“So, your mental capability wavers when you’re put under too much stress. You need to learn to be more resilient. It’s all a matter of skill.”
“I understand,” I say.
I have no clue how I’m supposed to become more resilient in the short amount of time I have until the last trial, though.
Kazh stares at me without speaking.
I clear my throat. “And…uh, how do I become resilient like, right now?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” she says, bored as ever. “You. Yeah, you, pretty little shit. Come over here.”
Of course it’s Jax. He approaches and I can feel he’s nervous. So am I. I have no clue what Kazh has in mind here.
Kazh asks me, “You like this turd?”
I scoff. “No.”
“Ouch,” Jax murmurs. “That hurts, Phoenix.”
For a moment, nothing happens. And then Jax gasps. His breathing turns shallow.
“Oh, please, don’t,” he begs Kazh. “Not again!”
Jax is terrified. I feel his terror push against my senses, leak through my shields.
Oh gods, Kazh possesses the same power I do.
Suddenly, I’m alarmed. “Kazh, you’ll kill him! Stop! Enough!”
In a blink, the terror is gone and Jax is breathing a little easier. “I never want to experience that again.”
To me, Kazh says, “Do you care about him?”
“No.”
Kazh’s silent. Everyone is.
I press my lips together.
Of course I don’t. He’s nothing to me. A fucking thug hired by Daegel to do his bidding.
Also, the man who helped me. Without him, I wouldn’t be where I am.
Gods damn it.
I roll my eyes. “Fine. Maybe, a little. Not too much, though. Don’t fucking kill him.”
“Get a better grip on your damn senses and I won’t.”
That’s all the warning I get before Jax once again is filled with terror. He whimpers. I can feel his heart racing in his chest. I can taste the fear on the tip of my tongue.
“Concentrate, Phoenix,” Kazh says. “It takes less than two minutes of pure terror for the heart to give up as you know yourself.”
Panic rises inside me. I get it under control quickly, though. Breathing steadily, I focus on drawing out all the noise. My heartbeat stills, and while it pains me to feel Jax so terrified, I focus all my will and attention to shutting him out.
I don’t feel.
I don’t think.
