Fire And Ice

Chapter 59 - Menace and Christmas Madness

The doorknob began to heat up, so I let go of it before it could start melting.

I took a breath, "What about him?"

"Whatever punishment you have in mind for him doesn't fit his crimes."

"I'll be the judge of that." I spat, then left.

I refused to think as I made my way back home on autopilot. Before I knew it, I'd finished unloading all the documents in my study room and was sitting on my bed.

'Nat...' Cany said carefully.

'Yes?'

'What happened back there?'

I groaned, letting myself fall back into the bed, 'We had a difference in opinion.'

'That was more than just a difference in opinion, Nat. You were threatening, and menacing and almost cruel. She was terrified of you at some point.'

'Good.' I huffed, 'I'm not here to play with those bastards and she's letting her feelings for an asshole that rejected her cloud her judgement. If she wasn't willing to hurt him, she shouldn't have sought me out.'

Truth be told, I had no clue what'd come over me. Part of me had relished in seeing her shrink away from me, and I had no idea where that part had come from.

'You once told me that obsessive paranoia would make us no better than the Lightwood Pack. Well, cruelty will definitely bring us down to their level.'

I knew she was right, but when I thought of everything they'd subjected me to, of everything I'd had to overcome and would still need to face because of the lingering effects of what they'd done to me, I didn't want to be better.

I wanted to drag them to hell.

But I didn't tell her that.

Instead, I said, 'I know, you're right.'

I'd planned to start visiting more packs after Christmas, but I didn't want my fire to act up and cause any issues, so over the next couple of days, my hours were filled with trying to practice my new abilities with Kaesha. She really was a great teacher, but conjuring the fire on my own still proved difficult. Though, I was making headway with being able to handle the sudden outbursts of flames whenever I got emotional. And paying attention to the patterns so far told me that I needed to pay closer attention to my feelings of panic and anger in particular.

I'd thought that was all I could work on for the moment, but then Mrs Burton had given me a piece of advice when she'd seen my Uncovered state after I'd briefly dropped by on Christmas between celebrating with my friends.

"I can't tell you how happy this makes me." She'd said tearfully as she embraced me.

"I'm glad I got to Uncover too." I told her once she let me go.

She held my crested hand in hers, looking at the markings with what I could only describe as joy, "I almost didn't believe it when one of your guards told me when it happened. I thought you said you were a Werewolf though? And the day you Uncovered wasn't your birthday."

I nodded and shrugged, "I am. I Uncovered and got my first shift on the same day. It was a lot to handle, but I'm managing. As for my birthday, I have no idea what happened, but the most logical explanation is that December twenty-first is my actual birthday. I have no idea why my mom would have lied to me about it though."

"December twenty-first?"

I nodded.

Awe and unease melded on her face, "How haven't I thought of this for months? I was so occupied by the news of your return that I didn't even stop to consider the dates. It makes sense now, December twenty-first was the first day of The Jam. And it was the day Syrenlina was made. The first Queen needed several celestial events to align, to meet the conditions needed to create Syrenlina, and the winter solstice was one of the most important ones, because it gave a stable start for the world's seasonal cycle. It would make sense for your mother to lie to you about your birthdate if she didn't want the wrong person figuring that out."