Page 26 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

Two moons passed, and shaking hands filled with embers had been enough to grab Garrik’s attention outside of the training arena.

She had been overwhelmed, confused, and struggling to control the raging fire inside herself.

Alora knew Garrik had powers of his own that had never been documented in the histories. And because of the similarity to his magic, they had realized quickly it ultimately would depend on trial and error—like Garrik. Even he didn’t know of the capacity of his powers, though he still pushed them to their limits. But acknowledging all of that hadn’t helped soothe her.

That simple fact hadn’t snuffed out her embers as she had stared at her hands. Not until the icy chill of Smokeshadows had tendriled around her fingers and danced with her flames.

The stars in the blaze had tangled with the darkness like a night sky when he’d softly spoken and consoled her. Calming her. Promising he would help her discover what she could do.

They would do this together.

The starfire. The darkness. Fourtress. Soulstryker. Blood.

All of it.Together.

Stairs.Of course it had to be stairs.

One long crumbling staircase stood between them and the entrance to Fourtress. The steps so high and so many they couldn’t see where they ended. But Alora’s boots wouldn’t move another inch. Ten more steps across the loose stones and she would need to make a choice.

Out ofeverything,the one thing that left her in a chokehold, frozen to the dirt, was … stairs.

Not a horrific monster dripping with vile poison, not a wolf that could change its size—or even a dragon.

Stairs.

How incredibly pathetic.A dark voice snickered.

Terror gripped her for a moment, fighting off a traitorous quiver as Kaine’s voice rocked through her every nerve. She willed her eyes to move. To search for him. Desperately hoping her mind was only playing tricks because she had left him with his head smashed inside the Dawnspace, hoping to never be haunted by him again.

Sapphires ruthlessly scanned, looking across every cracked stone, every surface, every blade of dried grass. When her eyes dared to roam up each daunting step, a vicious shudder ripped down her spine.

Ebony hair. Mahogany eyes.

Kaine’s illusion stood twenty steps high. Waiting. Fists balled and smiling wickedly.

Once, terror had gripped every bone and lit her nerves aflame, now it only sent a short-lived shock across her body. Her neck straightened, imagining an iron rod through her spine as she lifted her head like a queen regarding her court.

Alora’s eyes narrowed, embers warning to burst inside them, and she gritted her teeth with strength that threatened to crack them.

She would not be afraid. Never again.

Stay the hell out of my head.

His wicked voice snickered again.

Alora’s fists balled. Embers sparked inside of them.

But an icy hand palmed her shoulder, causing her to release the tension building, extinguishing a forest fire boiling to be unleashed. Dampening the urge to burn the entire mountain down and make good on her threat in the Dawnspace.

She looked at Garrik with fire-filled eyes for strength and immediately felt the gentle caress inside her mind when she looked to Kaine.

Garrik’s eyes darkened, pivoting from her to the hewn stairs and scanning each step as his glowing silver slowly cascaded into darkened night. He focused on the step where her enemy stood with a bloodlust she hadn’t often seen and said, “He is not here, Alora. He cannot hurt you.” Garrik turned to her and blocked her view.

“I know,” she whispered, meaning it, as Aiden and Thalon’s voices traveled closer. They would be there any moment. They would see her hesitating. See her momentarily frozen at a starsdamned illusion that she had promised herself she’d never let control her again.

A warm tear dripped down her cheek. Not from fear. Not from embarrassment or stubbornness, but frustration. She should be over this by now. Should have moved on. Why wouldn’t he just stay away?

Progress is not linear,Garrik reminded her, taking a step down to draw closer to her. His hand brushed up his abdomen, and she took in a steady breath at his personal reminder.

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