Destiny's Fire - By Trisha Wolfe Page 0,48

Let’s not lose focus.”

Jace beamed, his eyes squinting into his endearing, smoldering smile. He pulled my hands toward him and wrapped his arms around me in an intimate embrace. I guess this is slow for him, at least compared to the kiss. I hugged him.

He was still my Jace.

I pulled back, ready to find Nick and Lana, and Reese caught my eye. My heart plummeted. His eyes trailed over me and my hand holding Jace’s. His face pinched, then he turned his back to us.

He was acting just like the Narcos that had raised him. I gritted my teeth, and anger burned in the pit of my stomach like a ball of Flame.

Chapter Fifteen

I CUT OUT OF THE rec room early, slogging myself up the stairs to my unit instead of taking the lift. I didn’t like riding it alone. That cramped, mobile space weirded me out. After I put down my bag, I crashed on my bed, allowing the day to wash over me.

With all the guy drama renting too much space in my head, I’d almost forgotten about the headmaster’s vague speech today. Normally, Jace would be upset over something like that, accusing him of some conspiracy concerning the Narcos. But lately, ever since his change, he seemed to be more focused on me.

I didn’t think the Narcos were up to no good—at least not like Jace did—but the headmaster dodging the one thing we all truly wanted to know irked me. Why, after almost twenty years of living in segregated havens, were the Narcos here on a mingling mission to create peace that had already been established? Could Jace’s theory be right, and they really wanted to harness our power?

Great. Now I was reaching. Or, I just wanted anything else to think about. I was tired, ill feeling, and sick of trying to figure out what to do about Reese. Obviously, he’d made my decision for me. He didn’t feel what we shared was worth trying to work out. He didn’t even think I was worth the effort of talking things through. Well, if he was through with us and already moving onto another girl, I wasn’t going to reject and hurt my best friend while waiting for Reese to get over himself.

I admitted that what had happened sucked. But it wasn’t my fault. If he couldn’t see that, if he was too hotheaded to allow me an explanation…hell, if he was too proud to dump me face-to-face, then I’d give Jace the chance he asked for. At least someone in this sordid situation could be happy. And maybe, after I got Reese out of my system, I’d find that the feelings I’d been forming for Jace had been real all along. And that Reese—someone different, like me—had swooped in and blindsided me.

I looked at my reflection in my dressing mirror, nodding to myself in finality. We’d only spent a week together. It wouldn’t be that hard to get over him. But what a wickedly hot week. I banged my head against the mirror.

Frustrated, I threw myself across my bed and tossed my boot at the dial, outing the crystal lights.

For the rest of the week, I promised myself I’d focus on my studies. I buried myself in work from Mr. Liam’s class, taking on extra projects, only pausing long enough to sleep and meet the triplets in the janitorial basement for our secret training sessions. We’d decided sparring twice a week was the max. Any more, and we’d run the risk of getting caught. Even though I thought sneaking around was a bad idea, I loved being able to spar again. I vented my frustrations through my fists.

Nick quickly became frightened of me.

My Charge surpassed theirs. And even though I didn’t use my power at its full capacity, since I never shifted, I still won most matches easily. I purposely backed off, allowing Nick to whip me a couple times so he’d stop commenting on my “mad” skills.

As far as teachers went, Mr. Liam was actually cool. I loved learning how to infuse crystals, using my Charge in different devices to make them run on electricity instead of steam. I began working on my own private project. Mr. Liam was the professor who’d worked with Devon to develop the contraptions for Cogs, and he’d agreed to help me, also.

I hadn’t had time to think about my strange white power, which was good in some ways—I didn’t worry about it. But I was still concerned it would