Page 36 of Starfall

There was silence under the music, and then, the crowd cheered. She looked at the other two that had just generated avatars while Penrose was passed out on the ground.

She cocked her head. “I don’t make this offer lightly, but you can both take me on at the same time.”

Orla hooted with laughter.

The other two warlocks lasted longer, but that was just because Emery was showing off. Ogre blades were not common, and she wanted to make sure that the warlocks and shifters got a solid look. Her body and movements were why battle-training ogres was forbidden. She jumped, slashed, backflipped, and finally slid between them, cutting the spectres in two. They dissipated, and their warlocks dropped.

She stood up, extinguished the flames, and slid the blades along her back, letting them disappear into the space between magic and skin.

Emery walked back to Rowen’s side. “Now, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?”

He was blinking. “You have ogre fire?” His expression was impossible to understand.

“Yeah, but you know I am half ogre.” Sudden nauseating doubt assailed her. “I didn’t know it was that big a deal.”

She started to back away from him, unable to decipher what was going on in his features. This wasn’t an expression she had seen before.

She bumped into Orla standing with a grinning Winter, and she knew her eyes were wild. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

Orla tried to grab her, but Emery stepped back. She looked around, and then, her panic and insecurity about the evening snapped, and she ran. When she left the weather-controlled bubble that Winter had crafted, the icy snap surrounded her. She looked left and right then headed for the nearest cross street. She was going home.

* * * *

Rowen was still lockedin place with shock. Ogre fire. That much power with no proper training was so fucking dangerous it wasn’t even funny. She had handled it like she had been born to it, which he supposed she had.

When she had bounced up to him with a big smile and flirty look in her eyes, he had been stuck with the ramifications of her fire. She said something, and he mumbled something about her fire. He saw the flickering of pain and confusion in her eyes, and then, she bolted.

Orla looked at him. “What did you say?”

“I said something about her ogre fire. I don’t know what.” He pressed a fist into his forehead. He looked up and looked around. “Where did she go?”

Hunter sighed. “Where you can’t follow until dawn. We are locked in.”

Rowen frowned. “What?”

“She’s out of the barrier.”

Orla frowned. “I will go get her.”

Hunter looked at her. “I don’t want you to go.”

Gabi walked up with her limp exaggerated on the snow. “Where is Emery? I wanted to congratulate her. She was amazing.”

Rowen nodded. “She was. Did you know she had ogre fire?”

Gabi shrugged. “No, but I am not surprised.”

Orla muttered, “What is the big deal of ogre fire?”

Hunter touched her arm. “It means she is a ruler. It hasn’t been seen for fifteen hundred years during the last wave of the ogre attacks.”

“But there aren’t any other ogres in the area.”

“She won’t just rule ogres. Anything she wishes to acquire will fall to her charms.”

Orla paused and then looked to Rowen. “You asshole!”

He blinked. “What?”

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