Ignited (Fire Within Series Book 2) by Ella M. Lee

Author:Ella M. Lee [Lee, Ella M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ella M. Lee
Published: 2020-07-20T16:00:00+00:00

Hey, I’m sorry. Can we talk?

His reply took a few minutes.

Yeah. I’m home. Come over?

Violet and I once got into an argument. It was worse than any previous argument we’d had, probably because it was about a man. She was dating a guy that I hated. I thought he was a cruel blockhead—Flame seemed to attract a shocking number of those—but she liked him for whatever reason and resented my sarcastic and derogatory comments.

We didn’t speak outside of clan business for a month. When we finally managed to remove the wedge between us, I found it had left tiny, annoying splinters that wouldn’t go away. Violet never talked about relationships with me again, at least not with any seriousness. We had so much to talk about between us that it hardly mattered, but it had hurt to realize, nonetheless. I hadn’t known how to get that piece back. Reassembling a broken vase of trust was not easy.

I didn’t want that to happen with Daniel.

When I arrived at Dan’s apartment, he was in the middle of shaping dough into buns. He eyed me warily when I came through the door, but he didn’t say anything.

“Pineapple buns. Boh loh bao,” I said, attempting their name in Cantonese and likely butchering it, walking over to examine his work. Even unbaked, I recognized their distinctive shape and sugary yellow topping.

“My mom used to make them all the time,” he said, his voice soft. “I haven’t had time to bake in a while. I’m usually better.”

I put my arms around him. “They are beautiful,” I said, eyeing the perfectly shaped buns, remembering that I had eaten them before, in my first few days here.

“Thanks,” he said. He smiled tentatively, leaning into my embrace.

I always loved hugging Daniel. He was oddly solid and powerful for someone so fine boned, with ribbons of muscles and a ton of very impressive magic that always playfully grappled with mine when the two met.

I let go after another few moments and leaned against the counter, watching him. “I’m sorry. I overreacted. Of course you can have breaks, and of course you shouldn’t have to tell me.”

He started to speak, but I held up a hand.

“It’s been hard for me, starting over here,” I said. “Not having a single friend, or even a single familiar face. No one who knows what books I’ve read, or my favorite color, or that I love to watch figure skating competitions, or that I really hate crunchy peanut butter. You all lost a group member in Vienna—that’s my fault, and I hate it, I really do—but I lost my whole life. I had everything taken away. Every possession, every person I knew, every plan and dream I had for myself, everything I loved. I thought you of all people would understand that.”

I paused. Daniel was watching me now, his gaze serious.

“You’ve been so nice and so friendly that I forgot we’ve only been close to each other for weeks and not years,” I said. “I have so little in my life that I forgot I’m only a tiny part of yours.

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