Page 22 of Hellfire

“I’m worried about you, Blaze.” Her soft voice drove an icy blade through my heart. “We all are.”

I didn’t need my sacred flame to read that in her and my brother’s faces.

I drove my gaze back to the empty iron bowl. “I know, sweetness.”

She braced my face in her palms and shifted my attention back to her. “Tell me what I can do.”

“There’s nothing you can do unless you can nix the curse on my forearm and restore my powers.” I stroked her spine, dreading voicing the part about my monster.

The shame must have been written on my face, and her jaw worked with what she was about to say. “The headmaster said you’re going to see Gable to ask about my mind map. Do you want me to come with you? Be your calm, the way you were mine when the class left the Academy to find the Veil rift?” She cupped my cheek.

Vivid memory returned of me directing wind to caress her cheek, designed to alleviate her fear over Camus trying to kidnap her. She carried the power destined for me, but I doubted it would have the same effect on me.

This time I clasped her face, my fingers stretching over and behind her ears. “You don’t understand what you ask of me. The magick within the Academy staves off the darkness. Leaving will change me into Camus’ slave.”

Her eyes moistened. “We’ll get Gable here then.”

I let out a long breath, the anxiety that had spiked lowering a degree. “If you can, I’d prefer that.”

She brought our foreheads together, her nose nuzzling mine, the only thing stopping me from breaking. “How about after class tomorrow?”

I nodded, my nose nudging her cheek. “Please.”

Her hand skimmed over my cheek, the motion diminishing my mounting unease. “Enough about that. What have you been up to this last week?”

“Research for Talon, mostly.” Moping and avoiding my friends, terrified I’d infect them. Zoning out like a zombie. Trying to hold on when my world crumbled around me.

“Find anything?” Her fingers curled around my nape, injecting my numb body with heat that waged war with the emptiness.

“Yeah, we found a promising lead.” I lifted her other arm over my shoulder, needing her body on mine. “Stay tuned for tomorrow.”

“Really?” Her cheeks lifted into a smile, and I kissed their fading sex rosiness, hoping to imprint the color there forever. “I’m looking forward to my first day back.”

I turned her question back on her, wanting to know about her last week. “What have you been up to, sweetness?”

We talked about her recompense for tearing a hole in the Veil, and my mood lifted, the numbness receding, giving me hope that I wasn’t all lost.

By the time the light’s out bell sounded, she climbed off my lap and stretched her leg to reclaim her circulation.

Before she left, I caught her hand. “Will you stay tonight, sweetness?” I didn’t want to be alone in the cold darkness.

“Sure. Let me just get my things and I’ll be back.” She moved to the door, clutching the handle. “Back in a minute.”

The darkness threatening to engulf me hissed and reared back as if responding to my bonded’s light. Energy she absorbed from the djinn world that was intended for me. A potential solution for my problem scratched at the back of my mind.

CHAPTER 9 - LUNA

Monday morning assembly. Boring as hell lectures on school policy and reminders not to do stupid things like get stoned and slip into the cafeteria for midnight pancakes, then leave the stove on, and the kitchen catches fire.

Except, the start of the semester led with a change in leadership, and Kymbal, the asshole who suspended Blaze, stood at the headmaster’s podium, making Venellan sit with the rest of the staff, publicly humiliating him. I ground my teeth. This guy was a dick with a capital D, for suspending Blaze and ousting Venellan, as well as dressing us down for the first ten minutes like we were stupid.

“I bear bad tidings.” Kymbal smiled like a damn rat, all long teeth and a pointy, wrinkled snout. “One of our own has sadly not returned to us this semester.”

Fifty pairs of eyes swept across the auditorium, searching for the missing student. I knew exactly who she was. Queen Mean Girl. The traitorous infiltrator. The bitch who had the nerve to call me a snake when she was one. Rot in hell for scarring my bonded physically and mentally.

“Nelle Hargrove sadly passed away in a car accident during her winter break.” Kymbal feigned about as much sympathy as awolf did over killing a rabbit. “We’re hosting a memorial for her this Wednesday for students who wish to pay their respects.”

Half the students huffed a “Yeah, right, we’d rather swallow fire than attend,” me included.

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