Shit, shit shit!
Pain overwhelms me.
Images, thoughts, emotions, visions… they all invade my mind, storming past any control or shield I may have had, showing me glimpses of my past, maybe pictures from Ever’s mind, and other flashes that I don’t have the control or the power to sift through and understand.
All I know is that I feel every single one of them.
Agony, confusion, heat, and desire… they all mix together, rendering me trapped and surrounded with pain so thick, there’s no way out.
I cling to the words that Kamari said—that our mind is our strength—but right now, I’ve never felt weaker.
And when I reach for Ever’s face, terror and pain shoot through me, worse than any blade or arrow. I feel as though she’s looked right at me and decided to split my skull with just a smile.
“Ever…” My knees go weak, and one buckles, dropping to the ground. But I don’t release my grip on Ever’s hand.
This is far worse than when I’ve taken her hand before. That was bearable. Something to endure because she needed my strength. But darkness overwhelms me now, and I feel like she’s plunged me into a pit of despair, the deepest ocean, the darkest night.
I don’t know how to defend against this. And I’m confident Ever doesn’t realise she’s even doing it or knows what she’s doing to me.
Our hands burn where they remain connected as if knitting, welding together through touch. Then I sense something in the back of my mind, like a dull ache, or an itch I can’t scratch, an awareness of something. It’s distracting.
And then it lessens, pulling away, and I can breathe, the band around my chest easing. The pain morphing into something else.
I open my eyes, not realising I’d closed them, and look up to Ever. But I don’t see her. Inky darkness engulfs us, shrouding us. Not shadows, not fog or mist, but more like she’s consumed all the light and plunged us into black. Nothingness.
“Ever, look at me. Hear my voice. I’m fine. Let go,” I implore, even though I can’t see her. My grip on her hand is still tight, melding our fingers together. “Let go.” I shove the thought this time, not speaking it, but shouting it in my head and doing everything I can to try and make her hear me.
The pressure on my hand releases, and the heat disappears, but I instantly miss it, even with the pain.
But the darkness is dissipating too, falling to the floor and dissolving through the ground. And that’s when I see Ravi’s hand pulling away from her shoulder.
Shit.
Maybe it was some kind of mist or fog, if that was an Elemental’s influence.
The room erupts into questions and chatter as we all come back into focus, and Rowan stalks into view with Aurelia and Perrin.
As I stand, I scan over Ever, who’s turned ghostly white, and those eyes are void of colour again, filled with a shadow.Shit.
“Ten.” Crimson’s hand reaches for my shoulder, concern in her voice, but I shrug away from her touch, focusing my attention back on Ever.
“Ever. Come on. Say something.”
“Did I… did I hurt you?” Her voice cracks, and she swallows before catching her breath.
“No. I’m okay.” It isn’t a lie. Physically, I’m fine.
“I didn’t know what I was doing. It wasn’t like with Ascella. All I could feel was the heat that we usually feel when we touch. No visions or flashes... And then…”
I’d touched her cheek, and all that control had vanished.
Battles and blood, and death and green forests and black mountains and cold stone hurtled through my mind, but also my body. As if the images I saw were real, and my body experienced them too, before Ravi decided to step in.
He was the irritation I could feel in my mind, maybe. The disruption.
My eyes flick over her shoulder to see him looking a little pale and talking with Aurelia.
He’s still standing, anyway. What the fuck was he thinking?
