Ignited

  Table of Contents

  Title

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Ignited

  Ella M. Lee

  Copyright © 2020 Ella M. Lee.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination.

  Cover design by James T. Egan, www.bookflydesign.com.

  Book editing and interior design by Crystal Watanabe, www.pikkoshouse.com.

  Author photograph by Shannon Michelle Photography, shannon-michelle.com.

  www.ellamlee.com

  For Sam,

  who demanded the second dedication, and who deserves it.

  You have had many and great sadnesses, which passed. And you say that even this passing was hard for you and put you out of sorts. But, please, consider whether these great sadnesses have not rather gone right through the center of yourself? Whether much in you has not altered, whether you have not somewhere, at some point of your being, undergone a change when you were sad?

  ― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

  Chapter 1

  “Do you want to tell her, or shall I?” Nicolas asked Daniel.

  I snapped my head up. Daniel, Nicolas, and I were eating breakfast at a tiny Hong Kong diner, and I had been lost in thought, dazed, staring down into my tea.

  I was absolutely exhausted. Four weeks can feel like an eternity, especially when you spend the first week in constant fear for your life, the second week nearly dead from overextended use of magic, and the third and fourth weeks working like a dog trying to prove yourself to your new commander.

  I was officially a candidate to join Water Clan now, and I had been acting like one, doing my best to impress Daniel with my ability to meet his demands in my training, struggling to improve my control over the small amounts of magic Nicolas granted to me, and slogging through the boring reading they both required.

  “Tell me what?” I asked, startled. I didn’t like their conspiratorial smiles.

  I tilted my head at Nicolas, giving him a pleading look. He knew how easy it was for my anxiety to spike when I didn’t know what was going on. I was especially nervous right now. My new commander could be as calm and stoic as a stone statue, but that wasn’t what bothered me.

  What worried me was when his expression melted into the feral smile that was currently on his beautiful face. That meant trouble, usually in the form of some crazy plan. The last time he looked so keyed up, I had nearly died helping him corner a rival—a traitorous Water Clan commander—and I wasn’t going to forget that incident so quickly.

  None of us would forget it, not while Nicolas was still dealing with the aftermath of Derek Douglass’s disappearance. Water’s leadership was in an uproar over the fact that he had somehow escaped captivity while awaiting trial, killing his own lieutenant, the two Meteor Clan magicians he’d been colluding with, and three members of Water’s security team in the process.

  This breakfast was, in fact, the first time in days I’d shared a meal with Nicolas. He’d been in meeting after meeting, frequently declining both food and sleep, busy with setting both his own group of subordinates and Water Clan’s security team toward finding Derek.

  But it had been his suggestion to go out this morning, and I’d happily agreed, loving any excuse to be outside the oppressive, sterile clan house.

  Nicolas put his hands up in a placating gesture. “No, no. This is something good, Fiona.”

  Nicolas could read minds—literally. No one knew why, but he had developed the strange and unique gift fifteen years ago. He usually wouldn’t respond to my thoughts—he didn’t like doing that—but he clearly sensed that I was about to work myself into hysteria and was heading me off.

  “Dan, I think you’ve earned the right to tell her,” Nicolas said.

  “What the fuck, guys? Come on,” I said.

  I looked at Daniel. My new friend and mentor loved to tease me, but right now he had a rather serious and serene expression on his face. As Nicolas’s lieutenant, his second-in-command, I was used to Dan’s calm competence, incredibly at odds with his youthful looks and his mischievous dark eyes.

  Although he was a decade younger than me, he had mountains of focus and maturity. He was handsome, possessing lean, angular, delicate East Asian features and messy hair that was currently dyed a bright copper color. He had an expressive smile and easy grace that likely attracted attention from girls, but he was too focused on work to indulge in those kinds of distractions. He was, as far as I could tell, addicted to his job and devoted to Nicolas.

  “I didn’t want to freak you out by telling you earlier, but it’s time to clan you to Water,” Dan said.

  I slapped my hands over my mouth. “Seriously?”

  My eyes flicked between them, astonished. That would make my entry into Water complete and real. I had been reluctant to ask when Nicolas would decide to take this final, crucial step. In my former clan, Flame, it would have taken close to a year before a candidate was ready to be made a full member. But Water was a different clan, and more importantly, a different magic. It didn’t need so much study or such a long process to learn and understand.

  I’d been so focused on my day-to-day tasks that I had pushed aside my worries about when I would be clanned. I even managed to push aside my deepest, darkest fear: wondering if I would be clanned at all. I hadn’t forgotten that Nicolas could change our deal at any moment, and that I would be powerless to stop him.

  Right now, Nicolas looked relaxed and seemed pleased to tell me this news. Daniel, the far more expressive of the two, was beaming, with his hands pressed together excitedly.

  “Seriously,” Dan confirmed.

  “When?” I asked.

  Nicolas looked at his watch. “In about two hours, when Ryan gets back from Guangzhou and can accompany us to the clan’s sanctum.”

  “Two hours?” I squeaked.

  I was trembling, a visceral reaction to being told that my life would finally, definitely, absolutely be safe in a mere couple of hours. My knees were weak, and dizziness began creeping into the edges of my vision.

  Nicolas quickly caught my hands in both of his. “Mon Dieu. Do not faint on me. Calm down. Everything is fine.”

  He pushed his magic out, washing it over me in comforting waves and coils. I studied his intense expression. Nicolas was dangerous. This was a man who could kill in a moment, who could level cities with his power, who could command one of the most versatile elements on Earth with strength and finesse. I had seen firsthand how deadly he could be. I had gotten a taste of it when my group had tried to assassinate him in Vienna, had been subject to his frightening coldness when I’d first been his captive.

  But lately? Lately, he’d been nothing but kind toward me, and it was possible for me to see through his frightening exterior f
acade to his more compassionate side. Nicolas was fiercely loyal and protective when it came to people he cared about, and I was one of those people now.

  “Deep breaths,” he said, and I focused on his low voice.

  He was half French, and that had been his first language. It had given him an almost lazy drawl in English, charming and lovely and impossible to ignore. I couldn’t get enough of listening to him speak.

  After a moment, Nicolas pulled his hands from mine, withdrawing his magic and giving me space.

  Daniel threw an arm around me and squeezed tightly. “I need to beat all this emotion out of you. You cry all the damn time about the stupidest things.”

  I would have been offended, but I caught his tilted smile and knew he was teasing me. Daniel was a sensitive, compassionate person, and he understood how I felt. He was the perfect mentor and trainer for me. He knew exactly what sort of goals would motivate me, and he understood how far he could push me and what to do if I broke down.

  He had kept me company after I’d overextended myself with magic, and when I felt well again, he had kicked us right back into work mode. I had spent almost every day in the gym with him, working out, sparring, getting back into a rhythm and showing him my skills.

  I hadn’t come to Water with nothing. I had five years of magical study in Flame, as well as a couple of decades of figure skating and martial arts training that had built up my flexibility and muscles.

  Daniel had been pleased time and time again, and I liked that we were getting to know one another through our movements—and our banter over breakfasts.

  When Nicolas had granted me magic to experiment with over the last two weeks, I had managed to delight Daniel with how quickly I had picked up basic elemental control, wards, and shields.

  Daniel was impressed with me, and that showed in Nicolas’s decision to clan me after only a month with him. I knew that was still a risk on his part, and I appreciated his trust and confidence. Then again, he received visions of the future. I had no idea how many of his decisions were based on complete certainty. Maybe none of them, maybe all of them. I hadn’t asked Nicolas much about the details of his visions; they seemed to annoy him more than anything.

  I put my hands back up to my face, feeling light-headed. “I’m sorry, I just… I just wasn’t expecting this.”

  Daniel gave Nicolas a frustrated look, but Nicolas held up a hand to him.

  “Fiona,” he said. “Talk to me.”

  I took a sip of tea and several deep breaths. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m just nervous, and this is scary and new.”

  There was so much going through my mind—first and foremost that my home really was Water now, and that was both a relief and a frightening thought. It was still hard to think about the fact that my former life had been completely ripped apart and that I was starting over here. Three of my group members from Flame had been killed in our failed assassination attempt, and that still weighed on my mind when I allowed myself to dwell on it.

  On top of that, new magic was nerve-wracking. I came from a clan whose magic was deadly and dangerous, magic which needed so much time and effort to adjust to, magic which took well to very few people. I knew Water magic was different from that, but I was still instinctively wary of being clanned after my last experience with it.

  Nicolas was studying me, his eyes narrowed on me in thought. “I see,” he said. “It’s all right, Dan. She has every right to be nervous. I don’t blame her, coming from Flame.”

  He spread his hands in front of himself and continued. “You don’t have to worry about Water magic. Water wants to bond with the human body. It’s not dangerous, nor will it act up once it’s bound to you. It takes no more than five minutes to grant it. Afterward, it will merely feel a little uncomfortable and strange for a few days while you adjust.”

  “Okay,” I said, still skeptical.

  Daniel rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Fi, you’ll be fine.”

  “I believe you,” I said. “But… it’s hard. I’m just reminded of how painful and frightening Flame magic was. My trials were… unpleasant.”

  Flame’s joining and adjustment process had been long. A candidate for Flame magic needed to study it for months, be tested for compatibility, be granted it experimentally in controlled situations many times, and finally go through the trials. The trials happened at your clanning ceremony and were the final step in binding of the magic.

  “What were they like?” Daniel asked.

  I grimaced. “I really couldn’t say.”

  He pursed his lips. “I thought we were past all the secrecy?”

  “It’s not that,” I said, looking between them. “It’s just… hard to explain. Everyone’s trials are deeply personal—an experience of how they, as an individual, can blend with Flame magic. Your trials assess your weaknesses and fears and worst nightmares as much as they touch on your strengths and passions. Explaining what happened to me would be complicated.”

  Daniel watched me warily. “How long did it take?” he asked.

  “It certainly felt like an eternity,” I said, “but I was told it took me seventeen minutes. I’m sort of an exception to the rule, though. I finished faster than anyone in three decades.”

  “Wow, Fi,” Dan said, sounding appreciative. “What is a more average time?”

  “An hour or two,” I said. “My friend Violet took an hour and twelve minutes. Another person clanned on the same day took an hour and twenty-two minutes.”

  “You are very special,” Daniel said, squeezing my shoulders affectionately.

  I smiled. “It was brutal. I didn’t feel special. It felt a lot like dying. I couldn’t believe I made it through. So… it’s not that I don’t want to join Water. Not at all.” I looked at Nicolas. “I hope you don’t think that.”

  “I don’t,” he said. “I can promise that you’ll be fine this time around. I’ll be right there with you. Aren’t I good at taking care of you?”

  “Oh, definitely,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Since meeting you, I’ve gotten hit several times, received a broken nose, been spiked full of nails, given two concussions, held hostage, and spent a week throwing my guts up after overextending magic. Very fun.”

  The corners of Nicolas’s lips tugged up into a smile. When I first met him, I had been terrified to show him my sarcasm or personality. These days, I was more open with him because he liked when I was playful and engaging.

  “Won’t it be nice to have magic again so you can protect yourself, and not just depend on me?” he asked.

  I nodded, sighing. “Your magic is so finicky, anyway.”

  Nicolas’s smile widened. “I love your compliments.”

  I rolled my eyes again, but I enjoyed his teasing. Playful Nicolas was much better than dark and brooding Nicolas, or threatening Nicolas, or even coldly professional Nicolas.

  I leaned into Daniel’s light embrace. “Thank you. You are amazing, and none of this would be possible without you.”

  He grinned. “You are very resilient, but don’t get the wrong idea—the real work will start once you’re clanned.”

  I believed him. Daniel was busy all the time, and I expected that I would be as well. Nicolas wasn’t the type to tolerate laziness or flakiness or inattentiveness.

  “Dan,” Nicolas said, rapping his knuckles on the table. “Find somewhere else to be. Fiona and I need to talk about some boring business things like her salary and living arrangements. I’ll return her later, after she’s clanned.”

  Daniel pressed his forehead to my temple affectionately. “Don’t worry, Fi. Everything will be okay. I can’t wait to see you with your new magic.”

  “Fiona?”

  Nicolas was standing in the bedroom doorway, watching me.

  It was fifteen minutes until ten in the morning, and Ryan would be here any second to accompany us to the clan’s sanctum. I had been pacing Nicolas’s huge museum-like apartment. I had been living here for a month now, and I was getting used to the da
rk, expensive furniture, the tasteful art on the walls, and the view of Hong Kong’s green mountains.

  I hugged my sweatshirt tightly around me—Nicolas kept the temperature at arctic levels—and tried to center myself and calm my breathing.

  It wasn’t working.

  “Nicolas?” I replied, spinning to face at him.

  I was getting used to Nicolas, too. His magic and cold personality and good looks no longer intimidated me. It was even becoming rather nice to look at him. He was one of the most attractive men I had ever met, all lithe muscles and natural grace and supreme confidence, brilliant and competent.

  He also happened to have the most glorious eyes, exquisite tawny brown, like cinnamon. Around his pupils were golden rings that were lit right now with sunlight. They were a perfect match for the rest of him, nestled under hooded almond-shaped lids over some of the most perfect cheekbones I’d ever seen, both a gift from his half-Chinese heritage.

  But I was in the minority of people who were comfortable with him. These days, he was primarily known by his epithet: Nicolas Demarais, the Auspex, who could read minds and see the future and communicate mind-to-mind with other people at a mere touch.

  The whole magical world knew of his unique and unheard-of abilities, abilities which inspired varying amounts of fear, awe, and jealousy among our peers across all clans.

  I felt a little bad for him. I had seen how much grief his gifts could cause him, how much he despised them sometimes, and how they had created a whole host of complications in his life.

  Living here, I saw a more private side of him than even most other members of his group. He was less shy now about showing vulnerability and humanity than when we had first met. I didn’t know why, but I thought it might have something to do with how vulnerable I had been recently. Nicolas constantly comforted me and tried to keep me feeling stable and sane, and I was beginning to like his attention. I was especially beginning to like the way he held me close to him when I was upset, and the way he looked at me like he genuinely cared for my feelings.