Reborn in Fire by Kasey MacKenzie

Author:Kasey MacKenzie [Mackenzie, Kasey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-11-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Footsteps sounded on the wooden deck, unusually loud in the twilight air. Something about their rhythm told me it was Jake. Either that, or the thrill racing through my heart when I sensed his presence. Not that I wanted to analyze the fact I could sense his presence. I stubbornly kept my gaze fixed on the horizon, head propped on knees as I listened to the crickets sing.

“It won’t kill you to look at me, you know.”

He sat down beside me and dangled his legs over the edge. The ease with which he did so told me that his injury was a thing of the past. Ironically, despite our earlier date, I still wasn’t sure I wanted to be a thing of the future. Of his future. I’d had hours to think about what had happened in the conservatory, and about the things Liam had said; the sheer fury with which he’d launched himself against his brother; and, most of all, the fact that Jake still hadn’t confessed just what had happened to his other brother. Jake’s own family harbored a grudge against him, even if Liam had been the only one honest enough to give it voice—and fists.

“Tell me about Colin.”

“I don’t talk about him.”

“Tell me about Colin,” I repeated, enunciating each word with careful precision, “or I leave. Tomorrow.”

His hand clamped down on my shoulder and spun me to face him. I didn’t fight; simply looked into his eyes and let him see the emotions warring behind my own. He sagged away from me. Clenching his fists beside him, he let out an explosive breath of air. “I’ll tell you about him, this one and only time.”

I nodded.

“Colin was my twin, younger than me by twenty minutes. Twins are rare for Elementals. Usually the magic prevents them being conceived, or kills one during the pregnancy. Those who do survive often—well, often their mother doesn’t. Most Quatrains can’t buffer that amount of magic, you see.”

Thinking back to what he’d revealed about my own mother, I did see.

“We got lucky, damned lucky. Or maybe I should say I got lucky. Seems I inherited the lion’s share of magical abilities, while Colin inherited the looks, charms, and brains.”

Secretly I doubted that.

“Oh, he was a Dragon, same as me, but yet not the same at all. Our birth didn’t produce twice the amount of magic that it should have: much closer to one and a quarter. Colin was a—a magical cripple in many respects; not that any of us ever called him that. No, despite the fact he couldn’t touch the rest of the family in the magical department, he was the golden child. Or maybe because of that fact.”

His gaze locked on the same horizon I’d been staring at earlier, though I doubted he actually saw the sun sinking behind it. “Because he didn’t seem to share any of our strengths, Colin assumed he also didn’t share our weaknesses. He became convinced the wildness wouldn’t touch him as soon or as hard as it touched the rest of us.

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