Kingdom of Fire and Fate

Chapter 5 - Trials by Fire

The embarrassment of everyone staring at her in shock or awe made Elizabeth lose concentration, the flame dwindling in her palm. The warmth in her stomach died away, leaving her with a slight chill as she stared back at them all.

Eric and Theo looked delighted. Theo asked curiously, his brown eyes shining behind the lenses of his glasses, "Does it hurt?" He leaned forward, a huge grin on his face.

Elizabeth saw the hint of a smile on Warren's face as he watched Theo, like he was trying to hide the grin that was fighting to be seen.

Elizabeth shook her head no, "It doesn't hurt, it's more of a feeling of warmth. I feel the warmth of the fire in my hand and I feel the warmth of the magic in my body as I control it. It's like the fire is a part of me, bonded to me. When the flame is gone, the warmth is gone, and I feel cold for a little while." She didn't bring up the fact that the pendant around her throat burned her skin when she conjured the flames.

Theo immediately started scribbling something in a notebook that he grabbed from the inside of his coat pocket, his glasses falling to the tip of his nose.

Eric asked, "Are you able to summon a larger amount of fire than what you have shown us? That was a small flame, are you able to summon a ball of fire or even a wall of flames?" There was a dangerous glint in his eyes, as if he was planning on how to test her abilities. Eric's grin widened as he kept imagining Elizabeth scorching a bunch of targets, "If you could do that, it would be very beneficial to us."

"I haven't really tried," Elizabeth admitted with a soft smile, "It takes a lot of concentration to conjure it and maintain it. I am sure I could summon more fire if I practiced." She held the now cool pendant on her throat, a nervous habit that she still hasn't given up since she was a child.

Eric nodded, the biggest smile on his face, "We can try it out in the laboratory, like fire trials. Trials by fire! That sounds catchy, I like that." Hannah smiled and shook her head at her husband.

Elizabeth glanced over at Warren, but the sight she was met with caused her cheeks to redden. Warren was gently pushing Theo's glasses up for him and brushing his hair back when he thought no one was looking, his cheeks darkening when he noticed Elizabeth staring.

Theo looked up from his notebook, not noticing Warren and Elizabeth's embarrassment as he asked, "Are you just able to conjure fire or are you able to do something else?" Warren whispered something to him which made Theo smile, but his eyes stayed trained on Elizabeth.

Elizabeth looked down at her hand, "I have no idea. I haven't tried to do anything else besides the fire because that was what came out when I needed it. The men said that I had magic running through my veins, not just fire, so I'm not sure if the fire is all I can do. Mr. Doyle called me a sorceress before he died. . . but he didn't have the chance to elaborate in the end." Her skin went pale at the thought of herself being a wicked sorceress, her blood running cold.

Hannah gave her a sympathetic look, touching her shoulder, "I think he just said that to scare you. Being a sorceress is an evil thing, but I don't believe there is an evil bone in your body. They on the other hand have a lot of evil bones in their bodies. When we searched the manor house, we found a lot of... interesting... things."

Elizabeth slowly looked up at her, fiddling with the skirts of her dress, "What type of things?"

"The nasty sort of stuff. Ingredients that are common in poisons and elixirs, lots of syringes and blood, even a few more bodies." Hearing what they found made Elizabeth pale even more but she said nothing, her knuckles white from how hard she was gripping at the fabric of her dress.