The Fragile Tower - Book 1 of the No.1 magical fantasy series

The Fragile Tower Chapter 34 - The Crumbling Tower

He thought she had it because she had used fire, and in her inexperience, it had been a fire that was beyond her control. She wondered, briefly, what would have happened if she had chosen to use ice, instead.

Well, the spire would still be standing, for one thing, a little part of her mind said.

Show me what it is. He spoke into her mind again, as he had before. She flinched, hating the sensation, though she realised that it was different this time. It was a gentle, insidious sound. He wasn't trying to bully her – he was trying to persuade.  I can help you to understand its power. What you have done here is nothing compared to what the weapon is capable of.

He's afraid of it, she thought. Which means he's afraid of me, too...

She could see Ruidic moving to step up beside her, but she held a hand out to him.

How would I behave if I had a weapon more powerful than anything else in the world? she thought. And then it came to her that she had already seen someone who thought he had it. I just need to imagine I'm Edin.

She smiled at the mage, and conjured a little fire to dance over her fingers. And while she looked at the flames, she was thinking, furiously, I need to get Ruidic away from him while he casts the spell.

"I don't feel like sharing," she said, and then she looked around at Ruidic, and said, "and that goes for you, too."

She saw the surprise on his face as she pushed her will behind a symbol of sending and shoved him through a flowering shrub and out of sight.

She heard the mage laughing within her mind.

You should never have fought me, he told her. You should have welcomed me. You are just the same, you and I.

 She laughed, while she tried not to shout in her mind that she would never be like him. If he could walk through her mind, she was certain that he could read some of her thoughts. For a moment, she wondered if there was somewhere she could hide her real thoughts.

You can't keep it from me forever, he said, as if he had almost understood her. I will find it in the end. But to do so I will tear through your mind and leave it a shell of itself. You should choose a better way.

Although she knew that he meant to frighten her, she was afraid. She knew that he was capable of doing what he said. Only the shield had saved her last time, and Ruidic was – she hoped – now casting another spell, and Ma and Dedora she could only hope were helping the boys. If they weren't, they were probably fighting more of the cold mage's army.

 She tore her thoughts away from fear, though, and focused on visions of herself wielding power. She knew that anyone who held Cartheno's Fire would be arrogant; unafraid.

"I could destroy you first," she said, and she flicked a tongue of fire at him and laughed as he flinched.

"I doubt that," he said, aloud, and suddenly Grace was falling.

It's in your mind, she told herself, but she couldn't help cringing as she waited to land, and curling up in an attempt to protect her damaged ribs.

She gasped as she felt herself caught, and held. It was Afi, smiling down at her, in a garden like the one she had just left, but whole. There was no wreckage, no snow falling down, and no burned greenery here. It was living and verdant and lovely as it had been before she had come and used power she couldn't control.

"Here," he said, and he reached out and plucked one of the hot pink flowers and tucked it behind her ear.

You could rule this place with him, you know, the voice whispered to her.