Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
“Yes, but Micah—”
“He’s skipping breakfast. He’s meeting us after.”
“Oh. Okay. We, ah—”
“Had a fight.”
“Yes. We had a fight.”
“The best makeup sex comes after fights.”
My eyes go wide. “Oh, no. We’re not—”
“Maybe that’s the problem.” She smiles and stands, offering me her hand. “Come on. Let’s eat and make some fire, baby.”
I laugh, but it’s a choked sound that vibrates right where my heart aches over Micah, which I don’t fully understand. We’re not committed to one another. I’m the last person he should even consider being with. I want to reach out to him, but I don’t even know what to say. Instead, I eat a delicious breakfast of crepes with evos and chocolate, paired with friendly conversation.
“What’s the deal with you and Silas?” I ask. “I sense a little spark.”
She snorts, a delicate little sound, and waves that off. “Oh, please. I can barely take his arrogance. There is nothing between us.”
“Then who is the great makeup sex with?”
“I’ve been around a long time,” she says. “I’ve had a few good men, but the best was a human. They love with such passion. They know they have limited years and every moment counts. Or the smart ones do, but I’m never going down that path again. They age. We age slower. We can’t expose our kind to them.”
“Where is he now?”
“Gone. He’s gone.” Her voice cracks slightly. “We should get to work. I know Micah plans to take you out to the forest mid-morning.”
Micah is still coming for me, I think, and there’s a silly little leap in my chest. “Let’s do it,” I say.
A few minutes later, we stand in the same spot we were in the night before, a cauldron of water between us. Gabriella sits and motions for me to do the same. “Don’t we need a shelter around us?” I ask, joining her.
“You’re not even close to making fire.”
“I made the ocean boil. I don’t know how, but I did. Micah thinks it was the red moon.”
“That makes sense. Those nights are strange nights here in Elysium. I think we’re fine. I’ve handled some pretty big fires.” She offers me a crystal blue jewel. “Hold this in your hand and say your spell.”
“It’s beautiful. What is it?”
“It’s from the caverns of Aramis in the kingdom. They’re known for their ability to enhance magic and thus sheltered by the kingdom.”
“How do you have one?”
“The night Micah found me on the streets, I killed a demon using it for no good. He told me I earned it, so I kept it. Let’s just see what it does for you. Close your hand and say your spell.”
I pant out a breath and do as she suggests, and for a good ten tries, nothing happens. I’m discouraged. “The stone is a dud, and so am I.”
“Try thinking about the fight you had with Micah last night and all the emotions you felt. The same ones I can sense you’re battling now.”
“Maybe you should put that wall up.”
She laughs. “You underestimate me. Try.”
I close my eyes, and I’m back at my bedroom door with his hands on my face. Damn it, Ember, he’d whispered. It has to be this way. He meant we can’t be more. We’re distracting each other. That’s why he’s not here this morning. He wants this, us, to be all business, and it feels—bad. Just bad. I feel cut and bleeding, and—magic surges through me, and I open my eyes to find the water boiling.
Gabriella is clapping and grinning, but my attention is locked on Micah where he stands behind her, staring at me, his gaze piercing, but he shows no reaction. Following my gaze, Gabriella glances over her shoulder at Micah and then back to me. “Try again. Try for fire.”
“How can I turn water to fire from boiling water?”
“The same way I turn air into water. I pull from sources within the air.”
“There is no fire in the air.”
“But there is water nearby. Use the water and make fire.”
An hour later, I collapse on my back on the ground with utter exhaustion and frustration. I made fire, but the kind of flame that lights a match, not kills a demon. Gabriella kneels beside me. “You had a good day. I’ll meet you here at the same time tomorrow.” She squeezes my hand and disappears.
I sit up to find Micah standing in the same spot he has been for an hour. He says nothing, but his disapproval of my performance, and mine too, for that matter, hums in the air. I push to my feet, shoving aside my weariness, rejecting my failure. “To the forest?”
All he says is, “To the forest.”
I kill a swarm of some kind of giant bugs by boiling them.
I’m pretty darn proud of myself, and even Micah appears pleased with my success, though all he says is, “Next.”