity, Onyx would break their agreement, Dominic knew. The witch had been fierce in his exhilaration, raining down destruction as he lit target after target on fire. The embers in his eyes hadn’t just glowed; they’d been an inferno. Beautiful. Deadly.

There were always tales and stories of witches with immense powers, and the elemental powers always held extra fascination, even among humans. But there were few factual records anywhere, and with as much as tales liked to grow in the retelling, it was hard to say what those witches’ powers had actually been.

In the known living record, there had been a number of pyromancers. Not many, but some. And even among the noteworthy names, Onyx’s powers would stand out.

The fact that Onyx had broken through the wards on one of the targets after spending an hour showing off with his magic was impressive. Dominic knew without a doubt that if Onyx was sufficiently motivated, he’d be able to break through even the strongest of Dominic’s personal defenses.

While the wards that he’d used on the targets hadn’t been terribly strong, they also hadn’t been weak.

Ah, what a Sword of Damocles Onyx would have made.

It was a pity he might never take a swing again.

Still, Onyx’s reaction to being collared again would be bad. If he could, he would undoubtedly attack, which Dominic could not allow to happen. Not like this.

In the early years of the Takeover, many collared witches had died when those who could not be tamed and contained were frequently lost to despair. Dominic had known that he would need to find some solution to that problem, but he had expected to have much more time before it became such a pressing matter.

Allowing Onyx to have his magic again had been a move wrought of desperation, no matter how calculated it was, and Dominic was well aware of it. Collaring stole not just magic from a witch, but a fundamental part of who they were.

Having had a taste of his magic again, the backlash Onyx would feel could well be worse than his initial collaring.