“No!” I say a bit too fast, and I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks. He flashes that devastating smile of his, the one that only makes an appearance on the rarest of occasions, and my cheeks heat even more. “I mean, your company is better than no company at all. Don’t let it go to your head.” I move from the door, allowing him a path to enter.
His eyes find the desk and the book I had just set down.
“Any progress with forming a connection with water?” he asks.
I shake my head.
“I don’t think I’m a hybrid,” I say with a wave of my hand. “I mean, my birthday has passed. Wouldn’t I have needed to connect with the element prior to that?”
“I didn’t.” He shrugs, sitting down on the bed, positioning himself so his back hits the wall. He raises his knees, resting his elbows on top of them.
“If you’re going to sit onmybed,” I emphasize the word, rolling my eyes as I do. “Then, you could at least take your shoes off.”
He stares at me with an unamused expression but does as I say, flinging them to the floor.
“Happy?”
“As I can be in a room with no windows.”
“You won’t have to be down here for much longer,” he tells me, and I groan. He arches both brows. “A bit restless today, are we? I would think after your progress yesterday, you’d be in a better mood.”
I smile at that. Because last night did feel like I made some real progress.
Finally.
Looking down at my hands, my smile only widens when the flames take over, from my fingers to my wrist. Both hands are on fire.
I’m not sure exactly what changed. It could be any number of things, really. The meditation, the fresh meals, maybe simply getting a good night’s rest.
Whatever the case, my anger has started to dissipate, and focusing has become easier. But I’m still not able to hold it for long.
I can already feel the ache, every muscle in my arm and fingers beginning to tremor.
Ryjax shakes his head. “Show off,” he murmurs.
I urge the fire in my left palm to form a ball. Hovering it just above my skin, I toss it into the air before catching it.
Sweat drips down my forehead.
“Your muscles are already stronger than when you first got here. Just think what you’ll be capable of a few weeks from now,” Ryjax says, and I wish I shared his belief in me.
But I don’t.
I grit my teeth, and he sighs.
“So your ability to control the shadows came after your twenty-first birthday?” I ask, wanting to know more about what he said before.
“I was twenty-two when I realized I wasn’t just a Luminarie.”
Twenty-two, and if I’m remembering correctly, the prince was born the same year as Lucia. She was two years older than me, which would make him twenty-three now.
My eyes leave the fire ball briefly, and as always, he’s watching me closely. The fire falls to the ground, singeing the edge of the rug before dying out. I wipe the sweat from my face, and then my eyes find his again.
“Be careful with that.”
“It’d be a lot easier tobe carefulif we could do this outside.” I flop down on the bed beside him, in the same fashion as earlier when Ishla was here.
He lets out another long sigh, and I peek up at him. He doesn’t say anything.
