Page 17 of Shaped By Darkness

Tears run down her face faster than she can wipe them away; she hiccups and gasps for air as she collapses forward onto the mat.

I’m fast thanks to my beast and in good physical shape, but even still, it feels like it takes far too long to get to her as she loses it.

Her breath catches as I pull her into my arms and hold her close to my chest. She looks up at me with wide, tear-filled eyes, and her lip fucking trembles before she bites down on it hard enough that I’m surprised she isn’t bleeding.

“Little Rabbit…” I don’t know what to say. I’ve never been good with words, but right now, there is so much I want to say. It’s as if my words get clogged in my throat.

The urge to yell at her for not taking care of herself sits heavy on my tongue. Along with the urge to scold her for blaming herself for what happened to Lyle, and reassure her that everything will be okay, even though I don’t know that for sure. But more than anything, I want to take her worries and fears away.

“Everything’s a mess, and it’s all my fault.” Her voice is quiet, but I hear the pain as clearly as I see it in her eyes, and it breaks my heart.

“No, Rena, you didn’t do this.” I know she doesn’t believe me. I’ve been telling her that since we got here, but as each new bullshit thing happens, she only adds it to her shoulders. “And we won’t give up on Lyle.”

She looks away at the sound of his name, unable to hold my gaze, but I refuse to let her continue to hold this in. I tried to let her work through this on her own, but it’s clearly not working.

Besides, we’re stronger together. Even with Lyle missing and Storm skirting around, I still believe that.

“If anyone can save Lyle, it’s us, Serena.”

I grip her chin and force her eyes back up to meet mine, needing her to really listen to me.

“We’ll figure this out together, as a pack.” She holds my gaze, almost as if she’s looking for the lie, but she won’t find it.

I don’t care if we have to spend the rest of our lives working to save him; so long as I have her, I can live with that. Though I really hope it doesn’t take that long.

She buries her face in my chest. I’m not sure how long we sit here, but her hands remain fisted in my shirt as I hold her close, offering her the only comfort I can right now.

Serena’s lip trembles again, and this time, I’m pretty sure it’s from the cold more than her crying, though she is still crying, much to my dismay. The kingdom has been pretty warm during the day since we arrived, but without the sun, it’s a little cold.

The training yard is equipped for training at any time, including at night.

Large fireplaces are spread around the yard and used to warm up during later training sessions. I’ve only been a part of two trainings that ran that late, but even still, I can’t help but be grateful for them right now, though not for myself.

Without releasing Serena, I lift a hand and send a flame to the pit.

Imagine my surprise when the tiny flame doesn’t come out so tiny and instead heats up not just us but the whole damn training yard.

“What the fuck?” I watch the flames as they slowly die down, still at least five times bigger than I’d intended, but at least nobody else was here.

“Damn, Blair. I know you’re cold-blooded, but I don’t know if Rosalynn would appreciate us burning the whole castle down.” It almost sounds like she’s joking, but her tone is flat, and she has yet to release her hold on me. It’s almost like she’s worried I’ll disappear if she lets me go.

“I…” I watch the flames as they taper down, trying to understand what happened, but it doesn’t make sense.

“I didn’t do that. At least not on purpose.”

That gets her attention, and she pulls back to look up at me, her brow raised. Her eyes are puffy from crying, her breathing ragged, but damn if she isn’t still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.

“Maybe we can get you some training for your fire,” she says, pulling back and finally releasing my shirt.

I don’t want to brag, but there doesn’t really seem to be a way to explain that doesn’t sound like exactly that.

Oh well.

“Ever since we arrived, I’ve been training. For so long, I’d hidden that part of myself, worried you would hate me for it, but I realized in doing so, I’d made it so I was unable to control it. I couldn’t do more than make a basic flame, but I needed control, not just for that, but also with water and earth. We have access to so much here, it felt like a waste not to learn it all, especially when Rosalynn said we have the potential to learn even more beyond the basic elements.”

My eyes are still glued to the flames that are just now reaching an acceptable height, but I can feel Serena’s eyes on me.

“We’ve all been training in combat with Garrett and the King and Queen as often as we can.” The fire flickers but doesn’t grow or shrink anymore. When I’d summoned my magic to light the pit, I’d tried for a flame that wouldn’t go out. It’s something I’d been working on and thought I’d mastered, but maybe I was wrong.

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