The Girl with the Fire Heart
Chapter 38

“I didn’t ask for this life either. I didn’t ask to be born this way either. I didn’t ask for any of it. I would have given up anything to have the life you grew up with. It would have been nice to live in a small village where the pressures of lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses, princes and princesses didn’t matter. I would have given everything if it meant that I could have even a few short memories away from this life. And believe me when I tell you, I am incredibly sorry that I have dragged you into all of this. This was a life you never knew, and it should have been a life you kept on not knowing. I won’t make what I feel for you the reason I think you should stay. But I need you to know, more than anything, that I didn’t want this any more than you did. And if that is reason enough, to share in that desperation of freedom that maybe one day we can attain, then I’ll spend the rest of my life working to give you small bits of freedom until we can have all of it,” he says to her.

She looks at him with tears silently streaming down her cheeks. Without uttering another word, she simply bows her head, and clucks her tongue at the horse. Together, Grey and Valentina turn to walk towards the stables.

Valentina doesn’t give Damon a backwards glance.

The ride back to the country house is quiet. The two chaperones look out their respective windows sitting across from one another while Damon sits staring at Valentina whose head is bowed and whose hands are folded neatly in her lap.

After Valentina's explosive revelation, Damon had gone to make the arrangements for Grey to be transported back to the country home. It didn’t take more than ten minutes to get everything sorted and the transportation carriage to arrive and load Grey into it. The chaperones agreed the group should leave first, allowing the staff members of the Company to get Grey situated before taking him to the country home where the small group would greet them.

When they had gotten in the carriage to go, Valentina said nothing to any one of them and had refused to say a word the entire ride back. Now that they were nearing the country home, Damon wonders if she will speak again or if she will spend the remainder of the day in quiet isolation.

The carriage pulls up in front of the house and one of the footmen rushes to open the door. Damon and the boy with the aluminum heart are the first to climb out of the carriage. Then Valentina's chaperone, a girl with a sapphire heart. Last, Valentina steps down from the carriage, keeping her eyes downcast and her hands that were once folded in her lap now rest still by her sides.

Together, the four of them walk up to the front of the house as Mr. Brown pulls open the door for them. The two chaperones quickly disappear, heading to their rooms with the other staff of the house. Valentina glances briefly over at Mr. Brown before excusing herself on a whisper and heading directly for the north wing of the house. Damon stands stone still by the front door watching the entire encounter play out in front of him.

Mr. Brown looks at Damon questioningly, wondering what could have happened at the races that could make the young girl appear so meek. Damon, still staring at the large staircase, takes a few steps into the foyer before tilting his head back towards the ceiling and staring at the blinding lights of the chandelier above him. Without thinking about it, he opens his mouth and releases a loud scream, something he hasn’t done since he was a boy.

He screams and screams, scaring any staff member that dare walk into the foyer or into the surrounding rooms. He clenches his fists, bends his knees and releases another scream with his head still tilted back, allowing his eyes to shut as he screams louder than he ever has before. He feels a pressure in his fists, the first tell-tale sign that he’s feeling a current of his power stirring inside of him, begging to be released.

He feels the usual coolness that comes with the waves of the water that rests in his necklace. Just beneath the sounds of his screams, he can hear the sound of his element locked in its cage swirling around and around like a mini tsunami. He smells the sea salt that tells him his restraint is thinning and acts as a warning that his control is seconds from snapping. He shuts his mouth and then opens it again, ready to let out another blood curdling scream when he hears what sounds like a firework go off right above him. He opens his eyes in time to see the lights in the chandelier pop and turn off, rendering the foyer dark, the only light source coming from the still open front door.

Damon straightens his stance and stops clenching his fists, feeling his power settle and the water in his necklace calm into a simple stillness. He looks up to replace Valentina standing at the top of the staircase, her right arm already lowering from shooting a bolt of fire at the chandelier. The air in the room, already tense, seems to get impossibly more so, suffocating them both with their silent frustrations.

Valentina is the first to make a move. She rushes down the stairs, her heat emanating off of her and rolling over Damon's skin. She pushes past Damon and runs outside. Damon turns and runs after her, not wanting her to be alone and not wanting to be alone himself either. They turn towards the right of the house, running through the dense woods and picking up speed until they get to the edge of an embankment of water.

Valentina runs along the embankment, pushing herself faster and faster, refusing to take her eyes off of anything that isn’t directly in front of her. She'd gone to her room when they got back to the country home and paced back and forth, feeling restless and not knowing what to do with herself. The surprise of hearing Damon's screams had prompted her to action and she was weirdly grateful for it. She now knows she isn't the only one feeling the pent up frustration of everything that her life has comprised of.

Valentina isn’t sure when she makes it to the other side of the embankment or when she realizes Damon didn’t chase her over here, but she stops running and simply stands, panting and sweaty, staring at the boy with the water heart standing opposite her. Without warning, he lifts his hand and calls together the water in the embankment as well as his own ability and thrusts it in her direction.

She crosses her arms and lets her element’s power rush over her, creating a wall of fire that protects her from the onslaught of water being hurled her way. When the water stops flowing at her, she throws small balls of fire back at Damon who deflects by using small pellets of water to stop the fire from ever touching his skin.

Back and forth, Valentina and Damon exchange element for element, never letting up on one another. Unaware of the time that passes, the two only stop when the sun begins to dim and the only way to see each other is through light of their elements. Damon makes his way over to Valentina's side of the embankment, refusing to let her walk all the way around alone. When he’s a few feet away, he hears a sniffle come from her general area.

Damon calls out to her, unable to see her under the dim light of the fast fading sun. Suddenly, a burst of fire appears in front of him and he rushes over to the Valentina's side. He sees she is looking up at him, her cheeks stained with tears. Damon swears he can hear his heart crack at the look on her face. He reaches down and interlocks her fingers with his, wanting to comfort her and never let her go. She steps into him, laying her forehead on his chest and releases the sobs he's sure she has been holding in for far too long.