Page 136 of Our Radiant Embers

“Babe.” I let warmth seep into my tone. “Your magic is unlike anything I’ve seen. If you tell me there’s a weird taste in the air and something is wrong with my family’s energy towers? I’m listening.”

“Oh.” His tone carried a note of surprise, as though the idea of being taken seriously in the magical community still hadn’t quite sunk in. We were alone on the pavement, so I ducked in to kiss the corner of his mouth.

“Come on, let’s take a look. The moment you feel faint, we get the hell out of there.”

He raised his chin and rolled his shoulders back, then nodded. “Yeah, all right.”

Nighttime London felt slow around us as we kept moving—a few cars, a laughing couple walking the other way. The canvas veiling the construction site fluttered in the breeze. After a light squeeze, Liam dropped my hand as we reached the site. I thought about protesting, but with security cameras covering the entire area, well, maybe that was taking it a step too far. We should decide on a plan before the truth slapped my father in the face.

I used my key card to get us into the site. It had been just over a week since I’d last visited, the risk of running into Liam keeping me away. Even just that amount of time was enough to see visible progress. Buildings were starting to rise from the ground, and they’d finished shaping a murmuring brook that meandered through the space, collecting rainwater for a soothing vibe.

At first glance, the energy tower looked no different—but next to me, Liam had gone tense. I wound a thin tendril of my magic around his wrist, interwove the fire’s warmth with a faint, cooling touch of water. He relaxed slightly. We didn’t speak as we moved a few steps closer, into a spot where a small group of hedges and trees hid us from the closest camera.

“All right,” I whispered. “So, show me what’s wrong with it?”

His fingertips came to rest against my palm. Just like he’d taught me, I let my gaze go soft and focused on the tower.

It…

Christ. Thick branches of magic lashed at the air. It felt like a panther, throwing itself against the iron bars of a cage as it tested its strength.

“What the fuck is that?” My voice came out as a hoarse mutter.

“Yeah.” Liam withdrew his hand, and the blazing tangle of colours vanished from sight even though it remained bright in my mind. “That’s what I thought.”

I sucked in a breath that tasted metallic. “This isn’t fucking right, Liam. It should not look like that.”

He nodded faintly. “Let’s move, please? It’s a bit—I’m not about to collapse, I don’t think so, but it’s a lot to take in.”

“Of course.”

We didn’t speak as we made our measured escape and remained silent for another minute, Liam seeming eager to put a little more distance between the site and us. Only once we turned a corner and then another, directing our steps towards the Thames, did I dare break the silence.

“Do you still feel it?”

“Not so much anymore.” This time, he was the one who reached for my hand, slotting his fingers into the gaps between mine. “And I’ve been thinking.”

“Don’t make it a habit, is what Laurie would say.” It was a weak attempt to lighten the mood, to counteract the tight clench of my chest that told me this was wrong.

Liam shot me a smile.“Yeah, she would. But…Adam, your family is behind the original concept for the Green Horizon Initiative. It was their idea.”

“That’s what Alaric Hartley told Cassandra, yes.” I frowned. “Why?”

“What if they’re…I don’t know.” Liam shook his head, a hint of frustration edging his tone. “What if there’s an ulterior motive? Like, these towers, they just seem so wrong. Like they’re about to blow. What if they were intentionally designed like that for some reason?”

I squashed the impulse to defend my family—both, wasn’t it? I’d chosen both them and Liam, and this was my chance to prove that I wouldn’t fall right back into old patterns. So I tried to sort through the pieces of what I knew.

My family pulling strings to launch the Initiative. The energy tower looking as though it might burst at the seams with all the magic it contained. Those towers—they’d been the first step when we’d designed the areas, everything else coming together around them. They’d been priorities in the construction process too and that made sense—the sooner they were functional, the less we’d have to rely on other sources of energy.

What other purpose might they serve?

“If there’s one thing my family is scared of, it’s looking vulnerable.” It felt as though I was feeling my way along a dark hallway. “It’s their worst nightmare—everyone learning that there’s just one powerful mage in my generation, and that our magic may be dwindling.”

Liam’s profile was edged in bronze by a streetlamp, tension in the curve of his mouth. “Well, there’s hardly an easy solution to that, is there?”

We crossed the road that separated us from the river promenade and leaned against the wall. City lights reflected on the water, The Shard rising on the other side of the Thames as an angular, luminous silhouette against the nighttime sky.

“If there were, my father and Eleanor would have found it already.” I met Liam’s eyes and let one corner of my mouth lift in a half-formed smile. “Other than the rest of my generation taking a leaf out of your book and suddenly going Nova, that is.”

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