Page 13 of Tempest Blazing
My own magic roared to life in response—all four elements surging beneath my skin like caged lightning. Fire traced along my veins, water gathered in the air around us, earth trembled in the walls, and wind whipped through the confined space. The temperature spiked, then plummeted, then spiked again as my control wavered.
But I held his gaze. Let him see exactly what he'd awakened.
"Better," Silvius said softly, lowering his hand. No remorse in his voice. No anger either. Just cold satisfaction. "There's the son I raised."
The burn under my jaw throbbed in time with my heartbeat. I could feel the mark he'd left—precise, calculated, hidden just beneath the line of my collar where others wouldn't see. Not rage. Not even punishment, really.
Discipline.
"You will end whatever foolishness you've begun with the human," he continued, smoothing down his robes as if nothing had happened. "You will maintain appropriate distance. Professional courtesy, nothing more."
I said nothing. Couldn't trust my voice not to crack with the fury building in my chest.
"And if I hear even a whisper of impropriety—if I see you looking at her with anything resembling the devotion I witnessed today—there will be consequences." His smile was winter-sharp. "Not just for you, Kane. For her."
The threat hung in the air between us, crystal clear. My magic pulsed harder, demanding release, demanding retribution. The very air in the room felt combustible.
"Do I make myself clear?"
I forced my jaw to work, each word careful and controlled. "Perfectly."
"Good." Silvius returned to his desk, already dismissing me. "The trials begin in two weeks. See that you remember your place."
I turned and walked toward the door, every step measured. Professional. The perfect son doing as he was told.
"Kane."
I paused with my hand on the doorframe but didn't turn around.
"If you continue down this path," Silvius said quietly, "you won't just lose your standing in the Guild. You'll lose everything. Your title, your inheritance, your future." A pause. "Your family."
I already have,I thought, but kept the words locked behind my teeth.
I stepped into the corridor and let the door close behind me with a soft click. Only then did I allow my hands to curl into fists, knuckles white with the force of it. The burn on my jaw pulsed, a reminder of exactly how much control he still held.
How much he was willing to use.
My magic churned beneath my skin, all four elements demanding an outlet. Fire wanted to burn something. Water wanted to freeze, to shatter. Earth wanted to crack foundations, and air wanted to tear through the Guild's pristine halls like a hurricane.
I wanted to go back in there and show him exactly what his "pure" bloodline was capable of.
Instead, I walked. Down the corridor, past startled students who took one look at my face and scattered, past instructors who suddenly found their scrolls fascinating. I walked until I reached my private training grounds, until I could feel open sky above me and solid earth beneath my feet.
Only then did I let a fraction of my magic loose—fire erupting from my palms in a controlled burst that left scorch marks on the practice targets. Not enough. Not nearly enough.
The need to hit something, to break something, to unleash the full force of what I was boiled just beneath my skin. But even here, even alone, I held back.
Because that's what he'd taught me. Control. Restraint. The careful management of power.
Even when it was killing me from the inside out.
???
I channeled everything into the training dummies.
Fire and earth first—molten rock that should have been impossible to sustain, but my magic was running too hot to care about the laws of elemental physics. The practice targets exploded in showers of superheated stone and ash. Wasn't enough.
Water and air next—ice shards propelled by hurricane-force winds that shredded what remained of the wooden posts. Wood splintered across the empty training grounds, but the sound barely cut through the roar in my head.
