He holds out his hand, palm up. The move is slow, almost hesitant, like he needed to force himself to do it. His fingers shake, but only slightly.
I bite the inside of my cheek.Just trust him, Serafina.For once in your life, just allow yourself to feel safe.
Light wielders are supposed to possess a strong sense of right and wrong. They’re supposed to be kind. They’re supposed to behonest.
At least, that’s what I’m going to choose to believe.
I grab his hand, and he immediately tenses, his entire body going rigid at the contact. He holds his breath, and his throat bobs with a heavy swallow.
I try to pull away, not understanding his reaction, but then the muscles in his face visibly relax just before his lips quirk into a devastating smile, and damn it, it’s the most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen.
But that smile disappears almost as quickly as it emerged.
“Hold on tight.” He gives my hand a firm yank, and I crash into a hard chest. A chest that smells like burnt wood with a hint of sage. His other arm wraps around my back, and I cling to his shoulder, to the fabric of his tunic, bracing myself for what’s to come.
The view of the ocean disappears.
Chapter 8
Serafina
“You can open your eyes now.” I can feel the vibration of his voice through his chest.
A moment later, his hands release me, and his warmth fades away as he takes a few steps back.
“It’s over?” I manage to ask, my stomach queasy, threatening to upturn whatever little food it still possesses.
“It is,” he confirms, and I open one eye, followed by the other.
He angles his head, and his eyes wander from my face, to my fingers, to my toes.
“Looks like you made it in one piece,” he says, and without thinking, the palm of my hand collideswith his arm.
His eyes snap to the place I hit him, widening as if shocked that someone dared to strike him.
“Do you mean to say there was a chance that I wouldn’t?” My voice rises.
“I was only kidding. Of course, I knew you’d be fine.” He continues to stare at his arm. When his gaze finds mine again, there’s humor in his expression, but it’s subtle. Creases in the corner of each eye with brows raised ever so slightly. “Traveling by light is completely safe. I’ve been doing it for nearly a decade.”
A decade.
So, unlike me, he’s known he was an Essentari for quite some time. For some, the connection emerges when they’re younger. For others, it surfaces just before their twenty-first year.
I tear my eyes from his, taking in my new environment. We’re in a tunnel. Surrounded by gray bricks that form an arch above our heads. The tunnel is narrow and dimly lit, not by candlelight, but by something else.
I try to make out what they are, what I’m seeing, but I have no idea what to call the bulbs that seemingly hold a flame within. How does the flame breathe with no air?
My eyes flash to Jax’s again, the golden flakes illuminated by the strange light.
“It’s electricity,” he says, and I think back to everything I’ve read on the subject.
Electricity is gone. The ability to create it doesn’t exist anymore.
“How?” I ask, and he shrugs.
I turn around, peering down the other end of the hallway. The floor is covered in a thick maroon carpet. No one else seems to be down here. There aren’t any windows, so I’m assuming we’re underground.
“So this is the infamous Imperial City?” I cross my arms becausethis is not what I was expecting.
