Page 13 of His Greatest Treasure

“Never mind!” I said quickly.

Blaze’s smile grew larger, but it was different this time. The bond between us almost thrummed with something that I couldn’t place, and I grew warm again, despite the chill in the air.

One moment Blaze was in front of me, solid flesh, and the next he was fire. He kept the same form, only he burned and his edges were blurred as the flames of his body danced and undulated. He looked so incredibly beautiful. His face was silhouetted in yellows and reds, and his amber eyes flickered brightly.

I didn’t even realise I’d reached out my hand until I felt the pain and yelped.

Instinctively, I drew my hand back and cradled it against my chest. Blaze’s face became a mask of horror and he cried, “I’m so sorry!”

The sound of his voice was different in this form but equally as lovely. The only thing I didn’t like was that he sounded so anguished.

“It’s not your fault.”

Even though his body was flame and therefore was moving and undulating, his face was visible even as the orange and yellow created imaginary shadows across it. He still managed to give me an utterly disbelieving look.

It made me smile.

“Really,” I insisted. “It’s notyourfault I touched you. I should have asked, anyway.”

His body moved closer to me and I felt the dry heat of him, smelled the burning. Then he shifted back to his human form and the room became suddenly cooler.

That was until Blaze was right in front of me, reaching out for my hand. Then my entire body flushed with something so warm and bright that I couldn’t even speak. Every part of me seemed to be tingling with anticipation, and I leaned towards him.

Blaze took my hand gently and examined it.

“I don’t think you did any real damage. Your skin would blister if you were human, but you’re already healing.”

I’d completely forgotten about the pain already. My entire focus was on the way that Blaze’s gentle fingers skimmed over my palm and my wrist.

He looked up at me and I realised he was probably only a few inches shorter than me but he looked up as though I were seven feet tall. It made me feel suddenly very strong and proud.

As soon as I thought that, I stumbled back and tried to squash that feeling down. I hated to feel proud. My father constantly drummed it into us that we were Somervilles and that made us better than everyone else. It had been that way for generations, as far as I could tell, and Father was only repeating what he’d learned. Still, even Great Aunt Evangeline didn’t wield her pride like a weapon, the way my father did. She was old and proud but she was somehow gentle too. Father wasn’t gentle.

I was always wary of feeling too much pride in case I became like him. I looked so like him that sometimes, if I stood in front of the mirror and drew myself up, wearing my coldest look, I could almost believe Iwashim.

The first time I’d done it, I’d frightened myself and had covered the mirror with a blanket for a week because I was afraid I’d trapped my father’s eyes in it and he was always watching me.

That had been a long time ago, though. Well over a year.

The point was, I knew that being too proud of myself wasn’t good and so I stumbled back, trying to get away from the look on Blaze’s face that told me I was the centre of the universe.

As I drew away, his face fell and I instantly wanted to push back against him and make him look at me like I was everything again.

Boy, this was going to get confusing. I needed to get my feelings under control if I was going to be a good friend to Blaze.

Clearing my throat, I looked around for something to say and saw he was dressed.

“Hey, you didn’t burn my coat!”

“I told you that the clothes were a part of me. They won’t burn.”

“I know but I thought you meantyourclothes wouldn’t burn. Notmyclothes. Does that mean my coat is yours now? I don’t mind that. I, um, quite like it actually. You can keep it. It’s for you. Wear my coat.”

My insides were knotting with excited pleasure at that thought. If I’d actually eaten any breakfast, I’d say that it was still alive and was throwing a party in my stomach, because it sure felt that way.

When Blaze smoothed one of his hands down over my coat and said, “Thank you,” I wanted to cheer in victory. He was keeping my coat.Mycoat, not anybody else’s. I liked being the one to wrap him up warm.

It would be even better if I could do it in my arms, or maybe take him upstairs and pull him into my bed so I could wrap my blankets around him. That would be perfect.

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