“Kamine! Out!” She barely heard it through all the noise, but she couldn’t get up. Out of embarrassment or shock, Kamine’sbodyrefusedto get up. It was like the ground didn’t want to let her go.
She gritted her teeth as she strained with her weak arms to lift her upper body, but her arms were shaking with the effort. Kamine could bet all eyes were on her, and once she got into a sitting position, she was not surprised that the whole room was staring.
“I need a moment,” she breathed out.
She expected Professor Grimot to drag her to her feet, but instead he walked over, crouched down to her level, pulled the helmet off her head, and hissed, “What the fuck?”
She closed her eyes, and drooped her head down. Her unruly hair draped over her face.Good, she didn’t need everyone to see how red her face burned.
“I just need to rest a moment,” she repeated in a whisper, barely able to get the words out between the deep intakes of breath. She would get up soon, she just needed a break. The world around her had changed and she just needed to orient herself again.
“You’re drained,” he said, in a sense of disbelief. She didn’t understand why. She had just gotten hit so hard that she expected her leg to be broken.
“I think I’ll need help getting up.”
Professor Grimot stripped off her arm and chest plates, and it was such a relief to be able to move her body freely, without the constriction of metal.
“You’ll need more than that.”
That was the last thing she heard before her eyes fell shut and her body went limp into Grimot's arms.
Ten
Grimot carried Kamine’s motionless body through Skola’s halls. He had checked for a pulse, and it thrummed beneath her light skin—weak, but there.
The incline of the ground made his journey just that much harder, but he barely felt the burn of his calves, barely felt anything but his absolute fear for her well-being.
“You’re gonna get me in trouble again,” he grumbled to no one but himself. He told the others that the game was over right before he left, and everyone had dispersed.
“Is she dead?” Zoya whispered, the woman’s voice shaky as she tried to keep up with his pace.
“Be careful,” Janina warned, when he almost bumped Kamine into the wall as he made a sharp turn.
He could feel the body in his arms begin to shift, as if trying to go to the sound of her friend’s voices. He tightened his hold on her, not letting her fall.
“She needs space, not to be hounded,” he said. Listening to him, both of Kamine’s friends backed off, allowing him to take control of the situation.
He stopped at the first lounge area he could find, and rested her on the plush couch.
“Stay here,” he said, as if she could even hear him in her state.
He rushed to find some water and a rag. When he returned, she was still laying there, unmoving. He should tell Dritoria about this, but he couldn’t just leave her. Kamine would be confused and scared if she woke up alone.
He placed the wet rag on her forehead and sat on a couch opposite her. The faint spell would wear off soon. He was all too familiar with using too much power at once, but overtime, her well of power would return, along with a pounding headache, and a ravenous hunger.
The shift under their feet had shocked everyone, and had thrown them all off balance. At first, nobody knew where the quake had come from. Perhaps the court was being attacked, or the mountain was just settling. Then everyone’s attention gravitated to Kamine’s body on the ground, crouched and shaking. Nobody could believe it—hecouldn’t believe it—until he saw her ashen face, her purple eyes usually so bright, now dimmed.
That’s when he ran to her. While he didn’t know when his indifference towards her turned to care, he didn’t dare question it now.
There was a powerful gift hiding under her skin. It just wasn’t what anyone expected. It was unlike anything he’d ever witnessed before.
It was dangerous if she didn’t learn how to control it. If she used her powers improperly during the Undertaking, she could damn the whole court. If she was as powerful as Grimot now presumed, then she could rearrange the very ground they walked on.
Kamine gasped awake and practically rolled off the couch. Her eyes blinked rapidly, adjusting to the light, and landing directly on him.
“Where am I?” she asked.
“Do you remember anything?”
