The tingling warmth down her arms and jumping between her fingers gradually relaxed into a manageable heat, something that almost felt moldable. Instinctively, she directed it at the gash her palm covered.

Theo flinched and she pulled back a little, allowing him to once again settle against her hand. This time she regulated the heat better, concentrating on making magickal tendrils of a therapeutic nature, instead of a burning one. She allowed curative waves to sink into the injured flesh of his wound, promoting healing and knitting it back together.

Under her fingers the wound shifted and smoothed, the edges of the gashes coming together. The heat coming down her arm eased and she sensed she’d given all she could give.

Only by that time she was long gone, lost in the concentration it took to maintain the heat. Her breathing came deep and steady, keeping time with her heartbeat. She was slipping farther and farther away . . .

Theo took her hand in his, his thumb rubbing the underside of her wrist. Her eyes came open slowly; they’d rolled all the way back in her head like she was in meditation. She focused on his face.

Theo continued to hold her hand and now her gaze, too. He had really beautiful eyes, a rich dark brown like the most sinful chocolate. The slow stroke of his thumb on her sensitive skin made bad things—or good things, depending on one’s perspective—happen lower in her body. She couldn’t bring herself to pull her hand away or to rip her gaze from his.

He released her hand. “All right?”

She blinked and came out of her trance like she’d been freed from a witch’s spell . . . funny thought, that. She only nodded in response.

Theo looked down at his gash. “Incredible. I don’t think it will even leave a scar,” he murmured. “Weren’t we just talking about natural skill? It appears you have a lot in the realm of healing.”

Sarafina focused on his wound and gasped. His gash was almost completely healed. She jerked her hand away and stepped backward. “I did that? Fire magick can do that?”

Theo studied the pinkish mark. “I’ll be honest, that’s a little beyond the ordinary scope. How do you feel?”

“Drained.”

He grunted. “You expended a lot of power to accomplish this.”

“What else can fire magick do?”

“All witches have their specialties. You’ll have to find yours.”

“Okay, but what else can fire do?”

Theo grinned. “Burn things. Explode things. It’s a great weapon.” He paused. “But I think maybe we just found out why you’re special, Sarafina.”

HOW TO CONTROL THE ATRIKA. NOW, THAT WAS A DILEMMA.

Stefan had thought that holding the thing they wanted most over their heads would compel their obedience. And, for the most part, the leverage he possessed had been effective.

For the most part.