She folds her arms on her chest with an obstinate expression that I know very well. “What is it?”
“We can join our minds with magic. It will allow you to see through my eyes, even speak to me in thoughts if you need to. You’ll stay here, safely hidden, and witness everything as it happens. However, I’ve never done this before. It might not work.”
I wait with bated breath while she mulls this over, her gaze pinned to my face. It’s difficult to relax when my heart pounds with excitement, but I do my best, softening my features into a mask of reluctant helpfulness.
See? I don’t want to do this. It’s definitely not my fucking dream—to hold your face in my hands, to breathe your air, and slide deep into your mind—to be inside you.
“What does it entail?” she asks at length, suspicious and on guard.
“It’s an exchange of trust,” I explain with a wry smile. “That’s why I said I’m not sure it will work. The process is simple. We only have to look into each other’s eyes and let each other in.”
“Forget it.”
She turns too fast to make out her expression, but I still catch the way her shoulders tense as she strides into Nienad’s room, her steps hurried and frantic.
“Who’s a coward now?” I murmur under my breath, just loud enough for her to hear.
She speeds up, and now she’s running, her heels clattering loudly on the floor. I laugh out loud, and my laughter is beastly, just like Woland’s. Jaga stops, clenching her fists, and turns.
“Calling me a coward won’t work,” she grits out, spitting hate, though I see the fear underneath. “I won’t let you in my mind.”
I spread my arms wide, showing her I have nothing to hide. “Love, this bond works both ways and is very limited. I won’trummage in your memories or twist your thoughts. I only want to give you what you asked for—a way to watch me. You said you want to see what happens. This is the only way to give you that without taking you with.”
She turns on her heel and walks into the bedroom. Nienad welcomes her with a fearful mumble through his sewn up lips, and Jaga takes him in with cold assessment. She’s just been with him an hour, so it’s telling that she’s back so soon.
“How about I simply burn the rot out of you?” she asks in a low, menacing voice.
His eyes roll up in his sweaty face, and he mumbles desperately, his pleas muffled and incomprehensible. Nienad is a shadow of his former self, his silver hair matted and dirty, hanging in tangled clumps down the sides of his face. His eyes are bloodshot, and he’s developed a constant nervous twitching in his cheek and legs. Jaga keeps healing him to keep the rot from spreading too fast, but the sickness won’t be gone until she finds a cure.
I’m truly curious what she’ll do with him after he serves his purpose. Will she be merciful and kill him? Or will he be released into the world, his mind and body broken?
“Love, you’re taking your emotions out on him,” I chide her, leaning my shoulder on the wall covered in smooth gems. I’ve mostly used obsidians with splashes of sapphires, rubies, and diamonds here and there. The room is dark, a shrine to sleep.
Needless to say, I don’t use it anymore with poor Nienad stinking it up with his rot.
“Should I take them out on you?” she asks.
“How about you face them, instead? You’re afraid I’ll try to mess with your memories. I will not. The mental link I proposed doesn’t serve that purpose.”
“I don’t care.”
She raises her palm, leveling it at Nienad’s stomach. It’s riddled with the disease, bloated with pus, his hairy skin mottled. Dark red flames shoot out of her hand, and the planetnik howls in pain, his body snapping into a taut arch.
It lasts a few seconds, and his skin doesn’t burn, but it steams, and the scent of roast meat fills the room. My stomach rumbles, and Jaga breaks the spell, stepping away. She gives me a look of utter disgust, and I shrug. I’m hungry, and it smells like food.
Nienad faints from pain, and she doesn’t revive him.
“Hm. Shockingly, it worked, but it’s not a viable healing method,” she mutters under her breath, examining him with her magical eye.
I step closer, sending my shadows inside Nienad to assess her progress. A moment later, I’m out, grimacing from displeasure.So much pus.My appetite is gone.
“It didn’t work. There’s still some left. You should have burned him longer.”
She shakes her head. “He was about to die.”
With a sigh, Jaga lays her hands on Nienad’s swollen, bruised abdomen. She closes her eyes, breathing evenly despite the smell, and heals the damage her spells and the illness have wrought.
His stench clings to the walls, the aura of suffering poisoning the air. I think I’ll burn this room after she’s done with Nienad, purify it with salt and the blood of babies, and only then build it anew. I don’t understand how Jaga can willingly spend hours in here, but she’s the least squeamish person I know.
