Page 142 of Axis of Fire

His eyes found mine again.

“But your friends really are loyal to you.”

I nodded.

“We've had enough time to prove our loyalty to each other,” I said. “And I won't let anything happen to them.”

“I'll help you with that.”

A brief silence followed.

“You can always rely on me, Fireling.”

Something tightened unexpectedly in my chest.

“Thank you for arranging protection for them,” I said quietly. “It means a lot to me.”

Airis gave a restrained nod.

“Did they get settled already?”

“We managed to get the apartment across the hall.”

My eyes widened.

“Seriously? How?”

“Let’s just say that when a Vuduarus squad needs something, people tend not to argue.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that was your personal motto,” I replied.

Without any embarrassment, I let myself study Airis beneath the moonlight spilling through the window.

Another question surfaced almost immediately.

One that had been bothering me all day.

Compared to everything else, it should have felt insignificant.

But it didn’t.

“Today I had a really strange feeling about my magic,” I said. “It was like my emotions were dulled. Like everything was... muted.”

The silence that followed was broken by a heavy sigh.

“I’m sorry.”

I frowned.

“For what?”

“I acted on instinct.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I was suppressing your magic.”

For a moment, I just stared at him.