Page 22 of The Fury She Holds
“Oh, don’t look at me like that.” He wagged a finger at her. “I’ve known about you since the first time you entered my shop, and I haven’t uttered a word of you, your specialty, or your raggedy crew to anyone.” He turned and hummed, packaging the healing elixirs, including a small jar with a dropper of warm brown dye for her irises.
She watched the man closely but saw no sign to indicate a lie. Her payment scraped the counter when she pushed it toward him.
“A pleasure as always, Miss Talwyn,” he said as he pocketed the coin and then disappeared behind a door in the back.
Tal stashed the glass vials in a satchel over her shoulder and returned to the tunnels, anticipating the ice-like sting Septimus warned would accompany the new formula for her eye color.
Evania and Janin fell asleep early that evening, and everyone joined together in the common area. A plate of jerky sat on the crate-turned-table. Rainier lay across a pile of hay and blankets while Egan and Carrick kicked a hard ball back and forth. Sybil sharpened her knives in the corner, a frown on her face.
“Septimus knows about my magic.” Talwyn sat cross-legged on the floor, sewing a patch into one of her shirts.
All activity halted.
Carrick’s shoulders hunched against the tension filling his muscles. “Is he going to be a threat?”
Sybil tapped her head. “He’s on our side, for now.”
“How long has he known?” Rain asked.
“No idea, but he says I need to control it, or it’ll burn right through his formulas.”
“Then we work on controlling it.” Sybil didn’t look up from her weapon.
“Isn’t that what she’s been doing?” Egan stopped the ball when Carrick kicked it to him.
“Apparently not enough.” Tal sighed. “I’m not sure what more I can do.”
“You continue to train,” Rainier said. “I think the warnings about madness in Sybil’s vision alone is enough to prove how necessary it is.”
“I’m not going to go mad,” Tal grumbled to herself as she set her sewing aside and pulled a strip of leather out of her pocket. She placed it in front of her, and everyone returned to theirtasks. While she attempted to ignite the strip with her magic, the effort sapped her energy with each strike. She warred between frustration and reassurance, knowing each attempt built a tolerance.
“Try not to grasp the magic. Let it flow through you.” The metal of Sybil’s knife scraped across the whetstone.
Tal ran a hand through her hair. “What does that even mean?”
Rain rested his elbows on his knees. “You’re thinking too much of your magic like something within you. Imagine it’s a part of you. When you want to use your fury, it’s as easy as lifting your hand, as easy as breathing.”
She paused and considered his words, reluctant to let go of the hold she had on her magic. Then, with the words “part of me” repeating in her head, she took a deep breath, imagining it flowing through her like her own blood and forced it out quickly. A stream of fire appeared two paces from her mouth and careened toward the leather. It blasted into the fabric, incinerating it in place. The stream continued across the small space, setting fire to hay and blankets alike.
Rain yelped and rolled off the burning pile while Carrick and Egan jumped into action stamping out the flames. Sybil didn’t do so much as look up from her seat on the opposite wall. Frustrated, Talwyn swore at herself, slapping at a half-burned blanket.
“That’s new.” Rainier winced and smacked an ember off his trousers.
“You breathed fire!” Egan exclaimed, putting out the last flame and coming to stand beside Talwyn. “Do it again!”
“Absolutely not!” Talwyn asserted, aghast. She would set fire to the lot of them if she tried again.
“Come on! That was incredible!”
“It could prove pretty useful in a fight.” Rain nodded with approval, but edged his way to the room’s exit, destroying all ofTal’s self-confidence. Sybil sat yet unmoved while Carrick came to Tal’s other side.
“Not here. I don’t think we can afford to keep replacing blankets.” Tal considered the Kiln, but she didn’t want to get too far from the children.
“Over the water then,” Carrick said. His big brows pulled down in concentration. The setting sun would be level with the water’s surface, sending fiery reflections everywhere. No one would notice an extra flame or two.
Egan bounced on the pads of his feet like a giddy child, which helped relieve some of the worry coiled in her chest.
They marched to the tunnel opening over the river, and Tal’s heart raced as her friends gathered around expectantly. She gave the group a tentative smile, and took a deep breath, focusing on a piece of rubbish floating down the river. Heat built in her chest until it climbed up her throat. With a huff, she breathed a fiery stream past her target. It skipped across the surface before it dissipated. Despite the feat, she couldn’t help but notice the tightness in her chest. She was still holding back.
