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Supposedly there were still scars left on the earth…

“What are you doing?”

Lily started at Luka. Huffing and puffing, he looked to her hand and the barren dirt under it.

“I’m practicing,” she said.

“That’s good.” He dropped across from her and wiped his sweaty forehead with his shirt. “I’ve been too.”

Carelessly, Luka grasped at a cluster of weeds behind him. Lily leaned over in time to see him steal the life from them, expecting him to simply absorb it like she taught him. Instead, he formed his hands like he was molding clay, and before long, he held up a ball that reminded her of a small sun—a heated haze rippled off of it.

Ettan’s light! He’d learned how to solidify an aura.

All of the Flares and their aura blessed souls were capable, but it was rare to see the magic outside of combat. In fact, Lily couldn’t recall a time she’d seen it personally.

Well, excluding the Serpent’s use of it. Fearful auras solidified into tangible shadow though Draven’s control of the Diseased Flare seemed to push that boundary. He appeared to be able to conjure them with only the presence of a shadow.

From what she could remember, the Vulpe’s aura was light. The Gnaw’s aura turned into fire and the Allay’s ice. The Wraith’s were crystals, and the Guardian’s was a substance similar to magma.

Staggered, Lily thoughtlessly reached for it with a finger, but Luka pulled back. “Don’t do that. Look.”

Luka got to his feet, carefully ambled toward the boulder, and tossed it against the rock. It melted into it like acid.

Lily shot up from her slouching. “Luka!”

“What? It doesn’t hurt me.”

“I know, but…” You shouldn’t do that.

Making a Flare’s influence physical went against that natural order the ancient families established for the foundational energy that Eizreth relied on. Solidifying it was strictly forbidden to circles like the Argents and Mainas.

Lily fell back against the tree, swirling her finger around the smog as if it were a spoon in a cup of tea. Amalia wouldn’t like the way she taught Luka to take and give energy either, but it was a little late for that.

“When did you learn to do that? And how?” Lily asked.

“With Silas. We go on a lot of walks when you’re gone, and I just did it.”

“He didn’t see you do this, did he?”

Luka shrugged. “I don’t think so. He doesn’t pay much attention.”

She quieted, watching the rock absorb the molten orb. “What does it feel like?”

He frowned. “It’s different. Cold, but not cold like ice or snow. Cold like… steam above water, I think.” Luka skipped back to where he was. “You try.”

“Try what?”

Luka cupped his hands as if that were enough explanation. She rolled her eyes but mimicked him regardless, lifting the aura, but felt nothing other than heat. He squeezed his hands together, and Lily did the same, but the aura simply danced around her tight fingers, happily intangible.

She scowled at it.

Ignoring the Wraith for so long felt like a costly mistake now that a child was outperforming her.

Luka patted her back in the same way she did when he was mad. “I didn’t get it the first time either.”

But Lily couldn’t help but be proud of him. Though he was talented, he was kind and humble. A perfect combination for a growing Imordial. The more Luka grew in his abilities, the more she truly believed everything she promised he’d be.

“You learn faster than I do,” she muttered. A tiny amount of pride replaced the humiliation in her chest. “Can I show you what I did figure out?” She beckoned the smog closer with a thought. “Watch this.”