Page 42 of Commanding Flame and Shield
He snorted. “Is he accustomed to threatening our family to prove a point?”
For a moment, I evaluated the wording in his question.Our family. We were soul family, in a bizarre celestial way.
“No, that’s more Ansel’s style. Aren, even, if he needs to push someone into their strength. Something about you…well—something about the energy of the world right now—it makes us anxious. Everything feels urgent. Like trouble is around the corner and we’re out of time. None of our seers have cast a vision to explain it. He’s probably as anxious as I am.”
“Great,” he said, flippantly. I laughed and laid back on the ground. The stars were my favorite part of being on Earth, or at least, they were one of them. August sighed, and I could feel the heat of his gaze on my profile. “What about you? Was I lucky to get you?”
I scratched my head for a moment, before finally whispering, “I hope so.”
SEVENTEEN
TRAINING
ALVARA
The ground rattled beneath my feet, pine needles shuddering across the dirt, as a chasm split open in front of us. Up soared a shard of broken earth, a great sheet of stone, mud, grass, and moss rising in front of us like a wall. I turned my head, and narrowed my eyes before twisting my hands, and punching one forward with all the energy I could muster. The attack soared, an invisible torpedo, and the wall burst apart, showering us in mud and grime. Fragments of rock flew past my face, soil caking in my hair, and splattering my skin.
Before the dirt was even cleared, a wave of water poured down, and I threw up an energetic shield, grunting with the effort of holding it as the force slid my bare feet into the warm, wet muck that smooshed between my toes. I twisted, shouting with the force of my parry, and the water flew into the woods behind us, flooding the forest floor with a small wave. Trees dripping, I narrowed my focus, and sucked in a breath that moved my target with it. I pulled a large fallen log up and over my head, before tossing it across the clearing towards Alec. He threw his arms up, and redirected its momentum telekinetically, tossing it back to the ground with an impact so jarring it jolted through the earth. I felt the wind start to draw out from the ground, and a low whistle sounded like a distant train barreling towards me.
I felt the smirk on my face.Oh no you don’t, sucker. Wind is mine.
Pulling in a gasp of breath, I closed my eyes, throwing my arms out towards the ground and spreading my fingers as wide as I could, pulling my power up from the core of the earth. With a shout, and a clap of my hands, the wind forced forward in a barreling wall, and Alec was thrown flat onto his back. I could feel it knock the wind from him, and stepped forward, grinning at the twisted smirk on his face. I shook my head, and telekinetically pinned him to the ground until he relented, giving two solid taps to the earth below him.
When I released him, he immediately leapt to his feet, breathless laughter crossing the clearing to us. Fae gave me a round of golf clap, and August joined in. I could feel his grin before I even turned around. Everything about August was energetically palpable, like I should be able to reach out and touch his enthusiasm or scoop a handful of joy from the air.
Our endless demonstrations, trainings and sparring matches had filled the week following Alec’s gutsy fire stunt, and his energy had returned to unabashed fascination.Magic, he called it. It was the easiest way to explain what we could do, in all reality. But I picked up on enough of August’s thoughts to know his smug grin was mostly from watching Alec get his ass kicked time and time again by the same woman he’d pretended to threaten only days before. He didn’t seem to mind that he would also get schooled any time we went toe to toe. To be fair, he liked me too much to burst into flame, or turn me into a kabob with his sizzling personality. He was learning quickly and would be lethal the moment he needed to be.
Days stretched into weeks, and our evenings were spent laughing, reading, playing games, and telling stories around the fire, while taking turns on the guitar. Listening to August sing was as deep of a spiritual experience as I'd had in a few centuries. His voice was electric—just like his gift—and I’d found myself lulled to sleep more than once, listening to his quiet serenade to the fire as it flickered into coals.
It was the kind of peace that only came once or twice a century, and not something I took for granted for even a moment.
The fire was nearing its end one evening, Fae contentedly dreaming on Alec’s chest. Nervous we’d wake them with our chatter, August and I had escaped out onto the front lawn. The evenings had grown longer since we’d been up in our hideaway, and I realized with a jolt that it was September.
The restfulness on the mountain had lulled me into a fireside haze of complacency…and something else. Contentedness?
But now it was time for us to move on, to get back into the grind of a battle so much larger than us, and for August to face the music he’d never asked for. He needed to do right by Layla, by his family, and his company.
After a long pause of silence, August, all smiles, caught my eye. “So...what now?”
“Now? Now we need to bring you back to civilization. We’ll create trails for you to follow, and you can practice the hunt.”
“Sounds like fun?” It was a question, his tone hesitant.
“It is, I promise. You’ll do fine, August.”
He nodded, silent for a long minute. “Am I safe to go home?”
I knew the question was long overdue, but my heart sunk despite myself. I forced a smile across my face and gave him one quick nod of approval.
“Home,” he whispered. “Why does it feel like I don’t even know what that means anymore?”
“Your people are your home, August. And yours need you.”
“Aren’t you my people?”
“Yes. But so are they—your family deserves an explanation. Have you thought of what you’re going to tell them?”
“Yes, and no. Yes, I’ve thought about it. Endlessly. But I don’t know what to say. I’ve never lied to them—any of them. I’m not sure how to continue that dynamic now.”
