I grunted as I felt Velra’s shadows pushing harder against me.
It wasn’t pain, per se, as it took a great deal to actually hurt me.
But it was the emotional anguish driving this explosion of ferocity, which I could feel powerfully through the Brand. The actual marking on my chest was tingling sharply.
I hissed as her frost breached her control and traveled from my upper chest where I had her hands trapped, to my throat, creating an uncomfortable freezer-burn sensation that sent a harsh chill through me.
“It’s all right,” I told her. “Breathe. Just take your time. You cannot severely damage me, remember? Do what you need to get control. I will hold it until then.”
“Let go… I don’t want you to be—”
“I won’t be. Hear my words,little shadow.I am here with you now. And I will never forsake you again. I amhere.And I willnotlet you go.”
A moment later, I felt the piece of paper being pressed into my hand, and I looked to see Rhyza lifting her chin.
“Thank you.”
“Be well,” she said.
I turned back to Velra and wrapped my other arm around her.
And in the next moment, I was teleporting us away.
11
~Velra~
It was happening again.
I slapped another pile of my clothes into my open suitcase.
I was being forced to leave my life behind.
To retreat into the dark.
To go into fucking hiding.
Because ofPuritas.
Because of Sorin.
Because of what I was.
And who my maniac of a fucking brother was.
I’d died—again.
Sylas had died. Forme.
Now he was severely ill. His sickness had barely been sustainable before, but with what he’d done to save me, it was beyond even that.
Cassius had been at death’s door. Because ofme.
And Lazriel was in the wind.
Everything was fractured.
I stormed to my dresser and ripped out the top drawer completely, all my underwear spilling over the floor.
