Chapter 42 First things first
BRYNNE
Kade’s brow shoots up. “Where the fck am I supposed to get a candle in this place?”
Anywhere. I roll my eyes and turn toward Tristan. He shifts, sitting up a little straighter. Curiosity flickers in his normally blank gaze.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Again, I ignore the question. “Can I get your lighter?”
Of the four of us, he’s the only one who smokes. Father has tried to get him to quit too many times, but since his academic results are great and his combat skills even better, there’s only so much he can do.
Tristan rises, slipping the silver lighter from his pocket. Instead of handing it over, he strides toward me. Stopping beside the desk, his eyes narrow as he flips to the front page of the book in my hand.
Across the cover, golden letters gleam with the words: The Nature of Fire.
He returns to the couch and asks, “Didn’t Lilith say your fire magic was dormant?”
“That’s what I thought too,” I murmur.
My fingers tighten against the cover, and I try not to think of the many possibilities to explore. Kade abandons his spot and draws closer to peer over my shoulder.
“What’s this?” he asks. I open it back to the chapter on triggers, and he clicks his tongue at the words on the page. “What’s your plan? What are you trying to do, Brynne?”
Neglecting him, I stretch out my hand toward Tristan and say, “Lighter. Please.”
With a small shrug, Tristan drops it into my palm. I flick the wheel, and the tiny flame blooms. It licks against my skin with a sharp sting, but no pain follows.
As the book suggests, I focus hard on the flame for a few minutes and the dormant magic simmering in my blood. Then, I direct my gaze to one of the carved chairs across the room, picturing it bursting into flames.
Heat curls at my fingertips, teasing, but the spark never leaps from the chair. Nothing happens. I clench my teeth and shut the lighter with a snap before tossing it onto the table. It rolls toward the edge and tips over, but never falls to the rug.
Instead, it hangs there, suspended midair and spinning slowly, like some invisible hand is toying with it. My gaze flicks to Tristan. He hasn’t moved an inch from the couch, but his eyes are fixed on the lighter.
A faint crease mars his brow, and as if pulled by unseen strings, the lighter drifts back and settles neatly in the center of the table.
Kade whistles low. “Show-off.”
Tristan doesn’t respond. He never does when he uses his ability. He just leans back again, resting his head against the cushion as if what he did required no more effort than breathing.
A gnawing silence stretches between us as I study him. His ability has always unsettled me more than Kade’s tricks with the mind. Kade has to work his way in with focus and sometimes, words. Tristan doesn’t. He simply thinks, and the world obeys.
That’s how the fire magic is supposed to work. By thought, but alas, the results have shown Lilith is right once again. Maybe it’s indeed dormant, but that night was different. I drag the book closer, forcing myself to look through the list of triggers again.
It can’t be intimacy. It can’t be her. But the memory claws at me anyway, reminding me of the sudden blaze that had roared awake in my chest when her skin brushed mine. That night was the only time I’d summoned flame without effort. The first time in my life.
“Any luck with getting into her memories?” I ask.
Kade shakes his head, running a hand through his hair. “Something’s protecting her mind. I could only get in once, and even then, it was brief.”
“You two need to stop,” Tristan warns.
But his words fly in one ear and out the other. Kade’s results line up with my own attempts. I couldn’t get in at all.
“Whatever you do,” I mutter. “Remember the plan.”
Tristan scowls, but Kade nods. Unlike Kade, I can’t manipulate or alter memories, let alone twist the most painful ones into nightmares. My strength lies in control. Pushing minds into obedience and bending them to my will. It’s exhausting, so we don’t do it too often. But Soma’s mind was sealed tight, as if an invisible wall was keeping me and Kade out.
Staring at the closed book, I lean back in my chair. Is intimacy truly the only way to trigger the magic? What level of intimacy is required? To get my answers, I need to get close to Soma again. Close enough to touch her and close enough to tell if she really is a trigger to my flames.
And if she is… I shove the thought away before it can take shape. First things first, get closer to her.