Page 51 of The Fifth Heir

I lifted both hands.

There was no reason to do it. I possessed no element to call and no training that could help. My body moved before thought caught up with it.

The torc tightened around my throat.

Clear light passed across my palms.

The flame struck it.

For one impossible second, the fire flattened into a bright sheet in front of me. Red divided into orange, gold, white, and colors I had only seen inside the Prism.

The separated colors moved across my vision like light through cut crystal.

Then the entire arc changed direction.

It curved around the examiner, crossed the chamber, and struck the empty containment wall.

Protective runes absorbed it with a deep flash.

The Fire circle went dark.

Silence filled the chamber.

Smoke rose from the floor channels, but the stone beneath my feet remained unburned. The official who had fallen pushed herself upright. Her partner stood frozen beside the control stone, staring at the black mark where the fire had passed less than a foot from her body.

Torren lowered his hand.

“Are you hurt?” he asked me.

I looked at my palms.

The skin was pink but unburned. “No.”

He entered the circle before Malcolm could stop him and checked my hands himself. His fingers were hot and rough around mine.

“I said I’m not hurt.”

“You’ve said that before.”

He turned my hands over, checking the backs and each wrist. The fire in the surrounding channels had gone out, but warmth remained where his skin touched mine.

The runes in the assessment chamber did not change color to reveal my reaction.

After a night in the Fifth Wing, their silence felt almost private.

Leander moved to the fallen official and helped her stand. Frost spread from his palm across a scorched section of floor, smothering the last embers.

Rafe remained between the damaged control and the other examiners, lightning snapping once along his forearm before he forced it still.

Sebastian had not moved.

He was staring at my hands.

Malcolm approached the failed Fire control.

“What did you do?” he asked Torren.

Torren’s grip tightened once around my fingers before he released them.