Page 69 of Tempest Blazing
I nearly choked on my bite of pie. "Are we actually having a normal conversation about our abilities? Because I'm pretty sure this violates some kind of unspoken rule we've established."
His smile was wry. "Maybe I'm feeling rebellious tonight."
The admission sent warmth spiraling through my chest. "Well, in that case..." I considered the question seriously. "Honestly? Everything changed when I bonded with Thalon. Before that, I was just... ordinary. But after..." I trailed off, remembering that moment of connection, the way power had flooded through me like lightning finding its path. "It was like waking up to find I'd been sleepwalking my entire life."
Kane nodded slowly. "I remember the first time I held fire in my palm," he said quietly. "I was seven. My tutor was trying to teach me basic elemental theory, and I got frustrated because nothing was working. Then suddenly..." He paused, glancing around the empty hall as if checking for eavesdroppers. "Want to see?"
My heart skipped. "Here?"
"It's just us." His voice was softer now, almost intimate in the shadowed space. "And it's not dangerous. I have control."
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
Kane held out his right hand, palm up, and closed his eyes. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, a small flame flickered to life in the center of his palm. But this wasn't ordinary fire—it danced with shades of blue and silver, casting ethereal light across his features.
"It's beautiful," I whispered.
"Your turn," he said, the flame still dancing in his palm.
I hesitated. My magic was newer, less predictable. But something about the quiet intimacy of the moment, the way Kane was looking at me with genuine curiosity rather than skepticism, made me want to try.
I held out my own hand, focusing on the familiar warmth that lived beneath my ribs. The shadow fire came easier now than it had those first few times—a writhing flame of deep purple and gold that seemed to absorb light rather than cast it.
Kane's breath caught. "Extraordinary."
Our hands were close now, the flames almost touching. I could feel something building between us, a pull that had nothing to do with gravity and everything to do with the magic humming in the air.
"What happens if they..." I started to ask, but the words died as our palms moved closer together.
The moment our flames touched, everything changed.
Power surged through me like lightning, but not painful—electric and warm and completely overwhelming. I could feel Kane's magic mixing with mine, his controlled precision blending with my wild intuition until I couldn't tell where hispower ended and mine began. The sensation traveled through every nerve ending, setting my skin ablaze.
Kane's sharp intake of breath told me he felt it too—this impossible connection, this merging that shouldn't have been possible between two such different magical signatures.
We stumbled toward each other, the flames in our palms flickering out as his free hand found my waist, steadying me. Or maybe I was steadying him. The magic still crackled between us, invisible now but no less potent.
"Tess," he breathed, my name rough on his lips.
I looked up to find his face inches from mine, those blue-violet eyes dark with something that made my pulse race. The careful distance he always maintained had vanished completely, leaving only heat and want and the electric aftermath of merged magic.
I couldn't say who moved first. Maybe we both did. But suddenly his mouth was on mine, and the kiss was nothing like the careful, controlled Kane I thought I knew.
This was hungry, desperate, like he'd been holding back for far longer than the few days we'd known each other. His hand slid from my waist to the small of my back, pulling me closer as I fisted my hands in his rumpled shirt.
When his tongue traced my lower lip, I opened for him without hesitation, and the soft sound he made in response sent heat pooling low in my belly. Magic sparked between us again, weaker now but still present, still binding us together in ways I didn't fully understand.
His other hand came up to cup my face, thumb brushing across my cheekbone as he kissed me deeper, more thoroughly. I could feel the tremor in his fingers, the careful restraint he was fighting to maintain even now.
Time seemed suspended. The world narrowed to the warmth of his mouth, the solid strength of his body against mine, the way he kissed me like I was something precious and dangerous all at once.
But gradually—too gradually—he began to pull back. The kiss gentled, became almost reverent, before he finally broke away completely. We stood there breathing hard, his forehead resting against mine, hands still tangled in each other's clothes.
"I don't want to stop," he said quietly, voice rough with barely contained want. "But I can't do this."
"Kane—"
"Not right now," he continued, and there was something in his tone that suggested maybe not ever, though he didn't say it aloud. "I can't... this isn't..."
