Page 86

Satisfaction rolled through me as I watched his eyes flame and what I’d predicted—and hoped for—happening actually transpired, and he let the rush of power get to him, his need to convey his raw might, as so often happened with dragons as a rule. And especially him, given why he’d been sent here, which Nyx had reported to me from his dreamwalking.

He pushed more into the flame and it doubled in size.

“You’re going to lose control,” I heard Ariana warning him, as I strained to hold anotherauditory enhancementspell in place. It was worth the discomfort to ensure things played out the way I’d intended when I’d made her partner with him,whilehe was in a state about her and his emotions were a little wild and unstable.

“Just let the magic flow, don’t overthink it so much. Be one with it and enjoy it infusing you,” he told her. “We can do much more than this mere experiment. Here, watch this.”

In the next moment, the fire flamed more wildly, sparks zapping in the process. A couple shot out toward the wall, but Ariana reacted quickly and snatched them out of the air with her free hand glowing a vibrant silver, the sparks disintegrating upon contact like they were nothing to her.Mmm, hot as hell.

Vorzyr got caught up in the combat aspect of it that had accidentally come about with her attacking his magic in a bid to contain it, and he pushed ever harder until the flames were raging out of control.

“Take it down!” the professor called out, while he was busy dealing with an explosion of water that surged like a tidal wave at one of the students from another, while he held it at bay with his own magic. Yeah, this was an advanced class for a reason. It was complicated to have these types of magic interacting and it took a great deal of control and precision,andout-of-the-box thinking to manage a task like this successfully.

Vorzyr refused to pull his power back. He knew it couldn’t hurther, she was far too durable for that. And he wanted to establish his animal dominance—over everyone. What I knew was also fueling him was the obsession that had been borne from him connecting with her the other night of theirdate, which had spawned a desperate need to infuse his magic with hers.

I watched as Ariana actually rose to the occasion for one of those very rare times, and thrust a glowing silver hand right through the raging draconic magic.

Vorzyr grunted as her magic radiated out from the center, then enveloped the flames entirely, before swallowing them whole until not a single spark was left.

“Motherfucker,” Vorzyr gasped, slapping his hands to the table to steady himself.

“You need to strike a better balance between raw power and control,” she told him.

She held her palm out andhisfire flamed upon it. “Here,” she said.

He clasped her hand in somewhat of a stunned daze and groaned as she returned his magic to him. She’d actually fucking stored it within her? That was… incredible.

She caught my eye as she helped a discombobulated Vorzyr back into his seat.

A smile lifted her lips and I saw the realization take her as to why I’d wanted her to pair up on this lab with him.

I wanted her to see in a safe environment what a loss of control of raw power like that which was so great from the likes of a dragon really looked like, for her to recognize the difference between that and how she saw herself,andfor her to also see how she had the means, knowledge, ability, and good instincts to counter it, howhergreat power could actually protect. Her focus was so much on thedestroyeraspect of what she was. I’d wanted her to see something that countered that.

And it had worked.

I smiled back at her.

She turned away, and I watched her comforting Vorzyr and giving him some advice—the shoe on the other foot for once.

It was good for her.

Really good.

Vorzyr lingeredas the last student left the classroom.

Nyx sat up on our desk, while I leaned against it, and watched as Ariana swept a glowing silver film over the room, performing aprivacyspell.

She eyed Vorzyr, and before she could get a word out, he told her, “I know you want me kept out of whatever this mission is, but I also need to ensure all is well, so I’m at least staying to hear about it.”

“All right,” she conceded.

He leaned against the door and watched as she strode over to Nyx and me.

I brought my hand to my forehead and wiped away a bit of sweat there, my hand trembling as I did so.

Of course, she noticed.

“Are you okay?” she asked me.