Fire erupts around the entire fighting ring, and the temperature in the circle spikes so high that the air warps around us. The edges burn black, and the flames are crackling so loudly it’s like they’re trying to drown out every other sound in the world. They’re reflecting in Logan’s eyes, and the way he’s looking at me, like he wants to light me on fire, too…
“I’m sorry.” My voice comes out small, guilt rising inside me at how I used Miles’s death to hit Logan where it hurts. “I shouldn’t have said?—”
“When Alessandra cornered you in the Drowned Tower, I stepped in before your electricity could kill everyone at the party.” The black-lined flames dance around his hands as he steps closer. “I saved your life when we fought the Lampades. I stopped your magic from showing itself more times than you could possibly know. I guided you through all four of Hecate’s trials so you could gain access to the passages and train with me each night.”
The memory of his voice in my head, guiding me through that nightmare, makes my chest ache.
“I’m teaching you control so your power stays hidden.” The fire around the edges of the Fury Loop flares higher. “I’ve kept you close enough to protect, but far enough to keep questions at bay. I’m going to keep doing that, and right now, it’s by telling you to say yes to Oliver and go to the ball with him.”
“What?” I blink, unsure how we got back to Oliver and that damn Halloween ball. “Why?”
“Because it’s the safest option for you, since it’s theobviousoption. And when you make an obvious move, people notice you less.”
He watches me closely, as if he expects me to simply beokaywith this.
“You realize you’re asking me to let another man put his hands on me, right?” My voice shakes, electricity crackling along my arms. “To dance with me. To maybe try to kiss me.”
“Yes. But my parents died because someone noticed them.” His voice drops, and the black-lined flames dim to regular orange. “I won’t let that happen to you.”
The words hang between us, heavy and final.
Then something in me just... breaks.
“It doesn’t have to be like this.” My chest feels too tight, like there’s a scream building that wants to escape. “The ball is days away. We can figure out something else?—”
“No.” His eyes burn into mine with an intensity that steals my breath away. “I want you to do this. But don’t think for a second that it means you don’t matter to me—or that I don’t love you.”
JADE
“You love me?”My question comes out breathless, barely audible over the crackling flames.
“Yes, Jade. I love you.” The admission sounds like it’s being torn from him. “I’ve been trying not to. It hasn’t worked.”
I stare at him, those three words echoing in my head like a bell that won’t stop ringing. My heart pounds so hard I’m sure he can hear it, and electricity dances across my skin in sparks that I can’t control.
But he’s standing too far away, with that careful distance he always maintains, even after saying the words I didn’t realize I needed to hear until right now.
“Since when?” My whole body feels like it’s vibrating, like I might tear apart at the seams if he doesn’t keep talking, doesn’t make this real.
“The pain endurance trial. You were burning alive, and all I could do was talk you through it.” He steps closer, his eyes reflecting the orange fire burning in his hands. “But you wouldn’t let go. Wouldn’t give up. And I was touching every part of you I could reach—your shoulders, your face, your free hand—trying to keep you grounded while that fire tried to consume you from the inside out.”
My throat tightens at the memory of those agonizing flames, Logan’s voice a lifeline in the dark, anchoring me when I wanted to let go.
“I’ve seen a lot of people face pain, Jade. Most break. Most beg for it to stop.” His eyes bore into mine, but they’re haunted, like he’s seeing other faces, other moments of breaking. “You held on. I asked you to trust me, and you did. And that’s when I decided to make sure you never had to face something like that alone again.”
Heat floods through me, the flames around us burning higher, but confusion follows quickly on its heels. “If you’ve loved me since then, why do you always pull back?”
“Because I can’t lose you.” His expression shifts, vulnerability cracking through. “I’ve watched too many people die, and I can’t—I won’t—add you to that list.”
“So you push me away instead?” Electricity travels along my fingers, the Fury Loop feeding my frustration until it feels like it might burst out of my skin. “You think that hurts less?”
His jaw tightens. “It keeps you alive.”
“And I’ve never felt more alive than I do right now.” I step closer, and he tenses, like he’s fighting the urge to either close the distance or flee entirely. “Because I love you, too. And I don’t want to go another day without showing you.”
Pain flickers in his gray eyes, but then it’s gone again, locked away behind those damn walls I can’t break.
He takes a deep breath, the fire dying slightly down around him. “When did you first know you loved me?” he asks.
