Page 31 of Commanding Flame and Shield
He bobbed his head once and ran his long fingers through his hair again. I stared for a moment at that one nervous tick, betraying how deeply his emotions affected him, and wondered what those shiny strands would feel like against my skin.
“I can’t explain it. I couldn’t in the moment, either. But. You’ve been out for hours, and I’ve had time to think it all over, to analyze the way everything played out. I didn’t have the word for the pain I felt. But it was grief, Alvara.Grief.” He let out a long breath, eyes on his hands clasped between wide knees.
“I’m sorry,” I finally whispered. “Sorry you felt that.”
“Not sorry you about took yourself away from—from us.” He turned his face up to look at me. This was personal. An old hurt we’d have to face sooner rather than later.
I shook my head, gently coming to sit on the bed beside him as I softened my voice. “It’s just one cycle, August. If I have to come back through to keep a soul safe in its mission, so be it.”
The anger rolled off him again, the intensity of it flashing in his eyes, and sparks jumped between his fingers. The reaction caught his attention too, and the heat settled instantly. He stared at his hands.
“Nice trick.” I flashed him my most effective smile.
“It’s gold, like yours.”
“August,” I chuckled, “I don’t conjure lighting.”
His dark brow furrowed, and he cocked his head to the side. “Bullshit you don’t. You killed all those Renown with it.”
“Well. I hadn’t ever conjured lighting before. Not until yesterday when you…”
“You think I gave you the lighting?!” He chortled a panicked laugh.
“I mean. I don’t know how else to explain it. You were there, for the first time—kind of a badass, by the way—you threw energy at me. Something sparked across the air like static, and I was able to shove them from us with a burst of energy I didn’t have left to give. And then, the next time you were scared…”
“You were the lightning bearer.”
I nodded.
“That doesn’t make sense. I got the sparks from you. Not the other way around.”
“August. I’ve been battling demons, and Renown for over three centuries, and not once have I channeled electricity. You show up. And I explode with a wave of it I can’t explain? You got another theory?”
He shook his head, and finally broke that penetrating gaze. He stared up at the misty, evasive ceiling for a long moment before his voice came out, hushed and husky again.
“I…I knew what you were going to do before you did it. That’s why I yelled for them to fly.”
“Why you commanded them to fly,” I corrected.
“I didn’t know I could do that, either.”
“You’re an infant, August. We have no idea what you’re capable of at this point. But they were forced to obey. You made them fly.”
“Apparently we don’t do that?”
I shook my head. “Only true angels fly. We can jump from one point to another, as they can. But only angels actually…levitate off the ground, in a controlled manner. Or at least, only angelshavebeen able to fly. Evidently you knew something the rest of us didn’t.”
A gentle, crooked smile broke free of his indignation.
“I mean. That’s kind of cool.”
“Big first day, kid.”
August rolled his eyes. “Why do you and Aren insist on calling me that?”
“Because you’re a child.” I laughed, and he shook his head.
“I guess, when your mentor is a millennium old,” he said with a shrug, “that really does make me a newborn.”
