ANNORA
Jasce takesa deep breath and closes his eyes, centering himself. When they open again, they blaze like twin suns. He lifts one hand and fire ignites in his palm. It starts small, then it grows, swelling to engulf his hand.
The flames dance harmlessly over his skin as he shapes them into an orb. With a flick of his wrist, he sends the fiery orb sailing through the air. It bobs and weaves with precise control, leaving a trail of embers in its wake.
Jasce motions again and the orb explodes in a shower of embers. From the sparks, a flock of small, fiery birds manifests. They take flight in a hypnotic aerial dance. I gasp as one brushes past me, close enough that I should feel the heat of its wings, but there is only a pleasant warmth.
Jasce lifts his hand again, drawing my gaze back to him. His eyes smolder like banked coals as a rope of fire coils from his palm. It writhes through the air like a living thing, winding itself into shapes both fanciful and fearsome—now a horse galloping with its fiery mane flying, then a dragon exhaling plumes of smoke.
Flame ignites in both of Jasce’s palms, rapidly swelling into a roaring blaze that bathes his hands in shimmering orange light. With a fierce roar, Jasce hurls twin fireballs through the air. They detonate against the distant cliff in bursts of blinding light and searing heat, sending shards of rock flying outward.
Before the acrid smoke can clear, he is already moving again, his hands carving graceful arcs of fire. He spins with the smooth footwork of a warrior, flames trailing from his outstretched fingertips like the elegant tail of a Phoenix. The fire lights up his intense expression and reflects in his dark, focused eyes. His movements flow from one to the next, flames swirling around him in a hypnotizing display of power and skill.
Every step and turn summons more flames, until it seems the very air might ignite. Waves of fire roll outward, consuming everything in their path. Jasce stands at the eye of the blaze, hands raised to the sky as flames dance at his command.
Finally, he lowers his arms, and the fire responds immediately by retreating back to him. With a deafening roar, he thrusts his hands upward and releases it all in a tremendous fireball that explodes high above us.
As the desert smolders around us, he stands tall and imposing, every inch the master of flame. The heat ripples the air, distorting his silhouette, as if the very elements bend to his will.
Something compels me to his side, a force as fierce and inexplicable as the inferno he just unleashed. Before he can react, I grab his face, the skin hot beneath my palms, and bring his mouth to mine.
I kiss him with all the emotions surging through me—awe at his raw power, relief that he’s unharmed, and a desire that burns brighter than any flame he could conjure.
In this moment, with the desert still smoldering around us and glowing embers drifting down like stars, nothing else matters but the scorching press of his lips against mine.
ChapterTwenty-Five
JASCE
Annora.
Her name is engrained in my every thought as I help her mount Vesper. I climb on behind her, my arms encircling her slender waist as we begin our journey to the stables.
As I guide us back, my mind replays the way she kissed me. There was something primal in her eyes right before our lips met. Something fierce. Something that speaks to the fiery side of me, the side that conjures magic and unleashes it on my enemies with ruthless precision.
I knew she was different the moment I discovered she wasn’t Lyra. I felt that difference in the very marrow of my bones. Felt the heat of it simmering beneath her skin. The truth of it shining in her eyes like the first light of dawn.
And now, I am seeing first hand the proof of that difference, witnessing the power that lies dormant within her. She doesn’t know how to control either one of her magics yet, but I feel the way they smolder inside her, like lava meeting the cool brush of silvery light in a cataclysmic collision.
Lava makes ash. Ash destroys.
With power like hers, nobody will ever stand in our way again. If we want peace, we shall have peace. If we want to march against our enemies, we will be victorious.
ChapterTwenty-Six
ANNORA
The powerbehind Jasce’s fire magic lingers in my mind, burning through the fog of my thoughts like a torch in the dark. I can’t shake the image of flames dancing at his command. His control over them is absolute, and it stirs something within me, a mixture of awe and a yearning to understand my abilities just as deeply.
When I return to his bedchamber, and he leaves to speak to Jude, I retreat to the corner where my belongings rest. I grab my leather satchel and pull it open. The book Emerin gave me about silver magic lies atop a jumble of sketching charcoal and spare parchment.
I extract it with care, then I sink onto the bed and thumb through the pages. Diagrams and runes are etched with meticulous precision alongside dense blocks of text.
I search for any mention of Aigis Siphoning, my eyes darting across the pages. There’s so much about silver magic that seems familiar now—the healing flames, the portals, but nothing about this rare ability that is supposedly mine.
A soft sigh escapes me as frustration knots in my chest. The book seems to mock me with its silence on Aigis Siphoning, creating a void where there should be clarity.
It feels like I’m at the edge of a vast sea with no vessel to navigate it. I need to understand this part of myself.
