Page 61 of Our Radiant Embers

It was a slightly dated joke. About a decade ago, when tensions had last escalated between us and the Ashtons, some jokester had designed Twilight-inspired T-shirts that pitched Team Harrington against Team Ashton. They’d sold them in school, and while I’d already left for uni, Gale had borne the brunt of the teasing.

The T-shirts were a light-hearted side note to a feud that, to this day, had my uncle walking with a limp. And my mum…

My expression must have gone flat because Liam reached for my wrist, halting us both. I should have been used to it by now from hours of us working on prototypes, with touch the only way for me to see magic the way he did. A distant shiver still zipped down my spine.

“Okay.” Liam’s voice was quiet as he released my wrist. “Pretty sure I just came off as a bit of a dick. Is an apology in order?”

It was strange to think that it went both ways—he knew me too. Few people did.

“Not exactly.” I sighed and glanced away, at where two pigeons were having a spirited debate about an ice cream cone that someone had dropped on the pavement. “I mean, it’s not like...Things have been calm lately. For a while now. So.”

Liam stayed silent, waiting.

“It’s just that sometimes, you know…” I lifted a shoulder and inhaled, pressing my lips together. “Sometimes, I wonder if things might have turned out differently. With my mum. Like, if we hadn’t been so focused on the Ashtons, maybe we’d have paid more attention to her headaches and how she started getting dizzy.”

It was just a fleeting touch against the back of my hand, but it brought my attention back to Liam. He was watching me intently, a sad twist to his mouth. “Brain tumour?”

“Yeah.” Not exactly a secret, but we also hadn’t communicated it widely. The magical community was superstitious, and some considered cancer a family weakness. “It wasn’t...Maybe she wasn’t perfect, but she was my mum.”

He didn’t offer any cheap words of sympathy—just lightly nudged his fingers against mine, a lingering moment of contact that made me blink against the sun in my eyes.

“Sorry,” I said on a measured exhalation. “Not like I cry myself to sleep every night, right? It’s been almost a decade.”

“I don’t think there’s an expiry date on grief.”

“Maybe not.” I shook my head, smiled. “Anyway, let’s keep moving.”

He didn’t budge, eyebrows knitting together as he levelled me with a direct look. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“That whole…” He waved one hand in a vague arch around my face. “Fake persona thing. I thought we were past that.”

I wasn’t sure why it hurt—not in a sharply acute way, more the sweet ache of wanting something you knew you couldn’t have. Liam wasn’t for me. One day, some lucky guy would snatch him up, and the best I could hope for was watching from the sidelines. Just a friend.

I swallowed against the shards of glass in my throat. “You’re right—we are. Force of habit.”

“Oh, excuse me.” His lips twisted into a small, fond smirk. “Could I get you to repeat that, please? The part about me being right.”

Some of the heaviness in my chest dissipated. This time, my smile came much more naturally. “Sorry, but it was a limited collector’s edition. I’m afraid we’re fresh out.”

Liam’s chuckle blended with the city noise and the rumble of a crane. “And there goes my ego boost.”

God, I liked him. I just really, really liked him.

“You’ll live,” I said, and if my gaze lingered on his lips for just a second? Well, so what of it?

We started walking again, our earlier silence slightly lighter now. The construction site wasn’t much further. It was also hard to miss—sturdy material stretched four stories high, depicting a vision of wondrous things to come. Happy, shiny people wandered among happy, shiny buildings, thriving greenery completing the scene. Even the energy tower looked less like a penis and more like a work of art dropped by a benevolent alien race from a jungle planet.

I believed in this—really, I did. What we’d planned meant a leap forward in greener living, and it could have happened much sooner if not for the slow evolution of trust between the government and our community. But did they have to make it look quite so...kitschy?

“Funny.” Liam’s tone was dry. He stood next to me, gazing up at the picture of paradise with a mild smile, hands in his pockets. “You’d think it was just one family running this show.”

I glanced back at the veiled construction zone. He was right—my family’s name was all over it. I couldn’t spot a single mention of the Morgans.

“I’d like to claim it’s an accident, but it probably isn’t.” Turning to face him, I offered an apologetic grimace. “I’m sorry, Liam—this one’s on me. I should have taken a look at the design before it went up. Chances are they sent it to me in an FYI kind of email, and I didn’t pay enough attention.”

“Hey, no.” He half-raised his arms, palms facing downwards. “It’s fine.”

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