Page 154 of Gift from the Stone

“No. It was a slower process. It’d take a few seconds to burn through the layers, never just straight through,” I admit.

“Well, let’s see yours, Will. I’m sure it’s about to do the same thing,” Tillman instructs.

Her element is like mine where it’s red when she doesn’t call forth her dragon, but when she does, those purple flames flare brighter than the stone around her neck.

I fucking hate thinking back to that day, but when she lit that asshole up who threw the dagger, her flames consumed him in seconds. He was ash before Lyker even lowered her body to the ground.

Shaking off the memory, I give her a little nudge to get her going since she’s just staring at the thing like she’s afraid to hurt it.

“Just put your hand on the chest part, sweetness. It’s a manikin and a uniform, you won’t hurt anything of value.”

“All right, fine, but if something else catches on fire, it’s not my fault,” she sasses, making us chuckle.

Tentatively, she lays her hand on the manikin’s chest and takes a deep breath. On her exhale, purple flames cover her fingertips and the entire uniform and manikin incinerate, leaving a small fire in the grass, burning at her feet.

“Shit, shit,” she shrieks, frantically calling her flames back to her.

“Fuck,” I murmur in awe. She’s amazing.

“Damn, Will, what did that poor thing do to you?” Tillman teases, earning himself a snarky little side-eye.

“I just thought about burning through the uniform. I didn’t think the whole thing would burn to ash,” she says, throwing her hands up.

“We might need to work on the power you’re putting behind it, sweetness. Even though, if you’re in a situation where you’re using your dragon’s fire rather than your element, it needs to be with the intent to hurt something or someone. But I can teach you how to pull it back,” I reassure her.

I never use my dragon’s fire unless we’re on a mission and in the middle of a brawl. My element is powerful enough to use in that pointless-ass class they still have me in and any other situation. But when we’re fighting Mastery bitches, yeah, they get the dragon’s flames.

So if she’s going to use her dragon, I’d rather she burn shit to a crisp to be on the safe side, but learning how to control it better is always a helpful skill.

Plus, this gives me an excuse to teach her something and be all up on her.

As I talk her through how to pull back some of the power she’s putting behind her fire, Tillman sets off, making a slew of those weird-looking things. In all, he makes twenty. We won’t waste any uniforms because we know she can burn through them now, quite easily.

After setting them all in a line, spread across the back lawn, we start at the end and make our way down.

The first three burst right into flames, turning to nothing but ash on the wind at her command. I earn myself a stern, unappreciative look for my chuckling, but I can’t help how fucking cute she looks when she’s mad, stomping her feet.

“Fuck. Walk me through it again, please.” She pouts, crossing her arms and turning to me.

I pivot her body back toward the manikin and uncross her arms for her. A low growl bubbles up in my throat when she starts squirming against me where my front is plastered to her back.

Fuck, it’s hard to teach her when she’s such a distraction.

“Stop that. Listen,” I growl in her ear.

I’d love nothing more than for her to continue doing just that, but I’m trying to be helpful and teach. And I can’t do that with a hard dick and horny thoughts. Her body suppresses a shiver that wants to escape, and I smirk behind her head, satisfied that I affect her as much as she affects me.

“We already know you can burn through it, so shift your intention from burning the whole thing to burning a spot. Focus on the chest and picture burning a hole straight through the heart,” I instruct.

I stay pressed to her back as she raises her hand and nods.

At her command, her flames shoot from her palm, leaving a massive hole through the entirety of the chest and stomach area of the manikin. It splits in half, falling to pieces, but not burning to ash.

“Better, sweetness,” I praise, moving us to the next.

For the remainder of the afternoon, we slowly make our way through the line of manikins. Her control improving with every try. By the time we reach the final manikin, I can point to a spot, and she can sear a hole through them as small or as large as I tell her to make it.

She’s a fucking badass.

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