Firebird by K. Gorman

Author:K. Gorman [Gorman, K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

*

Fire licked at her fingers. Mieshka stared at it in the mirror, fingers curled slightly as the flames danced at their tips.

She’d never figured herself as a Fire person before this. Never thought about it much. The Fire Element had been popular in childhood games, and her orange hair had certainly made her prime for the Element, but the Mages and their Elements had been far away from Dione, her small, seaside hometown, as opposed to the more-central Terremain and Ryarne.

Which was probably why it had been one of the first to fall when Swarzgard had started pressing the borders.

She tilted her hand and flexed her fingers. The fire tingled as it flitted over her skin, feeling like an affectionate pet. She’d turned off the light before she’d entered the bathroom. In the dark, it was only the fire that moved, its light catching on the faucets, the shower curtain, the curved edge of the fiberglass tub. In the mirror, the glow cast her face in amber; it made the shadows flick on her skin and caught the orange of her hair with strands of copper and gold. Her eyes stared back, their brown irises partially visible in the shadow.

They weren’t glowing now.

Footsteps shuffled on the carpet outside. A shadow blocked the light underneath the door.

“Mieshka?” her father asked softly.

She met her gaze in the mirror for one more second, then let the fire extinguish on her hand. Heat lingered in the air as she turned to the door.

“Yeah?”

The floor creaked outside. After a moment, he spoke again.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”

Another pause. She saw the shadow shift slightly. The floor creaked outside.

“It’s late,” he noted.

She examined the door. After a second, she pulled it open.

He looked much the same as before—same rough, loose shirt, same sweatpants. But he’d been more active around the house tonight—as she’d packed, he’d made more trips to and from his room than he usually did. She thought she’d heard extra rustling in his room, too. Twice, something heavy had hit the wall between them.

She knew the signs. He was restless. And she’d bet he was restless for much the same reason as she was.

Worry, guilt, grief… perhaps feeling a little bit left out.

But she didn’t want to deal with it right now.

She crossed her arms as she leaned against the doorframe. His eyes flicked over her, searched her face.

“Can’t sleep?” He didn’t ask about the dark bathroom.

“Yeah. Slept most of the day.”

An awkward silence crept in. She didn’t see any need to fill it. They looked back and forth at each other. She saw him gather himself, take in a deep breath.

Crap. Was he going to have one of those father-daughter talks?

“Mieshka, if you ever need to—”

She cut him off. “I thought I’d go over to Robin’s.”

He stopped short and frowned. “It’s past midnight.”

“She’s awake. I’ve been talking to her all night.”

She thought that might get him to relax—proof that she had been talking to someone, instead of being holed up in her room. Or in a dark bathroom, as the case may be.

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