When Rena stepped inside Cayden's grapple range and he remained still, she wondered if she'd overreacted. 

He's stronger than most people, mentally and physically. Maybe I underestimated him. 

It gave her a little confidence as she pulled her kitsune ley to the surface and inhaled the sweet scent of the energy around her. She found Cayden's quickly, and standing before him, she wasted no time drinking it in. 

She lost herself in the high, shivering with delight as it washed over her. It was a struggle to keep her own body still, apart from Cayden's. She wasn't one of the psychic fae or dae. She was a kitsunes, and kitsunes delighted in the energy just as much as they did the physical touch of their prey. 

That thought sobered her.  Cayden wasn't prey. 

She opened her eyes as another shiver ran down her arm to find Cayden's fingers leading the trail, his feet shuffled towards hers in the dirt as his head stretched out to close the distance between them. 

The sight was enough for her to know she'd been right. 

"I was right," Rena whispered. "You're addicted." 

Cayden looked at her, confused for a moment. His eyes trailed down his arm, finding his fingers caressing her skin. One second of lingering contact remained before Cayden snatched his hand away like Rena was hot coals. 

"I..."

He looked to his hand. He looked to her. He backed up to the edge of camp and spared a glance for Nazine. 

"I need to think," he said. "Or... or something." Cayden's figure became an outline among the darkness. "Watch Nazine. I'll be back." 

*+*+*+*

It took him nearly an hour to return. 

Rena watched the stars above as she waited, pointing them out to Nazine even if he wasn't conscious right now. She just needed someone to talk to about insignificant things, like which star had appeared first and why. Were there other Mythics out in that dark expanse of sky, Mythics like her with bigger problems than a dying phoenix and his addicted guard? 

She shook her head. More than likely. 

Eventually the sound of Cayden's boots pricked her ears. She held the rest of her body still, centered on the fire she'd built the traditional way--with sticks and leaves. She'd wanted busywork, and when she'd finished that, Rena had been more than happy to watch the embers grow into flames without further encouragement. 

Cayden's boots carried him to Nazine first, the sound of rustling fabric as Cayden rolled him over. When he stood again, he hesitated. Rena didn't dare breathe. She stared into the fire, pretending she didn't care what he did next, which, after a few painful minutes, was to sit beside her at the fire. 

From the corner of her gaze, she watched him settle. Legs crossed, elbows on knees, weight forward so he leaned towards the fire. He fidgeted, always changing little things about his position until he gave up with a sigh. 

"Not a ley fire, eh?" he asked at last. 

"I just wanted to watch it," said Rena. "Figured wasting the ley wasn't worth it, and it'll keep that spectre away. Anyone else is welcome to try their luck at this point." 

"Fair," said Cayden. 

Another eternity of silence stretched out the conversation. 

Rena refused to be the one to bring it up. She held her breath until he asked. 

It came in a soft spoken voice that she found hard to associate with him. 

"How did you know?" 

"I've... seen it before," said Rena. 

"The djinn?" asked Cayden. 

Rena shook her head. "No. I saw its effects before I knew what my Mythic was. It was half the reason I was so scared of finding out what it was. I didn't want to embrace it. I thought they'd make me an outcast for it." 

"How old were you?" 

She shrugged. "I don't know. Thirteen, maybe?" 

"Thirteen?" said Cayden. "You would have still been at the Order's school. Why not go to one of them about it if you accidentally charmed another Mythic? They wouldn't have exiled you for that--I'm pretty sure Nazine set more than one room on fire when his Mythic was manifesting."  

"Because it wasn't another Mythic I charmed," whispered Rena. 

"Then who--" began Cayden, only to answer his own question. "Your teacher. You charmed your teacher. You charmed--"

"Elijah," Rena said, tails flat on the ground behind her. "Known now as our prestigious cardinal."

Cayden took a minute to absorb that. 

"The Order's teachers are trained to recognise the signs of a Mythic's abilities," he said slowly. "How did it get that far?" 

"I don't know," said Rena. She dug her nails into her skin as hard as she could as now imaginary, but once very, very real fingers caressed her skin. "I don't know how he didn't realise. All I know is that one day, after a group lesson, he said he wanted to try something. He did something with ley, filled the room with it, and that something woke up in me. The next thing I knew, he had me pinned against the floor, with that... that look on his face, telling me that I'd done this to him, that it was my fault."

The flames blurred through the haze of tears. "Then his robes were on fire and I was running and he was yelling after me that I was a monster, a defiled Mythic. That if I ever told anyone what I'd done to him, they'd know it was my fault. That they'd kick me out of the school and leave me for the mists to claim." A hollow laugh slipped through her lips. "Not much good that did, in the end. He made my life so miserable that ended up leaving on my own." 

Rena drew her knees to her chest and pressed her forehead into them, hating every memory, every touch that she'd ever caused. It'd been her fault then, it was her fault now that Cayden was meeting the same fate, all for Nazine. If she were stronger, he wouldn't have to, if she could be--

Dirt scuffed beside her as Cayden moved. Rena expected footsteps, but in their place came a warm hand on her arm. She flinched, but it was firm, regaining its contact in a gentle squeeze.

"Rena," said Cayden, insistent. "Rena, that is not your fault. None of it is, do you understand me?" 

Rena swallowed, something made difficult by how the tears had choked her throat. "Then why does it feel like it is?" 

"Because you had no reason to believe Elijah was lying," said Cayden. A second hand joined the first on her other arm. "Rena, the Order is trained to recognise a Mythic's abilities, especially those that work with the Mythics yet to bloom. Hells, even as a ley guard I'm trained to recognise it. You'd have to be a nine tailed kitsune at least for Elijah to fall under the charm so quickly and--no offense to your own abilities--your usual five, seven, even, are not that potent."

"Then why didn't you realise?" asked Rena, lifting her head. 

Cayden cleared his throat. "I suspect emotions not present in my training may have interfered with my judgement," he said carefully. "But the point is, charming Elijah wasn't your fault. He would have known exactly what was going on, Rena." 

"You can't know that." 

"I can. He... knew what he was doing, and I'm sorry that I put you through those memories again because I wasn't strong enough, especially when I knew the risk. Like how the vampire Mythics of old addicted their prey to their saliva for feedings, a kitsune's ley has a similar effect. It's the way most thralls happen. They end up unable to function without a daily hit. Likely Elijah was getting a taste of that high, though at that age, it wouldn't have been enough to make a thrall of him, so he knew." 

Not my fault. 

Rena took a breath, hating herself for the way it shook. If he'd been with any other Mythic, a competent Mythic like Kat, they wouldn't have been sitting around a campfire crying over feelings. They'd have Nazine fed, be on watch, and conserve their strength. They wouldn't have given into creature comforts and built a fire just for a distraction. 

Rena lifted her head. "I'm sorry, Cayden." 

"For what?"

"For not being like Kat," said Rena. She reached out for the fire, intending to quench the flames. "She had everything under control, knew what the plan was. If she were able to feed Nazine, you wouldn't be stuck with me." 

Cayden pulled her wrist back as she reached for the ley that would starve the flames. 

"Leave it," he said. "Like you said, no point wasting ley and the spectre won't come back with you around. And as for the other stuff, do I have to point out that it wasn't Kat that stopped the djinn from killing me? Was it Kat who sacrificed her key because it meant a chance of saving Nazine?" 

Rena shrugged. "Doesn't mean she wasn't making her own plans. It's not like she wouldn't have done the same, and she wouldn't have screwed it up." 

"It took a lot of courage to do what you did, Rena," said Cayden. "And neither me nor the Order is going to forget about that when we get Nazine back to Leristith and heal his key. You're braver than Kat's ever going to have to be right now, and she's been trained." 

That reminded Rena. "Why is she trained, anyway? I thought the Order didn't train Mythics to fight." 

"They train some, a few specific types of Mythic with the right attitudes, or ones that figure it out on their own as I suspect Kat did. Don't ask me how they choose them otherwise, I have no idea." 

They sat in a silence lulled by the crackling flames for several minutes. Cayden seemed caught up in his own thoughts, just as Rena's mind was captive by her own. 

The memories were returning, but as she relived each one, she allowed Cayden's words to slip through the cracks. That Elijah had known. That maybe, it hadn't been a coincidence that they were alone when it'd happened. He'd known he was doing wrong and bullied it into a secret. Every look, every word he'd said to her after that night, not because she was a monster but because of his own guilt? 

Cayden interrupted the downward spiral. "Any ideas about how we're going to feed Nazine?" 

Rena glanced over her shoulder, eyes lingering on the sleeping phoenix. 

"I don't know," she said. "If I can't hit seven tails, I can't do it. Maybe we'll come across a hotspot I can use." 

"You could try feeding off me again tomorrow," said Cayden, all too casually. "The effects might have worn off by then."

"You know as well as I do that they won't," said Rena. "If we push it too far, I could just as easily turn you into a thrall of a feral kitsune. With the way our luck's been going, making you my thrall might be the trigger to let the rest of my sanity slip." 

"We might not have a choice," said Cayden. "But he'll survive the night, for now. We'll worry about it in the morning, okay?" 

Rena gave him a stiff nod. "Okay." 

"Good," said Cayden. "I'll take first watch tonight. I have a feeling that tomorrow's going to be a long day." 

*+*+*+*

A/N - Wew, updates within a week! GASP! 2k words, yay length => 

Please vote/comment if you enjoyed it ^_^ Support and shiz! I've finished Indigo's first editing pass now, so more time for Mythic until my editor gets through it all => 

ALSO I'm really, really sorry if I don't get around to the commenty things soonishy, the new wattpad newsfeed makes it so I literally can't see them unless I go through them individually in my email, which is not fun at all, and even though i've reverted back to the old newsfeed, it's bugged and I can't click the notifications tab. So sorry, but it might be a little bit ._.