She thought he would be harmed! He laughed at that. But if she would not follow his commands and use the fire as he wanted it to be used—as a weapon that swords and daggers could not stop—then she was of no use to him. And he would not waste his time training her. Better to end it now before she gained more power and did not know how to use it.
“I find myself unusually disappointed, girl. I had such hopes for you.”
Without any further warning, he unleashed his fire on her. She threw her hands up before her face to protect herself, as many had before her—but this time he found himself unable to prolong the torment he usually so enjoyed. He sent another terrible burst of fire at her to end it.
Danger!
William jumped from the bed and looked around the chamber.
Nothing. He was alone. The keep lay in heavy silence, and no sounds of alarm or attack could be heard. And yet . . .
His body began to shake and tremble and sweat.
His muscles tightened and grew, his head high above the floor. A bluish glow filled the chamber as his flesh changed and his vision filled with red.
His control was slipping away, and he was losing himself.
Brienne!
Then it was gone. The pull to that other being cut like a thread and he changed back to himself. He panted as the sweat poured from him and tried to gain some sense of what had happened.
She had been in danger; he knew it to the marrow of his bones. Just as she’d been before. But now he could feel nothing of her.
No fear. No sense of danger. Nothing.
Knowing they would not open the gates until the morning, he could not leave to seek her out. He lay back on the bed, still shaking from the changes in his body. Had he only thought his body altered? He’d been asleep and so possibly it had been a nightmare?
William listened to the unnatural silence around him. No nightjars chirping their songs. No sounds in this night at all, as though a heavy blanket had been tossed over Yester Castle, muffling any noises.
He waited for some sign of distress from Brienne, but all sense of her had been snuffed out like a candle.
ChapterThirteen
It burned!
Not like her fire.
This fire burned her skin and clothes and sent heated waves of air into her lungs.
The pain!
Her hands took most of it, flung up before her as though they could stop his fire from burning her. Then the power within her came alive and pushed forth, protecting her from the assault.
She hid within her flames so his fire could not harm her. Never had she wanted to send her fire at someone or even thought it a possibility, but he wanted her to. She could hear him urging her—daring her—to do it even now from inside the flames.
With little effort, she aimed at the shape of his body outside the flames and directed her power at him. He laughed as it struck him. Suddenly, she was no longer harmed or even slowed down by his assault. She thrust more and more at him until he was gone.
“Excellent, daughter of my blood!”
The words came from within the fire she’d created around her, for he was there now with her. At first she thought Hugh had spoken, but the voice was a mixture of male and female or . . . something else.
“She has the power,” the female said.
“She is ours,” the male said.
“Ready her for us,” the blended voice said.
“Stop!” Lord Hugh commanded.
