She pushed those thoughts away. If she let a sudden surge of anxiety about getting separated from Logan keep her from doing her best to get them out, she would never forgive herself. If she sabotaged their escape because of that kind of neediness, even unintentionally, she woulddeserveto have him never speak to her again.
She needed to concentrate.
She folded her wings down her back, gathering a prickly wave of fire inside her chest.
> Logan said.
She leaned into the strength he was offering her, savoring the feeling of his intensity burning away all the worries and uncertainties inside her. Everything unimportant dwindled down to ashes and blew away.
>
She imagined the bright fire in his eyes added to the kindling inside her.
The crackling glow in her chest was unbelievable. It was like she had lit an ordinary campfire, and it was building up and up until it was as hot and bright as any sun.
The dragonfire that had scared Sebastian? She and Logan had created thataccidentally. She hadn’t even been able to tell the difference.
This was a completely different story.
> she said distantly. It was like she could barely hear her own thoughts over the roar of the building flames. >
She felt Logan shooing them back. They retreated, and Iz could feel their confusion and interest.
They weren’t afraid, even though they could tell something was building. They were never afraid of her and Logan, only of Sebastian.
Now the fire wasn’t just building in her chest, it was running through her veins, scorching her. It was like her whole body was forked with white-hot lightning.
Sebastian was right to believe they could harm him. This didn’t just have the potential to burn through dragon-forged obsidian. This could burn throughanything.
Iz had never felt anything like it, and she didn’t know if she would ever feel anything like it again.
If this was all she and Logan would ever have, it was still worth it.
She took aim at the glossily black stone wall of her cell. For weeks, this wall had looked like an unbreakable barrier, part of what made Randolph Sebastian’s house of horrors into a veritable fortress.
Now, she thought.
Now,she heard Logan think.
She roared a seemingly endless wave of blistering, supercharged flame.
She didn’t even stop to check that it was working. She worried that if she let go of this incredible power for even a second, she would never get it back again. It was now or never.
It felt like she was screaming out fire. All she could see were the flames she was creating, rippling shades of blue and white and violet that were like no dragonfire she had ever seen. Heat bloomed against her scales as the temperature built up and up. It was swelteringly hot now.
Throughout it all, she could feel Logan. He was giving her all he had to spare and then some.
They were made for this. They were made to do it together.
Iz didn’t know how long the fire burned. It felt like it might have been hours. She wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that it was days.
Finally, though, she coughed. Black smoke billowed out, filling her cage and keeping her from seeing what she had done.
Or hadn’t done. Her throat felt horribly raw. What if all this had been for nothing?
She thrashed at the smoke with her tail and fanned it away with her wings, trying to clear the air enough to see. Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst.
There was a hole in the rock.