Page 109 of A Dance With Fire
His calloused fingers slid up a fraction and gripped her jaw. It took only a second to register just how close his mouth was to hers, and when he spoke, his breath fanned across her lips. “You’re right, Fire Dancer.” It sounded like he was pulling the words from some dark place inside him. “Iamafraid. I am afraidfor you. Because I see your potential; I see how great you can be, and I see you lock it up tightly behind your fear. Don’t let your fear rule you, because I believe you can begreat.”
Fuck, if those words didn’t reach into her heart and squeeze. She believed him. The truth was in the cadence of his tone, and she wanted to believe in herself as much as he seemed to believe in her.
“The truth is, I have lost too many Fae. That’s why I save them.” He paused, and she swore she felt the brush of his lips against her own because they were so close. “Believe it or not, I don’t want to lose you, too.”
Her breath caught in her throat. It was the raw and primal truth. A small, vulnerable part of himself that he shared. It wasn’t a confession; it wasn’t his story, but it was something. A piece of himself. So she would give him a piece of her, too.
“I’m afraid of the humans,” she confessed. “I’m afraid they’llhurtme. And if I use my magic, then no one will truly love me.”
His grip eased, and slowly his fingers trailed down the skin at the open neck of her jacket. His gaze softened, and it was like hesaw her.Like he understood.
Maybe he did.
Maybe… maybe he was the only one.
“No one can hurt you, Shula. I won’t let them. And with enough training,youwon’t let them either.”
And Shula believed him.
One by one, his fingers extricated from Shula’s neck, and he took a step back. “Summon the flames,” he whispered.
Shula did.
And the flames responded in kind, appearing between her fingers, flickering and dancing.
“Direct them. Make them do what you want.”
Shula followed Ryker’s soft-spoken instructions, confidence surging through her body as she let the flames dance against her palms. She started small, molding them into figures; butterflies, fluttering pixies, a kitten…
She pushed the fire kitten out, and it prowled towards Ryker before bursting into sparks and falling into ash at his feet.
“Now draw it back into yourself.”
Like he was the one commanding it, the flames listened, shooting back inside her body where they settled with the discreet taste of smoke in her lungs.
She exhaled smoke, and a smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. “I did it.” The words were whispered. She looked up at Ryker. “I did it!”
And then Ryker surprised her.
He smiled.
* * *
“Where have you two been?”Clay demanded the moment Shula and Ryker stepped foot back into camp. It had been an hour since the sun had risen, and they’d spent every minute of it coaxing Shula’s magic out, molding it, controlling it in small quantities.
There hadn’t been a single accident.
Ryker had expected to atleastput out a raging fire or two with the water from Lake Degara’s streams.
After she’d confessed her fears, he’d felt fragments of her troubled mind start to mend, like bits of broken steel meld together once more. It wasn’t much; it was the smallest of pieces, and yet it was progress just the same.
“Training,” Ryker answered, though the word came out more a growl than anything else. Whatever. It didn’t matter. He stormed over to his bag and hauled it over his shoulder. He didn’t need to turn to know Shula’s smile followed his every move.
He fought not to tense up at the attention he didn’t want. While they’d made progress, a part of him felt… strange… There was no other word for it, because of what he’d given her. A bit of his own fragmented pieces. As if she could take them in her delicate hands and fit them onto her own broken bits. He’d given them up like an offering and didn’t even know why.
It didn’t matter, anyway. It wasn’t anything that the others didn’t know. He could pretend all he wanted, but they all knew exactly why he protected others so much. And while they were words he hadn’t said to Shula, not completely, he still meant them.
He was saving everyone else because he hadn’t been able to save Mairin.
