Page 110 of The Awakening of Essensia

“How’s your throat?” she said, cocking her head, remembering the blow she’d dealt him all those weeks ago before Kolborn was killed.

“You little bitch,” he snarled, surging forward and reaching for her.

She grabbed his wrist and twisted, throwing him to the ground, then walked towards the mat, her palms stinging dangerously.

Lukas caught her wrist. The rage surged like a wild beast in her chest. She gritted her teeth, trying to swallow it, but he was behind her now, the heat rolling off him like a furnace. He yanked her arm back, pain jolting in her shoulder as he dragged her closer. Her pulse thundered.

She wasn’t in the training hall anymore. She was outside the chapel and Elijah’s hand, not Lukas,’ was holding her. Her breath came faster, her chest tightened.

Phantom hands brushed her waist. Her neck. The curve of her ear. Her head spun, her breaths coming in short, ragged gasps.

“Looks like it’s not just the sense he fucked out of you,” Lukas said, louder now.

Fury rose. Her control unravelled with it, slipping from that hollow place where she’d kept it coiled tight.

He laughed. “Must’ve shoved his cock so far down your—”

Blinding light flared and Lukas flew back. Vaelira staggered, her hands trembling.

Trembling, and engulfed in flame.

Someone screamed. Lukas lay crumpled against the far wall. His sleeve was burned away, the skin beneath raw and blistered. Bile rose in her throat. She hadn’t meant to hurt him, she’d just wanted him to let go.

“Merciful Gods,” Ressa whispered.

Vaelira turned slowly. Everyone was backing away, eyes fixed on her. Master Lorven stood in the centre of the room, his gaze steady and cold.

Her hands dropped to her side, the fire vanishing.

That’s when she saw them. Guards swarmed into the room, pushing past recruits, golden crests glinting at their necks. She didn’t recognise a single face. The fear hit harder this time. She’d done the one thing she was never supposed to do.

“Hold on,” Fang said, stepping to block the guards.

Vaelira stifled a sob. Even now, he was trying to protect her.

“She didn’t mean to—she didn’t—”

“Don’t,” Vaelira said softly, stepping around him. “It’s not your fight.”

She let the Guards take her.

Jurah sat across from her, his desk cluttered with parchment. The guards had been dismissed, but he hadn’t spoken. He hadn’t even looked at her.

“I didn’t mean to,” she said. “I lost control. I didn’t want to hurt him.”

“Didn’t you?”

She shrank back. She had wanted to hurt him. “Not like that.”

Jurah closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. “This is why Elijah’s been so secretive, isn’t it? Why he insisted you could help with these summonings.”

“What’s going to happen to me?”

“I don’t know. I’ll speak with the High Chancellor.”

Her voice was small. “You don’t hate me?”

His laugh surprised her, though it was laced with something bitter. “No, Vaelira. I do not hate you.”