“The Mistrael Mountains, specifically Faelmont. There’s less chance of you destroying something up there when you lose control.”
I tried to take offense at the fact that he just assumed I’d lose control, but I realized he was probably right.
“We can’t just find someplace to practice here?” Finn asked for me.
“You want to risk her burning the castle?” was Azar’s snide response.
I looked around. “It’s stone.”
Azar gave me a pitying look. “Anything can burn, dear princess, if you want it enough.”
Okay then.
He looked at Finn. “Where’s that brother of yours?”
Finn shrugged. “Out.”
The single word smacked into me with such force I was surprised I didn’t stagger. Ire flooded through me, narrowing down to a single thought: Griff wasgone? Without telling me? Would have been nice if he’d given me a heads-up he was leaving again. Or checked in with me, oranything, after yesterday.
What the hell was so important that he had just left without saying goodbye?
Before I could ask Finn these questions, Azar sighed heavily and pulled out a chain with a medallion on the end. “I guess we’re doing it this way. Brace yourselves.”
He grabbed both of our hands and spun us into the ether. Unlike my few times teleporting with Griff, this onehurt. We were battered and pounded back and forth, bruising forces shuttering us, almost forcing us to lose our grips on one another.
We landed hard. I fell to my knees and retched.
“I should have warned you,” Finn said ruefully, gently rubbing my back as I heaved up the contents of my stomach. “Using an essence-wrought medallion for teleporting is a significantly rougher form of travel than going with a teleporter. And Griff is one of the best.”
He handed me a waterskin. Wordlessly, I swished it around my mouth and spat, then finally took in my surroundings. We were on top of a mountain, in the middle of a mountain range. Snowcrunched under our feet—or in my case, knees. Thank Erde they had provided me with fleece-lined boots and clothes.
The back of my neck prickled with the feeling of being watched. I turned around, but saw nothing except a snowy landscape. As my nausea faded, I started to feel the chill, and pulled my coat around me. Nothing said fire practice like flirting with hypothermia.
“All recovered?” Azar asked, already turning away before I could respond. “Let’s begin.”
Finn extended a hand and hauled me up. “Don’t let him fluster you,” he said, for my ears only. “Whatever he throws at you, you can handle.”
I tried to believe Finn as Azar took a few sticks from the pocket of his coat. Clearing snow from a section of ground, he placed them in the center. Hovering his hand over it, flames burst from his hand to the sticks, instantly catching. I moved toward it, drawn by the heat and the power.
“I do not expect you to be able to generate your own fire yet, so we must have something to practice with.”
“I’m glad we’re setting the bar so low this morning,” I muttered.
Finn smothered a laugh and gave me an encouraging smile.
I stretched my hand over the fire, and the flames danced up to me, barely tickling my hand. I pulled it back by instinct, but I wasn’t burned.
“It recognizes you.” Was that surprise in his voice? “Reach your hand out again and transfer it from the wood to your palm.”
I looked at him, only slightly comprehending.
“Do it. Now,” he barked.
I stretched my hand out again, and immediately, it danced up to me, this time roving over my fingers. I cupped my hand and pulled it upward, some of the flames lingering over my palm. Well, shit, it had worked. But this was all instinctual. I had no idea what I was doing.
“Now put it back with the others,” he ordered.
I did as he said, and it felt like the flames reluctantly wentto rejoin the others. I examined my hand again; the skin was unchanged, though it wasn’t nearly as cold.
