Chapter 62 62. Chapter
Aurora
The tension from my outburst still vibrated in the great hall. Dust from fallen plaster drifted through the air like slow falling snow. Elijah and Donovan remained on the floor for a moment, both clutching their chests as they tried to catch their breath. I did not feel sorry for them. The anger that had exploded inside me was still burning in my gut, but it was no longer sharp and clear. It was changing into something heavier and more dangerous.
Something inside me shifted.
The cool whisper of the wind, which had followed me until now, suddenly fell silent. In its place, a strange and unfamiliar sensation spread from my stomach outward. It felt as if I had swallowed molten metal.
“Aurora?” Elijah’s voice was quiet now, stripped of pride. He stood up and moved toward me carefully. “Are you all right?”
“Do not come closer,” I snapped, and even my own voice sounded strange to me. It was sharp and burning.
Then I felt it.
Under my skin, it was no longer the wind moving. Something else began to pulse in my veins. A heat that grew stronger with every second, until it became unbearable. My throat went dry, and my vision slowly took on a red tint, as if the world itself was burning.
“Donovan, look,” Elijah said, and for the first time I heard real panic in his voice.
I looked down at my hands. My skin was not only flushed. It was glowing. Tiny orange lights danced above my pores, and where my feet touched the carpet, the expensive fabric began to smoke and curl.
“The fire,” Donovan whispered as he pushed himself upright. “It is coming too fast. The wind stirred an ember inside her that she cannot control yet.”
“It is burning me,” I screamed. It felt as if I was on fire from the inside. Not like sunlight or the warm comfort of a hearth. This was hungry. Violent. A living inferno that wanted to tear its way out of my flesh.
“Aurora, listen to me,” Donovan shouted, trying to fall back on learned Hunter methods. “Focus on your center. Imagine the flames pulling back into your heart. Seal them!”
“I cannot,” I screamed, and with my voice, a massive wave of fire burst from my palm straight into the great dining table. It caught fire instantly. “It is killing me. This heat is killing me.”
Donovan tried to call water from a nearby jug, but the small sphere of water evaporated in the air before it could reach me. My aura was too hot. My brother’s power was not enough.
Then Elijah did something neither of us expected.
Ignoring Donovan’s warning shout, he stepped straight through the burning heat toward me. I saw the edge of his shirt darken, then ignite from the closeness alone, but he did not stop.
“Elijah, you will burn,” I tried to push him away, but my hands were glowing almost white.
“Then so be it,” he said simply.
In the next moment, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him.
The instant his skin touched mine, there was a sharp, painful hiss. Vampire blood, cold by nature like a crypt, met my raging fire. Elijah did not let go. He held me tightly, pressed his head into my neck, and I felt his icy aura, that ancient and dark Ruler energy, begin to seep into my pores.
It felt like ice water poured over lava.
My body started to shake violently. The flames dancing at my fingertips slowly pulled back. The red haze in my vision began to clear. Elijah was cooling me, not with spells, but with his very being, with his blood and presence, which now acted like a lifeline through our bond.
“Stay with me,” he whispered against my skin, and I smelled burned flesh. My fire was hurting him, but he endured it. “Do not focus on the flames. Focus on the cold in me. Hold on to me.”
We stood like that for long minutes beside the burning table, while the House itself responded. Moisture seeped from the walls, extinguishing the flames on its own. Slowly, the glow of my skin faded. The heat no longer tried to destroy me. Only a dull, heavy pulse remained in my chest.
When Elijah finally released me and stepped back, I saw the damage. His hands and chest were badly burned. Blisters had formed where he had touched me.
“Elijah,” I whispered and reached for him, then pulled my hand back in fear that I might hurt him again.
Donovan stood nearby, his expression dark and conflicted. I saw defeat in his eyes. He was my brother, my own blood, and he could do nothing. This stranger, this vampire, had offered his body without hesitation to save me.
“This cannot continue like this,” Donovan said at last. His voice was no longer angry, only deadly serious. “The fire will return, Aurora. And the stronger you become, the more destructive it will be.”
“Then teach me to control it,” I said, looking at Elijah, whose wounds had already begun their slow and painful regeneration. “But not like the Hunters do. Teach me the way you control the darkness.”
Elijah smiled faintly, though pain was clear on his face. “I will teach you. But Donovan is right about one thing. Fire is not just an element. Fire is your passion. And until you are at peace with what you feel for me, and with who you are, the flames will always try to consume you.”
I looked at the two men. My brother, who represented my past, and the Ruler, who represented my future, no matter how short or bloody that future might be.
“Then I think it is time we are honest with each other,” I said.
In my palm, I lit a small flame. This time, it did not rage. It obeyed.
“All of us.”