Page 14 of Tempest Blazing
You will end whatever foolishness you've begun with the human.
Another dummy. This time all four elements at once—a combination that should have torn me apart from the inside. Fire melted the metal framework while water froze the remains solid, earth cracked the foundation, and air scattered the debris like confetti. Magic crackled along my forearms in chaotic patterns, my hands shaking from the strain.
Still not enough.
Because I could still feel the burn on my jaw. Could still hear the casual threat in Silvius's voice.Not just for you, Kane. For her.
Her.
Right. Like I'd been trying not to think about her. Like every rational thought I'd had for the past week hadn't circled back to those golden-brown eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses. To the way she'd looked at me in the library like she could see straight through every wall I'd built.
"You're not as untouchable as you pretend to be."
The memory punched harder than my father's hand. Tess, standing in that narrow aisle between the ancient texts, close enough that I'd caught the scent of cinnamon and something uniquely her. Her chin tilted up when I'd tried to intimidate her, daring me to do my worst.
The way she'dseenme.
I conjured another training dummy from the scattered materials—earth magic pulling stone and metal back together, air magic lifting it into position. Made this one stronger. Reinforced it with layers of elemental protection that should have withstood anything short of a dragon's flame.
Then I destroyed it with my bare hands.
Magic poured through me in desperate waves—not the controlled, precise applications I'd been trained to use, but something raw and hungry. Fire traced along my knuckles as I drove my fist through reinforced stone. Water followed, flash-freezing the cracks before earth magic shattered the whole thing apart. The dummy exploded outward in a spray of ice and rock that would have killed anyone standing within twenty feet.
"What are you so afraid of?"
Her voice again. That moment in the corridor when she'd stepped too close, when I'd felt the pull of something I couldn't name and couldn't control. The way her magic had responded to mine—gold and purple light dancing with my elemental chaos like they belonged together.
Like we were meant to—
No.
I slammed my palm against the nearest wall, letting fire magic sear through stone until my handprint was burned six inches deep. The pain in my jaw throbbed against the fresh burns on my palm, but it wasn't enough to quiet the war in my head.
Because this wasn't just about Silvius's threats. Wasn't even about the Guild's prejudices or the careful political balance I'd spent my entire life maintaining.
This was about the fact that when he'd threatened her, every instinct I possessed had screamed for blood.
Mine. His. Anyone who dared to look at her wrong.
The realization should have terrified me. Should have sent me running back to the safe distance I'd maintained from everyone and everything that mattered.
Instead, it just made me want to burn the whole Guild to the ground.
I was reaching for another training dummy when a shadow passed overhead—too large to be natural, too fluid to be anything but deliberate.
"Well," came a familiar voice from above. "That was impressively destructive."
I looked up to find Lorcan perched on the observation platform, black wings folded against his back. In his humanoid form, he looked like any other Guild member—tall, lean, sharp-featured. But the intelligence in those dark eyes was anything but ordinary.
"How long have you been watching?" I didn't bother hiding the destruction around me.
"Long enough to see you turn three training dummies into modern art." He dropped down from the platform with predatory grace, landing silently on the scorched earth. "Long enough to realize that whatever happened in daddy's office didn't go well."
I didn't ask how he knew where I'd been. Lorcan made it his business to know everything that happened in the Guild—especially when it involved his most reliable clients.
"What do you want?" I said instead.
"To deliver what you paid for." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded piece of parchment, edges singed like it had been carried through fire. "Though I have to say, the timing is... interesting."
