Page 48 of Heiress of Fire

“The pull is coming north. Close to Basalt’s Petal store.”

Ron pointed down the passageway that would lead them to the northern part of the island. Davina turned and focused on the stone-filled pathways. They curved in different directions. She observed the chipped signs beside the pathways.

Bloomstou Rivers

Harvest Cavern

Basalt’s Petal store

Blossomhill Mountain

Davina turned to the walkway that would eventually lead them to the franchise store that was the Petal store which had become so popular throughout the islands of Bellatorm that the Leaders allowed the Basalans to build markets of the Petal store on all four islands.

Each store was assigned a certain type of flower since not all flowers would resist the heat of Auris’s core, the cold of Neptulus, or the winds of Mistral.

“Okay, let’s head on over there,” Davina said before walking down the Petal store walkway.

She wished he could understand that she was only trying to help him. Or was she just trying to avoid having to be vulnerable in front of him?

Her mask.

The first layer of her mask was having to smile when she was upset about a certain situation. The other layers consisted of setting aside her emotions, convincing herself that she was fine, or that she would deal with it later and never would. Other times, she was able to disconnect from reality, able to live inside of her mind without anyone to bother her.

But Ron was the embodiment of all the emotions she didn’t want to feel, which caused cracks in her mask that she refused to accept. In her silence, she was trying to glue the pieces of her mask back together.

He took her out of the comfort of the walls she had worked so hard to build. The walls were lifted to avoid any more heartbreak and that’s what she feared would happen between her and Ron.

She had to be stable. She had to be okay. She usually felt okay, but after seeing Ron lay over the moist soil without consciousness, she felt a piece of her had broken along with her strong mask.

“Davina!” he called.

She jumped at the rise of volume in his voice. She turned to him, only to find tender eyes staring back at her.

She looked away. If she let herself feel, even a little, she wouldn’t be able to stop and she couldn’t afford to spill all of her emotions out in front of him.

“What?” she asked harshly. She didn’t mean to.

“Why are you being like this?” Ron asked.

“Being like what?” she asked.

“You know how. What happened? It’s like I lost you right after we got out of the water.” He tried to make eye contact with her, but she turned and continued walking toward the Petal store.

The beautiful building began to appear. Ron continued to try to start a conversation with her, but she continued to dodge his questions. As they were traveling deeper into the back fields of the Petal store, she could hear him approaching her.

“Stop trying to talk about what happened,” Davina deadpanned.

Davina turned, he held a lemony daffodil between his fingers with a wide smirk over his lips. Davina rolled her eyes, biting down at her tongue to avoid smiling.

“If I give you this flower, will you talk to me?” he asked with a grin.

Why was it so difficult for her not to blush whenever he grinned at her? How can one’s grin be as contagious as his?

“What happened back there?” he asked.

Davina brainstormed for an answer as the cobblestone path came to an end and green grass covered their shins. Immediately, the scents of the hundreds of flowers filled her nostrils with a pleasant sensation. The sun glinted onto the fields of flowers as it set itself between the mountains.

“Everything is so beautiful.”

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