Gunpowder singed the air, and the monster within her continued stirring.
Audrey’s power had torn through the space, leaving warped metal, scattered casings, and everyone reeling.
The alley waited, every fate tied to her next action. She was no longer only caught in the middle. Now, she was the thing everyone measured.
Audrey glared defiantly at Mihail. His aura touched her nerves—and an emotion that didn’t belong to her, something like admiration, moved in. It seemed like a hand on her back, prodding her to the edge. He was doing something empathic. Twining his aura through hers.
She could read emotions, but he could push them.
She flung her aura back at him, raw and unrefined.Get back, it said, wordless but direct.
He shuddered, just barely. But then he obeyed, stepping away with widened eyes, his face going from dominance to a startled wariness.
“Hmm,” he said, almost to himself. “How fascinating.” He moved closer, stopping just close enough that his heat licked her skin. “You’re smaller up close,” he observed. “But louder.”
“Likewise.”
He ignored her and raised his hand to her throat, heat building under his touch, and sparks shooting through her nerves. “She put you in a cage,” he said, holding her neck with intentional slowness.
“Get your hands off?—”
His other hand grasped her upper arm, grip iron-tight. “For years, they thought it was only Sophia. I knew better.” A muscle twitched in his jaw. “I could kill them both for hiding you.”
He weighed her with an assessing look. “You have no idea how much depends on you being found at the right moment,” he muttered quietly, almost to himself. “There are those who have waited for someone like you. I made a promise I intend to keep.”
Audrey recoiled and snarled, “I don’t know what you’re looking for, but I’m not it,” shoving him as hard as she could. Her hands pushed against him, but he barely rocked back.
“Maybe not,” he said. “Let’s find out.”
Power leaked from him, and something latent in her answered, vibrating throughout her blood. She couldn’t tell what was his and what was hers anymore. “Stay the fuck away,” she said.
“No,” he replied, flat and final. “In fact, I’m going to push, and we’ll see if whatever’s swimming under your skin wants to come out.” His knuckles skimmed her cheek again.
Anger inundated her, hot and thick. “Push me,” she warned. “You’ll regret it.”
He didn’t stop touching her. If anything, his hand lingered, daring her. A snarl built in her, starting as a growl and ending as something rawer, almost desperate.
Audrey was suddenly very sure of one thing: if cornered, she wouldn’t break—she’d burn.
Heat crawled up her wrists.
At first, she thought it was adrenaline. Then, the air glimmered as bright light shone between her fingers.
Audrey looked down. Gold flames poured from her hands, intoxicating her.
Mihail watched wide-eyed. A ribbon of heat snapped out, striking his arm. The smell of scorched fabric and flesh saturated the air. Shock broke through his composure. “Well,” he whispered. “That’s new.”
No one moved for a beat.
Sophia lay unmoving on the pavement, the rope half-loosened around her wrists. An emotion worse than fear shone in her eyes—it was resignation, like she was overwhelmed by finality. Behind Audrey, Emerson’s rough, pain-filled breathing stuttered. Fearful awe replaced his earlier pain. Mihail no longer touched her like a curiosity. He withdrew, his eyes shifting from cold calculation to something predatory.
Their attention crawled over Audrey’s skin, leaving a stinging ache. She’d always wanted power—if only for escape, revenge, or survival—but the instant it became real, apprehension had taken over as she sensed them recalculating her value. Strength didn’t feel as expected. It was terrifying and lonely, but most of all? Irreversible. Because the fire had come from her, and it could not be undone.
Mihail shook his hand out, fingers flexing as if he could fling the burn from his skin. His eyes thinned to shards of black as he watched her, then his knuckles scraped slowly over the stubble on his jaw, thoughts flying in that liquid, alien tongue.
The gold receded from Audrey’s hands.
After a long, measuring moment, his look changed—curiosity edged with hunger. “It’s buried deep,” he said. “But I can’t take you to him unless I’m sure.”
