Page 125 of Heiress of Fire

“What do you mean?”

She could see his heart breaking into pieces when she looked into his eyes.

“Truthfully, Isaiah, I don’t love you in the same way that you love me. I care for you, truly…” Davina stopped. It pained her that she was hurting him.

But then she felt his grip around her fingers grow tighter. “You’re hurting me.”

“What do you mean you don’t want to marry me?”

“I’m sorry, Isaiah, but I can’t. You’ve said some things. You’ve done things that I think are… like right now. Let go of me!” she exclaimed.

He didn’t let go.

Davina pulled at her hand, trying to escape from his grip.

He was fuming with rage. She called onto her fire and let it reveal through her fingertips. Her purple flames set his skin ablaze, and Isaiah pushed her away from him. “You wench. You burned me!”

“You wouldn’t let me go!” she yelled.

She took a few steps back as his gaze darkened. The small glimpses she had of his aggressiveness before, manifested in this entirely distinct version of himself as he cracked his neck.

Confusion struck her.

A breeze continued to flow through her hair. The autumn air grew thick, and Isaiah’s eyes scanned her completely. No gleam in his eyes and no goodness in his smile.

“Isaiah, are you okay?” Davina asked, walking backward, away from him.

“Why couldn’t you just forget about him?” he cried.

So, he did know.

“Why couldn’t you just love me the way you love him?”

He had been standing under the willow tree, but in the blink of an eye, he stood right before her. His hand snapped to her neck, crushing her throat. Davina gasped as she clawed at his hand, in hopes of forcing him to let her go.

“And if I can’t have you, then no one can.”

Where did he get these abilities?

Stay calm. Surprise him.

A sweet voice spoke to her. She obeyed. She fought against her thundering heart and made it slow. Her fire waiting to be permitted to escape from under her skin, but she remained calm, no matter how much her mind was raging with flames. She wouldn’t explode just yet.

Isaiah began to lift them into the air, clouds puffed around his legs, the grip around her throat growing tighter as her feet lifted from the grass. Davina grabbed a hold of his arm as he continued to glare at her with pure disdain.

“I wish I didn’t have to do this,” he whispered. It seemed as if there was almost regret passing through his eyes. “What was it, huh? His looks? His power? Or did he bed you? Just like all the other trollops of Bellatorm.”

A deep darkness surrounded his clouds. His air currents used to be a soft gray but now they were inky black. Her heart broke. She turned to look into the emptiness of his glare.

What did you do, Isaiah?

Based on the reaction to her rejection, she hoped it hadn’t been her fault that he made such a drastic choice. An unwise one at that.

Isaiah lifted her before throwing her into the grass of Somerlane with an unspeakable strength. Pieces of mud flew into the air as Davina collided with the wetland, her uniform now covered in brown soil. The air escaped her lungs as she felt her back crash into the earth.

Something inside of her brain clicked.

Now.

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