Page 73 of D'Vaire or Nothing
It was a celebration of flames, and Heathcliff’s phoenix screeched in triumph. Heathcliff hoped to repeat the experience often in the future. Although just a few days had passed since they met, Heathcliff and his phoenix were united in capturing Brinley’s heart.
Fate had paired them well.
Chapter 6
Heathcliff tugged a windblown mage into his bedroom suite for the second time that day and flipped on the light. The sun had slipped behind the mountains as they’d hung out with the D’Vaires on the deck. Brinley had survived dinner with the mages and exchanged numbers with them before they headed home.
Although Brinley had moved past his anger at Heathcliff for inviting the ruling mages, the phoenix made a mental note to carefully weigh all future surprises. Brinley didn’t like to be caught off guard, and Heathcliff would prefer to avoid his ire.
“Are you still pissed at me?” Heathcliff asked as he took a seat on a plush sofa, despite not finding any fury in Brinley’s pretty blue eyes.
Brinley curled up next to him and shook his head. “No, I’ve made an ass of myself all day. I know you were trying to be nice, and I was a jerk for getting mad.”
“But you don’t like surprises.”
“No.”
“Is it a control thing?”
With a heavy sigh, Brinley shifted so he was facing Heathcliff on the couch. He propped his head on his hand and balanced the weight of his arm on the back of the sofa. “I grew upfeeling like I had control of nothing. So, I started trying to find power over my situation and life however I could.”
Needing to know more about Brinley, Heathcliff rested a heavy palm on Brinley’s thigh and nipped his chin. “We don’t have to talk about your past if you don’t want to, but I’m a good listener.”
“Chaos. I think people sometimes see fire that way. Bursts of flame. Riotous. Out of control. But for a mage who is fire, restraint is an essential part of life. We have the hardest element to master. The most dangerous one. As our former Magus Superus demonstrated, things can spiral and lead to doom fast as fuck. Everyone in my family is a fire mage. You’d think I would’ve grown up in an environment where I was advised to be cautious.”
“The opposite was true?”
Brinley nodded, and Heathcliff reached up to push the errant lock of red-brown hair that had fallen on his forehead out of the way.
“My parents are dramatic. Everything is a crisis. They refused to tackle anything with maturity or reason. I’ll never forget my first day of school. I sat in my chair, staring at the other children. I have three older siblings. They were replicas of my parents. All day long I sat there in this entire building full of mages, waiting for an outburst. People smiled. Played. Talked. They did it without yelling, crying, or slamming doors. I was obsessed with the tranquility.”
“Then you went home.”
“I stepped into the house, and there were new holes in the walls. Everything was fireproof because no one controlled their magic. If they hadn’t protected things magically, our place would’ve been a pile of ashes in an hour. So, they invented new methods of destruction. Things were broken constantly. Stepped on. Smashed. My brother even took a knife to the curtains oncein a fit of pique. I was probably channeling them earlier when I got pissed at you for being nice to me.”
“No, you were overwhelmed and wanted to make a good impression. You didn’t want to feel inadequate, so you went with anger. Meeting so many people was too much.”
“See, this is why Fate put me with you,” Brinley enthused, giving Heathcliff a smacking kiss. “You understand shit. Nothing flusters you. My unflappable, strong, sexy phoenix. I was completely overwhelmed.”
“My guess is most people think I’m boring.”
“It’s been my experience that most people are idiots, so fuck them.”
“I really like you, Brinley.”
“You’re a super sexy beast, and I like you too.”
“Back to your family.”
Brinley sneered a little but nodded. “Yeah. Them. I’d waste energy with lectures on disciplined behavior. As soon as I was taught to read, I grew obsessed. There was a library between my house and the school. Those librarians. They used to give me the weirdest looks. My nine-year-old ass is in there reading self-help books because I was desperately trying to understand a home life that made no sense. Reasoning with those idiots didn’t work.”
“Do you still read obsessively?”
“Of course, but now I read magic stuff. Or get swept into a fun new release that catches my eye. Love me some gay romance novels too.”
“They’re great. I used to skip the sex scenes though.”
“You’ll have your hand in your boxers next time.”
