Secret Heir (Dynasty #1)(66)
Layla’s expression is shocked for a moment, but she quickly recovers and is moving again.
She retaliates with another blast of fire, this time there’s wind swirling it and she creates her own whirlwind but this one is made of flame. I react almost instantly, some primal part of me holding a knowledge that my conscious state is not aware of. I summon a wave of water which swallows the fire, extinguishing it in less than a second.
Barely conscious of my own actions, I summon lightning as thunderbolts hurl down from the sky. Ice hails down on the field as the ground rumbles and quakes. Another round of gasps breaks out from the bleachers.
The fear is clear on Layla’s face as I step forward, the storm around me raging stronger. I’m not in control of my own body. I can feel nothing, can think of nothing but the connection, the storm raging around me until I become the storm. The power is dizzying, I can feel the danger in it, something that I have never felt before because in that moment, it feels like the entire universe is in my hands and such power is infinitely dangerous.
I should stop then. But I don’t. I stretch out both my arms and the power recedes like a tsunami pulling back before unleashing its final wave of destruction. I can feel the air shifting, changing. What came before feels like nothing compared to what’s roiling in my veins in that moment.
The sky above the field darkens until day becomes night and the gasps and exclamations from the crowd becomes dead silence. Tapping into the power of night, the power which runs most potent in my blood feels exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. It feels like skydiving through the air or like drinking water for the first time after months in the desert or like taking the first breath after suffocating underwater. It feels like all of those things and none because nothing can really describe the raw power that I feel coursing through me in that moment.
I feel the shadows gathering around me, like a mist creeping along the ground, it thickens. The tendrils of darkness curl around me, ready to act on my command. The shadows are so dark that I know that if I were to release it from this darkness, none would emerge.
The power is consuming me, demanding that I release it. But something inside me stops me cold. This isn’t me. I’m not this person. I look over at Layla, let myself see what I’m about to do. The girl is frozen in place, her eyes wide with terror, the earlier venom replaced by a look of helpless fear.
Something inside me fractures as I drop onto my knees, the shadows receding and dissipating. The ground stills and the darkness disappears as I drop my head into my hands. What am I doing?
What comes next happens so fast, that I barely have time to register. The air thickens again as another arc of fire blasts towards me. I look up and catch a glimpse of Layla, her face contorting in fury as she directs the wave of fire towards me. Then there’s a flash of blinding light and something comes between me and the wall of flames, shielding me from it, moving faster than humanly possible.
It takes a moment to register that Raph is kneeling on the ground in front of me. His arms are around me as he shields me and he holds my head to his chest. His back absorbing the fire.
I pull away in shock and look up at him. Our eyes lock and something undefinable passes between us. Raph’s eyes are as dark and unfathomable as storm clouds, his expression unreadable.
Everything happens so quickly after that, Professor Roman, who had been standing paralyzed, is moving towards the field. Chaos breaks out on the bleachers.
Layla is moving towards where Raph is kneeling in front of me, a look of deadly heat in her eyes. Not a trace of the earlier helpless fear. Professor Roman is holding her back as he tells her to get off the field.
Raph doesn’t turn to look at them. His eyes are still intent on my face. I expect him to get up but he doesn’t pull away. His arms are still around me and something akin to fear spreads through me like wildfire.
“Are you okay?” Raph asks, his voice raw and thick with some emotion that I don’t understand.
“I’m fine.” I force myself to reply and at the same time force myself to let go of him.
Professor Roman dismisses the class early right then and everyone hurries away. I can see Dani and Keller waiting by the bleachers along with Lance and Baron.
“God, what the hell was that?” I ask as I stare up at Raph wide eyed and for a moment I forget how much I’m meant to hate him. That power, so raw, so potent. I’ve never felt anything like it. There was a seduction in that power, too, which made me feel like I was teetering on the edge of a knife blade. Goosebumps rise on my skin at the memory.
Raph’s eyes are as dark as midnight as he looks back at me.
“I don’t know, Jaz. I’ve never seen anything like that …”
Neither of us speaks, but we’re still standing there and it seems like neither of us wants to walk away either.
“It looks like you didn’t need all of that training after all,” he says finally, the ghost of his usual teasing smile playing on those sensuous lips. I can see that he’s still shaken, but I don’t know why because he’s made himself pretty clear about just how little he cares.
Except the way he’s looking at me just then, as if the shock of what just happened has stripped something away from him, leaving him raw and for a moment, it seems like whatever control he had been exercising all these months has finally dissipated.
Part of me is aware that we’re standing in a field with crowds of people around us, but it’s one of those moments between us when it feels like we’re the only two people in the vastness of time and space.