I put my face in my hands and groaned. I could feel the sympathy pouring off Fed, but it was draped in heavy layers of fear. She was terrified. I looked up. "What's he got over on you? Why did you help him?"
She shook her head and lowered her voice. "You don't know what he can do to me, Saxony. He could destroy my life if he wanted to. He's that malicious. You're a lot stronger than me, and a lot stronger than Dante. You'll figure out a way out of this. But if I had said no to Dante, it’s game over. I'll never get into the university I want, and he can redirect my inheritance. He can make things go bad for me."
"Who is running the show here—Dante or Enzo?"
"Dante's got his own resources, Saxony." She lowered her voice to a whisper, her hands strangling each other in her anxiety. "None of the guys down there knew Nic. They don't even know what a magus is. Don't let them know what you are or there will be big trouble for you."
I shook my head. "Unbelievable. What benefit does Dante hope to get from exposing me to his friends?" Regret soured in my mouth. How could I have ever been attracted to him? Now that I knew him for who he was he had transformed from attractive to repulsive, from intriguing to evil, from charming to narcissistic.
A creak echoed from the stairs and Fed froze, her eyes wide. She took a book from the shelf beside her and plucked a pencil from a drawer nearby. She scribbled furiously on a page in the book. She showed it to me, saying in a normal tone of voice, "It's probably better if you go along with him. Or at least listen to what he has to say."
Her scrawl was difficult to make out and riddled with errors. I squinted at it. They r not his friends. They r recruits. The more witnesses 2 your abilities, the more he has against you. Levredge. He'll impress them by showing a supernatural, and make you think you need his protection, at same time. Dante doesn't think I have the guts to warn you. He asked me 2 cnvince you to show fire, 4 your benefit. Pls, don't give me away.
I'd seen enough. "Let’s go," I said, standing.
"Where?"
"I'm going to get us out of here."
She ripped out the page she'd written on, folded and put it in her pocket, and returned the book to the shelf. "This is not how I thought my day would go. Try not to burn down the house, okay?"
I didn't answer. That depends on Dante. The fire was licking along my spine and down my arms, warming my fingertips.
She followed me downstairs. When we stepped out onto the patio, the men stopped talking.
"I'm glad you're back," Dante said, standing. If he'd been hovering at the bottom of the stairs, he hid it well. He held a hand out to me. "I was just telling the guys you'll give them a demonstration of your power."
"Power?" I said, fixing my face with confusion. I took Fed by the hand. "Really not sure what you're talking about, Dante. But Fed and I were just leaving." I pulled her past the table and across the patio toward the rear gate. "Excuse us, guys. Buona serata. Have a nice evening.”
"Come on, Saxony." Dante said, following us. "She's a little shy about how amazing she is," he said to the table of guys who were watching with interest.
Some of them chuckled, but they still looked at ease, sipping their drinks, enjoying the evening.
Stepping in front of me, Dante took my hand from Fed and pulled me around to face the table. "Just a small demonstration? You don't have to do much. Just a little candle flame, that's all."
"What are you going on about?" I said, my eyes on Dante, my face a mask of bewilderment. My mother never called me a little actress for nothing.
Some of the men at the table shared confused looks of their own.
Dante frowned. "You don't need to pretend, Saxony. They all know what you are."
"Do you know what he's talking about?" I asked Fed. I regretted it the moment I saw her face. I had just put her in an impossible position. I had asked her to side with me against Dante and a bunch of guys he was trying to build trust with. If she did, she'd have an enemy for life. Fed crossed her arms and gave a slight shrug, which could have been interpreted in a lot of different ways.
I turned back to Dante. "I'd like to go home now."
The words had barely escaped my lips when a coiled fist hit me in the gut. The air whooshed out of me and I bent over. He hadn't hit me really hard, just enough to tell me he meant business—and enough to light the fire.
From the men at the table, there was nothing but breathless silence. If they were shocked that he'd just hit a girl in front of them, they didn't express it outwardly. I was more surprised than hurt, and I knew instantly what he was trying to do. The heat of the fire intensified and began to spiral through my arms.
"Come on, Dante, you don't have to do that," Fed said. I felt her hand on my back.
"Go inside, Fed. This doesn't concern you." Dante's voice was calm; he probably thought he had this demonstration in the bag.
From my view of the ground, I saw her feet walk past me slowly, back toward the house.
I took a few steadying breaths. I closed my eyes and gathered my thoughts. I tasted fear on the back of my tongue. It wasn't fear of Dante, though—it was fear of the fire. Fear of my own lack of control, fear of my own temper.
The boys were undoubtedly watching me with rapt attention. I tried to bring tears to my eyes, but they were too dry. I stood slowly, my face fixed with fear.
"Why are you doing this Dante?" I whimpered. "What did I ever do to you? I told you I'll never go out with you again. Why can't you just accept that?"
"Ha! That's rich," laughed one of the men. Then he spoke in Italian to the men sitting at the table. A few of them laughed, but others remained silent.
"Come on, Saxony." Dante bent close to my ear. "Just a little show. That's all we want to see. Preferably without too much violence."
A battle raged inside me. It was me versus the fire. I swallowed and turned to the men at the table, moving my hand to my stomach. They didn't need to know that Dante’s punch hadn't really hurt. "This is the kind of guy you want to work for? A coward who hits women?"
Crack. My head snapped to the side when Dante hit my right cheek with his open hand. My body spun sideways and I went down on one knee. My vision turned red, peppered with white stars. That one hurt. The flames leaped and boiled in my torso, their power building. My limbs began to quiver.
I didn’t know how long I’d be able to stay in control.
Thirty-One
The back yard was completely silent after that hit. I remained crouched, my face turned away from the men, my eyes closed. I should have cried out to add drama but it had so caught me by surprise that I hadn't made a sound. I took deep, steadying breaths. I pushed the men watching the show out of my mind, and Dante too. I went inside to where the heat was.
I need you to stay hidden. Work with me on this one, okay?
In response, the flames fuelled my limbs with more energy. Nothing would have satisfied me more than to fire a fist into Dante's face.
"Let it out, sweetheart." Dante's voice came from behind me. "You know you want to."
I fixed my face with a tearful expression, even though I had no water in my eyes. I pulled the heat away from my face like it was an elastic band. The line of heat strained at the base of my skull, wanting me to release it, to light my pupils up. But if I did that, I was so screwed.
"Let me go," I whimpered. I hated the sound of my own voice—weak, petulant. It felt so wrong when I had so much power at my disposal. I looked up at Dante, and put my hand out. "Please stop, I don't know what you want."
Dante made a sound of disgust. "Quit the act, Saxony. Don't make me hit you again."