She found herself lost in his eyes, realising she was beginning to let her control slip. She closed her eyes, breaking the connection, just as his hand twisted. He was about to cover her eyes, wasn't he?

"Yes, I was. But you caught on yourself. The first problem with the flame isn't that it amplifies your rage, it's that it amplifies everything. Fury, hatred, lust. Love. Your emotions rampage, and with that your control evaporates. So good thinking there. It's better when you realise yourself, it helps the lesson."

His voice, even if just mentally, was almost as enchanting as his looks. She wondered for a moment why he didn't speak to her, even though he was this close. But no, that was obvious. Focus on the physical would distract both of them. Her trail of thoughts disappeared as he continued his teachings.

"You already realised the second problem. The flame feeds itself, so using it up is hard. The spirals help with keeping it usable, but the faster those go, the faster you draw it in. A desperate attempt to use it up will simply burn you. You need to guide or cool it, but cooling takes far more effort. You can only hold out so long, before you fully lose control."

He was helping her run her spirals. From around her limbs to her ribcage, and from her ribs into her bones. She could feel one of the flame spirals disappear into the sword, which kept her balanced for now. But this required keeping up the ice and earth, an effort that would be extremely hard to manage. She could only imaging the damage that she would suffer from trying to manage a fire for hours.

"Of course the location doesn't help. The top of the hill means you can draw in far more ambient mana. That's why the Flamehearts built their home here, so they can draw it in and burn up any attacker. You're safe, though. I can see Caerbychan keep a watchful eye out. He kept his blade aimed most at my heart in your throne room. That's why you kept him here, didn't you? A wise choice."

Of course he knew. Either eavesdropped or deduced. She wanted to rage, then got distracted. Why was he telling her all this? To distract her from her own emotions? That pissed her off again, another manipulation to the pile.

"Ah, you realised. Apologies. Yes, I'm trying to keep you distracted enough to stay calm, but not so much that you lose focus. So, there are five ways to deal with the fire. The first is cooling it down while you still can. We lost that option about midway up the hill, or at least the healthy version. Doing it now would only hurt you. The same applies to option two, using it up faster than the surroundings can handle, starving it."

I remember this part. Isn't option three self-destruction? Either you control yourself, burn it up, or burn yourself up. Isn't the third option how so many Flamehearts die miserable deaths, in an attempt to not take others with them?

His thoughts confirmed. She shuddered as she realised she was at risk of that third fate. It made her wonder why he hadn't stopped her sooner, why he had even encouraged her to gather her fury. She posed the confusion as a questioning stream of emotion to him.

"You were going to try either way. And I knew you could have handled it, just painfully at first. Better to help you. Besides, I knew with the right guidance, you would figure it out. We're still going to be okay."

Hard for her to believe when she could still feel her rage straining against the reins, building up ever so slowly, as if she were a dam under pressure from a flood. The sword helped but even that was beginning to reach capacity. A dangerous move from him.

"The fourth way is to store it. You already noticed the sword is doing that, but that's just the tip of the mountain. With the right practice, it's possible to send it through the sword down into the earth. But it requires practice, which is hard to do right now. Still, the sword helps."

He squeezed her hands a bit, a sensation barely tangible yet it brought an intense blush to her cheeks. She could feel his body heat radiate. No, hold on. She opened her eyes to look into his, catching on as she realised he had begun siphoning her spirals, feeding them into himself. For a moment she felt panic rise, until she noticed the hint of a smirk on his face. He actually had this under control.

He rose to his feet, guiding her to follow. The sword in her hand now pointed at the earth, its tip resting on the ground, as he helped her guide one fiery spiral down into the sword. Two others he absorbed, as did he two of her three ice spirals. Rising to their feet had hastened the flow and he was now pulling harder, speeding up the spirals as they drained through her.

She caught on just as she was going to ask him to stop. The fire was flowing faster but weaker. Now that it drew through her so rapidly, she required less control for it, being able to sense the finer details of their surroundings. Air now chilled, the entire courtyard dominated by a fine mist of cold mana, which slowed down the flow towards her. Starving it from its momentum, allowing her to use up all that could reach her. The fire died, leaving her drained. But he still held fire within him.

He did a step back, a playful grin on his face. One that didn't belong here. Another game he was playing. He spoke out loud, continuing their lesson. "The fifth way is to expel it. Not use it but send it away from you. You sent it to me, but normally it's turned into an actual fire. This courtyard looks flamekissed with a reason, it's where a practice session has gone many times before. If I expelled it like that now, everyone else would be at risk. Including me, as I would get run through."

She blinked, then noticed Sir Caerbychan next to her, his sword ready, Verglassed and ready to cut through his opponent. He had underestimated the nameless before. It was clear he refused to give him a single opening today.

"I stole your ice for it today, but it's possible to fight fire with fire. In forest fires they call it a firebreak. Use fire to clean a part of the woods, so the larger fire cannot pass anymore." She felt his remaining mana reach out, collide with the ambient mana, disrupting it. It was still raging, still spiralling, intertwining with each other while tearing apart its original source, until those flames too began to dissipate. As the last flame died, he knelt before her.

She looked at him. Slightly out of breath, but still energetic. Just a single time had nearly driven her emotions out of control, yet all she saw from him was a smirk. Did he face all these emotions every time he had seriously used his abilities? How did he manage that without exploding...

She buried the thought and changed her voice to her standard cold tone. "You are dismissed. Hide in the carriage. Sir Caerbychan, make sure Vicomte Carraig doesn't catch any hint of his presence." She went towards the stables, where Bethan was waiting patiently to check on her. Behind her, she could hear him enter the carriage.

On a whim, she sent her presence towards him, pressing onto his mind. To her surprise, she found him shying away from her. A quick push forward and she realised why, as she broke the shell containing his love and lust for her. She withdrew her touch as if it were lightning.

So he had felt the same as her, she realised while trying to force the blush off her cheeks. He just had more practice restraining himself. But if given half the chance, if she had entered the carriage with him, or brought him with her to a private room... She buried the thought and faced Bethan, who checked her over and conveniently didn't mention the blush on her cheeks. Oh, this was more dangerous than a mana rampage...