The fire shot toward her with breathtaking speed, a brilliant cobalt flare that flooded the laboratory in sudden blue-white light. It was hot enough for Aveline to feel its breath before it ever reached her skin, a searing rush that made every instinct in her body scream at once.
She had only a heartbeat to realize, in stunned disbelief, that the Archduke had not hesitated.
He had thrown fire at her.
Blue fire.
It was the first time she had ever seen a flame that color, and the sight of it was almost as shocking as the danger itself. When Aelion told her that the archduke was the greatest fire-bender of their time, she had expected orange, perhaps red, the kind of fire people in stories always imagined.
But this was something else entirely, something cold and violent in its brightness, beautiful in the way lightning was beautiful—right before it killed you.
