The Reckless Reign (Book 3, The Culled Crown Series)

Chapter 61

The Needle's Edge.
Gazda, Erydia.
Thursday night.

When Mim couldn't find a lantern for me to practice with, Jax sent word to Arden and asked for the exact ones he planned to use the next day. One oil and one kerosine. When they first arrived, Jax had wanted to jump right into distance training with them, but I'd argued against it. I wanted to get acquainted with the two different types of flame.

"What the hell does that mean?" He'd asked, bemused.

I'd only sighed. "Just...give me a few minutes."

Jax had obliged, leaving me alone to fiddle with the lanterns.

Essentially, fire was fire. But kerosine flame and oil flame felt different to me—they hissed and popped and curled in separate ways. And they burned differently too. The chemicals involved made the flames entirely separate in my mind. This was something I felt certain Arden had hoped for.

He didn't know a lot about my ability, so the use of two different types of lanterns would have been an educated guess. But Arden was clever and he'd assumed correctly. I would be able to tell the difference in the flames.

For a while, I sat on the floor of the basement and played with the lanterns. I lit them and let my ability kiss the flames there—become used to the sensation of it. In Third Corps, I'd become used to lighting fires at distance. That was entirely thanks to Kai and his bonfire task. He'd had me light and douse every one of the twenty-three bonfires in Third Corps.

I'd walked those same paths over and over again until I could feel the pulse of each fire, even when I was on the other side of camp. At the beginning, I'd needed to put my hand in the flame to control it. But by the end of my time in camp, I could have easily lit the fires without moving from my bed.

Keeping a pulse on the lanterns and monitoring those fires would be the same concept. If I knew where they were and what each flame felt like, I could do it. I would just need to focus and not lose track or confuse the flame with something else. I knew I could do that.

Jax, who was determined to leave nothing to chance, was less convinced. I'd only just doused the lanterns when he picked them up and announced, "I'm going for run. When I get where I'm going, I'll light one of the lanterns. You light the second one."

I shook my head. "It doesn't work like that. I have to know where the lanterns will be. Otherwise, I don't think I can just light them. This...this is all new to me. I've done something similar to this in Third Corps, but I knew those fires and exactly where they were. And they didn't move."

"There may not be time for you to go and find Arden's lookout point. You'll need to figure out how to know where they are, without knowing where they are."

I blinked at him. "Are you hearing yourself?"

He secured one of the lanterns to his belt and began backing towards the ladder. The small saferoom was mostly empty now, with many of our members having already gone to join up with the groups they'd be working with tomorrow. But those who still remained in the basement were watching us with curiosity.

Jax grinned wickedly, never taking his eyes off of me. It was disarming, that smile. It was perhaps the first true smile I'd seen from him in days. "You're goddess-touched," he said, simply. "You can improvise."

I laughed and pushed up from the floor. "No, I can't."

His brows rose in a challenge. "Bet."

I shook my head. "I can't just throw fire at nothing, Jax. I have to know where I'm aiming."