Free Igniting Spirit (Gathering Water Book 3) by Regan Claire

left us. I wasn’t worried about catching up, knowing that Ezra and I were the faster pair, so I let him go.
    “I always assumed my father had killed her. I don’t know which is worse,” Ezra said, and I knew how he felt. Perhaps I was better prepared than he was, since I’d always known my mother died giving birth to me — I had always felt that guilt even though I knew it wasn’t my fault. Still, this was worse, knowing that it wasn’t some bizarre accident and that I had sucked the life right out of her, as she was giving it to me.
    “This doesn’t change anything, Ezra.” He had to know that, because I could see in his face that it was changing everything.
    “How can you say that? Knowing that we… that we’re no better than they think we are! We’ve been stained since birth, Della. We didn’t even have a chance.” I saw the hope die in his eyes until he reached over and pulled me to him. I knew he was reliving every single moment his father had battered into him, making him believe he was nothing without him, that they were the same, that he had no control over his future.
    I knew he was, because I was too. I wanted to curl into a hole, because killing your own mother is wrong , and how can you fix that? How can anyone love you after knowing that, and how can you even want it, knowing how little you deserve it? But those were the thoughts of a broken girl, and I couldn’t listen to her.
    “We didn’t have a choice, Ezra. Your father did kill her because he could have protected her from dying, just like what Lena’s doing for other mothers. We — we are not to blame for this.” My voice cracked on the words, and I tried with everything I was to believe what I was saying while he just held on tighter with his head buried in my hair. “It’s not our fault,” I said into his bare chest, willing it to be true. “It’s not our fault,” I whispered, feeling hot tears run down my cheek and soak his skin. Because even though I knew it wasn’t my fault Gabriella had died, she must have known what would happen to her without someone there to help. She must have known she would die bringing me into this world and she sacrificed herself anyway. She sacrificed herself so that I could live.
    And it broke my heart to know that.
    Ezra finally pulled away enough to look at me. “Thank you.”
    “For what?”
    “For letting me be weak.” He gave me a small smile, just enough for a hint of his dimple to show, and brushed the last of my tears away gently with his thumb.
    “That wasn’t being weak,” I told him, but I knew what he meant. “Besides, it was my turn to be the calm one.”
    “It’s good to take turns.” He smiled bigger now, and some of the hopelessness left his eyes.
    “Sharing is caring!” I said with fake exuberance. One of my social workers said that to me once and I always wanted to say it.
    “Well, there’s something else I want to share with you.”
    I was going to say something cute and flirty, but he’d already leaned down to give me a gentle kiss, short and sweet and completely unlike our earlier smooch.
    “See, sharing is caring.”
    “That’s not what I wanted to share.” His dimple was definitely on full display now, as well as a devilish smile.
    “What?” I asked, suspiciously.
    He leaned down, putting his mouth right next to my ear, then whispered, “Your fancy bathing suit Shield only prevents me from seeing what’s underneath, and we are very, very close right now.”
    It took me a minute to understand what he was implying, because his warm breath on my ear was distracting. When I did, I froze with embarrassment while he chuckled into my neck.
    He could feel me. As in, my naked body, which was basically wrapped around him.
    Oh my god.
    I didn’t even think about it, just trusted a sight shield would be enough. I thought about it for about two seconds, modified the Shield with a little Earth so it wouldn’t be feel -through anymore, then looked up, cheeks