Page 113 of Burning Heir

For a moment, I thought of Archer and the way his shadows had shielded me, protecting not just me but everything within his reach. I poured everything into the fire encircling the board, daring Myla to break through.

I flinched as her coldness reached my throat. It was… an eerily familiar suffocation, frost creeping up my spine.

I would not shatter.

I would not. Shatter—

The sharp, biting cold on my skin brought me back to that moment. My chest tightened as the ice crawled up my spine, and I couldn’t escape it. I was there again.

Hands roped around me, pinning me to the frozen earth. Their laughter echoed along the peaks. A wolf snarled, shredding what was left of my clothes. Tears crystallized on my cheek, freezing before they could fall. A dagger scraped along my thigh.

My blood didn’t boil—not yet. My scream was muffled by his glove pressed against my mouth. Winter, my home of ice, held me down.

“…the hounds can tear the rest of her clothes off,” said Callum.

The circle was a ring of fire. My fingers began to shake as an icicle dragged along the edge of my barrier. I felt that dry scream clinging around my throat as every part of me was frozen, including the tears that clung to my cheek.

I would burn.

Boiling tears clung to my lower lid as I melted that ice. I burned the entire blackboard beside the circular cutout that fell to the ground, and even as Cain held my shoulders, I kept burning. I seared that memory of Bridger and Callum. I burnt their gaze that took in my frozen body, their greedy hands as they cut me, and laughed at Serpent’s daughter and all her failed glory.

And Myla had trusted him even after knowing whathe’ddone.

“Severyn, that is enough,” Cain choked. “You did what I asked. You protected the circle.”

Knox clapped three times, elbow rested on his knee. Myla was in shock, but she was proud. I couldn’t read Malachi’s face, butit was something along the lines of fear, possibly because she had to sleep next to someone who could incinerate anything with their mind. Damien always looked impressed with anything I did, and I hated that more than ever because I still looked at him for sickening approval.

I fisted the shadow relic on my hand, and a cool wave soothed over my burn.

Cain cleared his throat. “There is a level to warding, though. Could you live in a world where everything around you was dead and burnt? The entire world cannot exist in flames while yours thrives.”

I almost asked why not, but instead, I said, “I’ll work on my control.”

A nervous look stayed on his face as he watched me take my seat next to Malachi.

Damien raised his hand, and the Professor gestured for him to speak. “Could we practice quell sharing? With the upcoming trial, we might need it.”

Professor Cain tapped his bony fingers on his desk. “Quell sharing is more advanced. Normally, that is a third-year course.”

Damien crossed his arms over his chest, glancing sidelong at me, and I knew he was throwing my quell share with Archer at me. Knew he’d seen that kiss. That was no coincidence.

“I think we know each other well enough. And anyone willing to try should,” Damien added.

Cain drew out a long breath. “Very well. But we will go outside.” He glanced at the burnt blackboard, unwilling to risk his entire classroom turning into ruins.

The entire class emptied through the doublewide back doors and into the courtyard. A few students whispered, asking what quell sharing was.

Damien stood before us all. “Quell sharing is when your power combines with another student and creates somethingentirely else. Think of paint; when you mix magenta and yellow, you get red. That can be said for quells as well. Snow and rain create storms. It can also be beautiful and one of the most personal things you can share with another, so keep that in mind.”

I was thankful he didn’t use shadow and flame as an example. Most students were hesitant to group up. But no one dared to step closer to me, not after almost melting the entire classroom minutes before. Even Damien stood his ground, but I wondered what glass and fire could create and if we’d melt as one.

Malachi stayed quiet, but I knew damn well Monty had taught her how to quell share during the first week here. I never wanted to feel the ice in my lungs again, so Myla—we would never breach that.

“Severyn, would you be willing to try?” Malachi asked.

Wind and fire. I could only imagine the chaos we’d cause near all these trees. But Malachi knew how to control her quell better than I could, and perhaps we’d create something beautiful as Damien had described.

I nodded as Malachi grabbed both my hands between hers. I wondered if certain areas felt the power differently. Had Archer held my hand like this instead of kissing me, would thunder still have cracked?

---