He blew out a stream of fire, and the clothes turned to ashes.
“Why did you do that?” she asked, shocked.
“No point in carting around something that smells strongly of human in this realm.”
When he put it that way…ugh, she didn’t want a target on her back.
“Here.” He pulled out a black elastic band from his pocket.
“Thanks.” She took the band, her fingers brushing his, and a jolt skittered through her hand like lightning. She jerked back as if burned.
He clenched his hand.
“It’s just my abilities,” she muttered. What could she say anyway? When she didn’t even understand this pull between them. She gathered the top half of her hair, away from her face, and secured it at the back in a small ponytail. “I’m ready.”
He gave her a once-over. “Tying your hair back doesn’t help. Still on the delicate side. Your eyes might look draconic, but you don’t exactly blend in—it’ll have to do.”
Blend in?
The words hit like a slap, and she flinched, her breath hitching?—
She was nine again, uncomfortable in her stiff school uniform, a snooty mum’s voice cutting through the chatter at noon pick-up.
“She’s lovely, but doesn’t quite blend in with us, does she?”
Old wounds surged, slicing through her chest like blades. The sky cracked open. Rain dumped in a furious sheet, drenching her, but she barely felt it as more memories tumbled free.
Invites for her seventh birthday had been sent out to her whole class, but only five showed up.
“Your friendsdidturn up, darling,” Mum whispered, hugging her, but the pain of being ignored swamped her.
“Ash—Ashaya?” a low voice rumbled.
“Shut up, shut up,” she gasped, shoving away from him, the rain lashing down at them harder. “Leave me alone?—”
“Ash, stop, dammit!” Race’s voice thundered through the storm. He grasped her shoulders, his touch steady and firm. “You need to bolt down your mental shields. Now! You’ll draw attention we can’t afford, do you hear me?”
Trapped in a manacle of pain, she squeezed her eyes shut, willing her newly burgeoning powers to quiet, but nothing could calm them—not with old wounds torn wide open, raw and bleeding again.
I will never be good enough.
“You can do it, Ash,” he coaxed. “Come on. Go deep within yourself, find where it starts. Lock it down.”
With a shuddering breath, she shut her eyes, searching within. There, she found the spark, the burning red heat under her ribs—and caged it, sealing the storm within.
The rain stopped, but they were both completely soaked. She exhaled a trembling breath and wiped her wet face.
“What was all that about?” he asked quietly.
Ash could feel his searching gaze, but she refused to meet it. “Nothing.”
Schoolyard cruelty, shunned by so-called friends, then her ex, Paul’s mother’s blatant dismissal of her. All of it came downto the same thing—she didn’t fit in with their idea of who belonged.
It cut deeply.
“Ash, look at me.”
His low command cut through the fog. She blinked, the forest sharpening around her.
