The core emotions associated with mastery of fire magic are love and anger. Though scholars continue a heated debate about why this is, this connection has suffused our language, exemplified by phrases like “burning rage” or “a warm hug.” Fire demons tend to be more emotional than demons with other types of magic, which is problematic considering how damaging their power can be uncontrolled. Children should be taught emotional control as early as possible to avoid dangerous accidents.

“Hey there, slipstream!” Luca opened his arms, bracing for his sister’s hug. She crashed into him like a tornado. Though they were ten years apart, they’d been close since she was born. “How was school?”

“Boring.” Aurora’s voice was muffled by Luca’s sweater. She let go and took his hand. “Teacher’s going over the history of Illustria again.”

“Well, it’s good for you to remember why we can live like we do.” Luca chuckled and admitted, “It is really boring though. Like, nothing’s even happened since the war!”

“Exactly,” Aurora agreed. She got a conspiratorial look on her face. “Something interesting did happen, though.”

“Oh?”

Aurora looked around, then tugged his hand. Obligingly, Luca leaned down. She whispered, “I made fire.”

Luca frowned. “You mean you used your breezes to stoke a fire someone else made? I hope you were careful about it.”

“No, no.” Aurora shook her head, adopting a patronizing tone. “I made fire, like you. See?” She snapped her fingers, and sparks leapt from them.

Luca grabbed her hand, heart pounding. 

Aurora jerked it free. “Ow!”

“Don’t do that,” Luca whispered. “Rory, this is serious. You can’t do that in public.”

“Why not?”

How to explain to a twelve year old that her new trick, a second element, magic she shouldn’t even be able to do, could get people in trouble? Aurora might be able to get a special license since her and Luca’s eldest brother, Flavius, was a Lightguard captain in good standing, but Luca wasn’t sure. He’d have to ask Flavius about it before they could risk Rory’s new power being seen.

“It’s… risky,” he said finally. “Everyone already knows you’re an air demon, fire too would be weird. Did you tell anyone else yet?”

She shook her head, twisting her hands together. “I wanted you to be the first one to know. Since you have fire too.”

At least there was that. “Good.” He ruffled her hair, fingers brushing between her pale gold horns. “I’m glad you told me, slipstream. Let’s keep this between us for now and talk to our brat of a big brother when he gets home, okay?”

“Kay.”

“Hey, sparky.” Flavius ruffled Luca’s hair, just as Luca had done to Aurora earlier, and nodded at Aurora where she sat sipping juice from a wine glass. “Hey, slipstream. How was school?”

Aurora just gave him a thumbs-up. She wasn’t nearly as close to Flavius as she was to Luca. Their mother had died soon after she was born, and their father had followed a year later, leaving Flavius, barely fifteen, as the head of the Fiorecato house. As such, he was more Aurora’s father than her brother, which left Luca plenty of space to be the fun one. And Flavius had gone into the Lightguard like their mother, which let Luca spend his days studying and spending time with Rory– which meant playing when she’d been little, and more often helping her with homework now. 

“That great, huh?” Flavius had to sit down to get his boots off. “What’s dinner?”

“Some kind of chicken thing, I think.” Luca shrugged. Everything felt off today. Like he was playacting normalcy. “Er… Can we talk after dinner? In private?”

He remembered when Flavius had just been his brother, when he hadn’t held the weight of the Fiorecato house on his shoulders. Half a lifetime ago.

“Is it an emergency?” Flavius frowned. “I’ve got an early morning tomorrow. There’s a meeting about those ‘Darkness’ rebels, commander wants us to thin them out again.”

A part of Luca was relieved. “Not an emergency. It can wait a day or two.”

Aurora shot him an irritated look. Luca ignored her.

“It’s about Rory,” he told Flavius.

Flavius sighed, bringing a hand to his face. “Is it her grades?”

“What? No, her grades are fine. It’s her magic.”

“If I have to come in for another meeting with her teachers because she won’t stop using it in the classroom–”

“Not that, either!” Luca added hurriedly. “It’s the strangest thing. She’s got fire magic now too, and it’s not limited to that.” In the five days since she’d told him, Aurora had been enjoying her new powers all too much. No one else had seen, yet, though with as much as she loved conjuring fire, making water flow the wrong way, and more, it was only a matter of time. “I don’t know what’s going on, only that she’s powerful. She turned herself into a cat for a minute yesterday.”

Flavius frowned. “Where is she?”

“At a friend’s. She’ll be back for dinner. Do you think you’ll be able to get her a new license?”

Aurora’s current magical license listed her as an air demon. Any other kind of magical use would be cause for suspected fraud at best. Luca had no idea if a demon could get a second elemental license, let alone a license for shapeshifting of all things. He'd never heard of such a thing happening before, but if anyone could get Rory one it would be Flavius. He worked in the palace itself.

“I don’t know. I’ll speak with the Emperor.” Flavius avoided looking at his brother.

Luca nodded in relief. His brother would take care of it. The Emperor would probably be interested in Aurora’s new abilities. Maybe she’d even have a prestigious position in the palace awaiting her when she finished school. Shapeshifting wasn't normally lauded, but perhaps if it was a demon who'd developed the power rather than a shifter or a fairy…

Luca threw open the door in panic. “Rory’s missing! Her teacher said she never made it to class, and the maid said you took her. Didn’t you watch her go in?!”

Flavius stood facing away from the door, still in his armor. “I didn’t take her to school,” he said, without turning around.

“Where is she, then? You need to tell me these things!” Luca stalked closer. Heat raced up his spine. He pressed a hand over his heart, forcing himself to breathe. Incinerating his clothes wouldn’t help.

“She’s at the palace.”

Luca exhaled. The Emperor must have wanted to see her powers for himself. “How long will she be there? You should have told me.”

“She’s not coming back.” Flavius finally turned around. His face was sad, blue eyes reddened. “Her power is dangerous, Luca. There wasn’t any other way.”

Luca felt his heart plunge to the floor, and flames spring to life in his hair. Despite that, his voice was somehow calm. “Flavius. What are you saying?”

“Put out that fire before you set the house aflame,” Flavius snapped. “She’s dead, Luca!”

Luca stumbled back. The fire in his hair flared higher.

Flavius took a step towards him. “Her power was going to kill her anyway. The Emperor said he’s seen it time and time again, if she was left alone she’d end up killing herself and others. This was the only way.”

“Liar!” Luca yelled. Flames burst from the floor, a wall between the brothers. “You’re lying!”

“I’m not!” Flavius screamed back. “You didn’t even know what was happening!”

Luca let out another scream. “You killed our sister!”

Flavius’s mouth pressed into a line.

Luca ran.

He didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t know what he’d do– with no money, no possessions, nothing but his magic. Not even the Fiorecato name could help him now, he would never use that name again.

He just knew he couldn’t be anywhere near the man who had killed his baby sister.