Lyra Cinder is cast out from the Fort, the largest remaining training settlement for human mages outside of the Alliance. Without a killer extinct and far too much use of her conscience, she is of no use to the mages who have refused peace with thei...
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Lyra was lying out on her bedroll around nighttime, but she couldn't much sleep so she turned to Brand where he was half snuggled on her arm. They'd been together for so long that he thought he was part of her sometimes. He was hard to shake when he got this clingy, mostly because he was built up of the same muscle a blacksmith would have.
Forging metals was a difficult and grueling process, and even though Brand could bend it to his will, he could not forge mage weapons without fire. The Ingots, though few in number, were the original makers of the mage weapons. The practice had been passed out to many great mage houses, but a weapon made from an Ingot was still more powerful than any.
What was a smith without a forge though? Since Brand had left the Fort, he practiced his magic and trained every day, but he hadn't held a hammer or worked magic through their sacred ore in some time. It was like stealing the calling right out from under a mage learning the euphoria of its companionship. Thinking about what he'd lost when he'd walked out with her had her threading her fingers through his hair and kissing him lightly on the forehead. If only she didn't bring her misfortune with her wherever she went.
"You care for him deeply," Lorenzo said, his voice just a hush from where he sat at the base of a tree a few yards from them. Unlike the humans, he didn't get as much sleep at night, so he sat watch more often than not.
"Brand and I have been through a lot together," Lyra said, sitting herself up and shifting Brand down to her lap so she could talk to Lorenzo without waking him up. "Do you not have anyone like that?"
"That I've been through hardship with? Or that I kiss on the forehead before bed?" Lorenzo's smile showed all of his teeth in the moonlight, and she rolled her eyes. No matter how snide he acted, he was beautiful under the moonlight, his light hair shining as liquid gold under the stars and matching the blue glow of his white shirt under the moonlight well.
"Don't worry, I wasn't asking if you had a girlfriend. Any woman would have dumped you ages ago if you've been on this pity pilgrimage for as long as you say." The jab had Lorenzo twisting his mouth into a frown, but she wasn't going to play the teenage crush card on a guy who found her so repulsive he wouldn't even touch her when he drank from her neck.
Thinking about it still stung.
"Why do you want me to want you?" Lorenzo asked so abruptly that Lyra jumped and turned a deep shade of red that even the night couldn't hide. "Vampires can smell emotions, as I said when we met. I can scent your attraction to me as easily as your frustration, and I do not understand you."
"Why are you still hanging around if you don't want me?" Lyra ground out with frustration, but it lessened as his lips twisted and he averted his gaze.
If she had two working brain cells, she'd say that meant he did want her, but she also was young and had no self-esteem. Some aged powerful vampire like him could be hiding with them for any number of reasons unrelated to her.
