My body freezes mid-step at the voice, my head swiveling around slowly. In the center of the hallway is a mussed-up and groggy-looking Max.
The dark circles under his eyes have gotten worse, and hisWield flickers at his fingertips absentmindedly. I know that, look. Iwearthat look, and my chest tightens at seeing him so disheveled. "Maxwell…"
"He haunts me." His voice cracks.
My lips flatten against each other, holding in the strangled sob that threatens to tear out of me. I nod my head violently, the tears burning behind my eyes. "I know." The words come out strangled, the two of us staring at each other, our pain hanging in the air.
We're tethered by a tragedy that is entirely my fault, and there's nothing that I can do to change it.
Two traitorous teardrops mirror down our cheeks, and we stand there holding space for the other. In the next moment, it’sover, we roll our shoulders back and share a knowing look before turning our separate ways.
I sprint the rest of the way, bursting through the doors out into the courtyard. Vada lifts her head at me, but I don’t give her a chance to register the pain on my face. My legs carry me up her forearm, and I urge her to take off.
There’s no need to command what to do or where to go; she understands perfectly and propels her body up into the air. Clinging tightly to her spines, I nestle my body between them, allowing the wind to take every one of my tears away as we fly.
The pressure builds in my chest, my heart matching the loud and rapid beat of her wings, as we pick up speed in our descent. When the ground comes into view, I wrap my Wield tightly around my fists, letting the magic fully take over. The moment her talons hit the ground, I'm leaping from the top of her shoulder onto the forest floor.
My knees hit the damp moss, my fingers digging into the dirt, as my magic floods from me. Piercing cries ring out through the trees, and I close my fists, the magic splitting into my tendrils. I drag myself up, the tendrils gripped tightly in my palms as I call the Wield back, reeling in a handful of red-eyed soulless creatures.
Vada and I have spent every available moment we have out here on the outskirts of my kingdom's cities. And every time I stand here studying them.
The beasts gnash their teeth at me, thrashing against the bindings I’ve wrapped them in. The more human-esque ones that I’ve snatched hold my stare, while the others can only twitch, scream, and hiss. I eradicate any that are too far gone for me to attempt any sort of control over, my tendrils goingfrom a rope – to blades that dice them up, ending their mindless existence.
Three remain, watching me as I eviscerate their companions and turn my attention onto them. A wicked grin creeps up my face, "I'd love to believe I’ve given you fuckers some kind of intelligence, but that example doesn't leave me much hope."
They snarl and fight against my Wield the same as the others, but I don’t relent. I can’t. When Rorin and I saw one of the creatures appearing to be… sentient, on our way to Vellar. We both watched as its beady eyes bore into us,acknowledgingus.
After my Wield brought Axel back asthat— oh gods… his face. My resolve snaps, and the tendrils holding the creature to my left splice through it, its inhuman shriek spearing through my eardrums.
"Stop playing cat and mouse with them, little demon. You either can control them or you can't."Vada growls in my mind.
I crack my neck side-to-side, ignoring her grumbled warning. I know she's right. But I have no idea where to start. Holding them here in my grasp, rendering them into nothing — forcing them to squirm under my hold as I work up my courage to manipulate what mush is sloshing up in those ashy skulls of theirs — it puts me in control.
Iamin control.
The creature standing opposite me tries to lunge and fails, its mangled body wrestling the threads of my magic. "Sweet. You think you're going to get out of this? Or do you not think at all?" I taunt.
I guess I'm about to find out.My conscience whispers as I focus a fragment of my Wield on its mind.
Spearing through the frail remnants of the creature’s psyche, I’m accosted by a sharp and mind-splitting pain. My knees buckle, and I clamp my hands over my ears, trying to free myself from the unnatural scream tearing through my head. The soundis debilitating, and I lose the grip I have on my Wield, the power slamming back into my body.
Vada’s roar shakes the forest, followed by the feel of heat blistering my skin. I scramble backwards, tripping over my feet until I feel my body hit Vada's thick scaly hide. Clawing my way up her leg, I lay my back flat against hers, my chest rising and falling rapidly, while my hand moves to scratch at my wrist. Through my lashes, I can see the glow of the rune, but I don’t have the energy to think about the fallout of triggering it.
"You were supposed to get in their minds, not melt yours — andespeciallynotmine,"Vada growls beneath me.
"I don't know what happened. That's not happened before. The others just… they just disintegrated the moment I tried manipulating their thoughts."
She huffs loudly, her body catapulting into the air."You're not ready."
At this point, I don't know if I'll ever be, but I'm afraid if I say that out loud or down the bond, Vada will throw me off her back. My budding relationship I had with death has dissipated since returning home, and I’m not ready to be so quickly reacquainted.
She landed roughly, the motion jostling me awake when I was nearly thrown off her spine.
My eyes fly open, and I see that the sky is still pitch black,thank fuck.
The color of the night guarantees that I won’t have any staff, guards, or nosy council members to deal with on my way back to my room. I slide down Vada’s back, patting her hide on my descent before she retreats, her weighty footsteps carrying her off to her cave. She snaps her tail, the crack against thecobblestone ringing in my ears, and mixing poorly with the pounding in my skull.
“My head.”I hiss, and she snorts, snapping her tail down again."Bitch."
