Page 73 of Take No Prisoners
She had a silly cream mustache above her top lip. "Where's your drink?"
"Petri's still mixing it. May I ask you a question while we wait?"
She studied him for a moment. "You're really formal, like the guy with white hair, only younger. I'm just a kid, you know. You can ask me a question. It's not like I can say no."
"But you can say no," Niall said. "You can get up and walk away if you don't like someone. You can set their hair on fire if they piss you off. Why wouldn't you?"
She laughed. "Not as formal, then. I like you. Set their hair on fire?"
"You're a fire weaver." He grinned. "That's what I would do if I had fire magic."
"Aren't you about to ask me how to use fire magic?" she asked. "I don't know if I should tell you, if you're going to set people's hair on fire. Frost said we shouldn't use our powers for evil."
"Self-defense isn't evil," Niall insisted.
Petri's laugh proceeded them as they approached with another steaming half-coconut. "Vadim can attest to that, though I do sometimes wonder." Petri's eyebrows raised and lowered as they handed Niall his drink. "Pragmatic to a fault can sometimes seem a little evil."
"This smells delicious," Niall said as the rich scent filled his nostrils.
"Use your ice to cool it down a bit before you drink it."
"I just learned how to use ice," Niall said.
"Practice makes perfect," Petri insisted. "Right, Princess?"
"That's what I did!" she said.
"I thought you couldn't control your ice weaves." Niall gazed at her with a mock frown.
She squealed and took a sip of her drink. "I did it! I cooled my drink all by myself!"
Niall couldn't help but smile.
"You did." Petri winked. "Now it's Niall's turn."
Niall cupped both hands around the hot coconut and reached for the sadness in his core. In seconds, ice crystals formed along the rim of his drink.
"Oops," Petri said. "Too much."
"Now you need to warm it up again," Jasmine said.
"I don't know how," Niall said. "Can you show me?"
"Of course! I thought you'd never ask."
Niall smiled again at the infectious joy on Jasmine's face. He'd met her at her lowest moment when she was trying to keep her brother afloat. Now, he was glad she was happy, healthy, and seemingly without a care in the world beyond her dessert drink.
Petri took the empty coconut from her, and she held up the palm of her hand. Niall sensed her power as a string of flame flowed along her palm from the center to the tip of her index finger. She rubbed it with her thumb, and it disappeared.
"Joy," Niall whispered. "Fire is pure joy."
Niall thought of Efren, and a ring of heat surrounded the lip of his cup for a moment. He let it go, and it faded back into his core. A single curl of steam rose from the center of his coconut. He took a sip of his drink and hummed in appreciation. It was the perfect blend of sweet and bitter on his tongue.
"Imagine being locked away from your joy to keep your magic at bay," Petri said. "Emperor Hugo lives like that, if you can call that a life."
"You know the emperor?"
Petri shook their head. "I made it inside the palace once. I propelled myself over a wall and into a courtyard, but before I could speak to him, the guards caught me and ushered him back inside."
