Chapter 71-Losing control

Chapter 71: 71-Losing control

’They’ve gotten closer,’ she thought bitterly.

The thought was unpleasant. The bond had already made everything complicated. She had been trying to create distance between Maisa and the others, yet somehow every attempt seemed to push the princess closer to the girl instead.

And now Maisa was standing there dressed in Varitreya’s clothes like she was making a bold statement. Declaring that the princess had accepted her and they were one.

Addessa’s stomach tightened. Her insides twisted into tight, unpleasant knots that refused to loosen, no matter how slowly she inhaled and exhaled.

She tried to steady herself, drawing in one deep breath after another, but the uneasy feeling remained lodged deep within her, tightening every time her thoughts returned to what had happened.

Luan noticed the sudden change in her expression. "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing."

Before he could question her further, Maisa approached them. Luan glanced toward the corridor where Lumi and her friends had disappeared and said,"I’m going to find my sister."

Addessa looked at him. She didn’t know why he was leaving, their conversation wasn’t over yet.

"Luan.."

"We can talk later," he said, cutting off whatever she wanted to say. He looked between her and Naisa, feeling his heart ache from knowing that now until forever, Maisa will always have a right toward Addessa that he could never compete with. "You seem occupied. I’ll go ahead," he swallowed the bitterness in his heart.

He gave her a brief nod before turning away and walking off, forcing himself not to look back. Every step felt heavier than the last, as though something inside his chest were being torn apart.

The girl he loved was bloodbound to someone else, and no matter how deeply he cared for her, he knew there were boundaries he could never cross. He would always have to step aside, watching from a distance while someone else stood where he desperately wished to be.

His heart ached with the kind of grief that words could barely contain. He knew he couldn’t blame her for a bond she hadn’t chosen, yet knowing that didn’t make the reality any easier.

She was never going to be his, and somewhere beneath his forced composure, his heart bled quietly over a love he already knew he would have to surrender.

Maisa watched him leave before turning toward Addessa. The two stood facing each other and for a moment neither of them spoke.

Addessa’s expression remained guarded. "What?"

Maisa swallowed. She had been trying to find the courage to do this ever since Luan explained what the bond was doing to her.

She couldn’t keep burning through things. She couldn’t keep suffering every time Addessa withdrew from her. And if there was even a chance that acknowledging the bond could stabilize everything, she had to try.

"Addessa..."

"What?" Addessa asked, moving back and not giving her room to be friendly with her. She couldn’t fall weak with pressures from her mother weighing heavily on her shoulders.

Maisa stepped closer. She drew in a deep unsteady breath, willing her hammering heart to slow down. For a moment, she gathered every ounce of courage she could find, pushing aside the hesitation threatening to silence her.

Then, with her nerves still twisting inside her, she finally prepared herself to say the words that had been weighing heavily on her mind.

Addessa immediately stiffened at her closeness. She didn’t want Maisa to trigger the bond into getting her to be nice.

"Don’t come any closer."

But Maisa reached out anyway, her hand closed gently around Addessa’s arm. She wanted Addessa to feel rhe heat to understand her predicament and save her.

The reaction was instantaneous, Addessa’s eyes widened as a pulse of heat exploded through her body from the touch. The flower-mark on her brightened and then her palm ignited.

It was not a small flame or the controlled flicker she was accustomed to summoning, this was different. A column of fire erupted from her hand with a deafening roar.

WHOOM!

The flames shot upward. "Aaarghhhh!" Students screamed and stumbled backwards, hiding behind their professors.

Professor Primrose spun around. "What is happening?!"

The fire continued climbing. It surged above Addessa’s head, twisting into a blazing column that illuminated the entire courtyard. Windows reflected the sudden orange glow.

Students from every bloodline stopped what they were doing and stared openly at the fire that kept building up higher and hotter than anything they’ve ever seen a blackblood command.

Addessa stared at her own hand in disbelief. "What...?"

The flame suddenly surged higher, its glow intensifying as it stretched toward the sky. She instinctively tried to suppress it, willing the fire to shrink, but nothing happened. No matter how desperately she focused, the flames continued to swell beyond her control.

Confusion flickered across her face before quickly giving way to alarm. Her eyes widened as she realized something was terribly wrong. She tried again, but the fire refused to obey her, growing larger with every passing second.

"Stop," she commanded the flame to obey, her voice firm despite the unease tightening in her chest.

Clenching her fist, she tried to force her magic back into submission, sealing away the fire as she had done countless times before. Yet the flames only surged higher, refusing to heed her command.

Their restless glow reflected in her widening eyes as she realized, with growing alarm, that this time, her fire wasn’t listening to her.

"Stop!"

The flames surged even higher.

Maisa released her immediately. "I didn’t mean to!" She said weakly. For some reason she just knew that she was responsible for Addessa losing control.

But the fire didn’t disappear. Addessa’s breathing became uneven as she fought to contain her fire that had suddenly become far stronger than anything she had ever produced.

She looked down at her trembling hand and then at Maisa. Her eyes were filled with shock and anger.

"What have you done to me?"

Maisa stepped backward. Loosing her footing and stumbling only for Lumi to catch her and steady her.

"I don’t know!" Maisa said honestly.

"You touched me!" Addessa groaned "And suddenly I can’t control my own magic!"

The flames roared above them, so high that it seemed impossible. Professor Primrose raised both hands. "Everyone back!" She ordered.

Students scattered. Zolani, Sapphire and several other students stared from across the courtyard, completely stunned.

The fire had reached high enough to cast a burning glow over the rooftops. Addessa gritted her teeth. She tried once more to pull the magic inward.

For several seconds, nothing happened and then the flames shuddered and they began collapsing toward her palm.

Addessa gasped as the enormous column contracted rapidly, shrinking from a towering inferno to a violently flickering flame around her fingers.

Whoosh!

Finally, it vanished and let silence fell over the whole place. Smoke drifted briefly through the air, a reminder of the impossible fire that had just been in those airs.

Addessa stared at Maisa. There was something different in her expression now, it was fear because she understood what had just happened.

Maisa hadn’t simply touched her, her touch had triggered something inside her and the bond had reacted by awakening her flame.

And whatever had awakened between them had been powerful enough to overwhelm a blackblood’s elemental magic in front of the entire academy.

"Stay away from me, you freak!" She spotted in panic and rushed off.