“Oh, it’s far too late for that.” His father tsks, and Jax’s shoulders rise and fall. “And for the sake of the gods, son, put on a damn shirt.” The king leans back in his chair, looking far too relaxed.
“Why?” Ryjax snaps, stepping forward and turning to give his father a direct view of his back. “Does it bother you seeing your work on display?”
His…work.
He can’t possibly mean…I look at his mother, and she averts her gaze as if ashamed, and every part of me burns in the most glorious way, and I think I might kill them.
The king scoffs. “Be careful how you speak to me, boy.” He stands from his chair. “Or I might just be tempted to add to my canvas.”
Fire erupts from my fingers. The most vibrant blaze extends out in ribbons, and I can feel each of them,controleach of them, as if they’re an extension of my own body, something I had no idea I could do.
Andnothinghurts. Not a single muscle, not a single promise of an ache to come.
No agony, onlypower.
So much power.
The king steps back, his calves colliding with his throne, and it’s clear he did not know what I am and what I can do.
But he does now.
“A Pyroflame.” He gasps, his eyes widening as he takes me in. “How is that possible?”
I can barely hear him over the pressure of the burning rage screaming in my ears. The pure and unfiltered raw kind of hate that I couldlive in. Burn in. And die in.
My fire whips out, licking the floor a mere inch from his boots, and he looksfurious.
The queen tries to stand. Gripping the edges of her chair, she begins to lift herself, her mouth falling open as if about to speak. But then the king grabs her roughly by the shoulder and shoves her back down.
She flinches.
“Are you threatening the king?” he says, and the guards all move at once, as if they’re of the same mind, forming a circle around me, getting dangerously close to my flames.
They would die for him.
I can see it in their eyes, feel it in my bones. And I’ll burn every last one of them if it means I could kill the man responsible for the pain Jax is forced to wear.
I used to wonder how it was possible for someone to control two opposing elements, to possess characteristics belonging to such opposite things.
Jaxislight.
He’s the first rays of dawn cutting through the bleak shadows that used to plague my existence. He’s the warm glow that makes me feel like I can do all of the things I was told I could never do. He’s the hope in the storm that raged inside me for so long.
His ability to wield the light makes sense to me.
But the darkness he carries?
Thatcomes from his father, from what he’s done to him, from what he’s forced him to endure,and I want him dead.
“Serafina,” Jax warns, his voice low yet demanding. “Call back your flames.” It’s a whisper. A plea. And suddenly, I’m aware of just how much danger I’m in, and this?
This isn’t helping.
But hehurthis son. The king, hisfather, is the one responsible for the gruesome marks on his back. And I want to paint the floor with his blood.
But I do as Jax says, and my flames disappear.
“If you do that again,” the king seethes, his nostrils flaring, “I will not only have you killed, but your entire fucking family.”
