“You mean like this?” I hold out my palm and float a plum-sized white orb above it.
“Not externally.” He shakes his head with a frown. “We cannot pool my life force outside of your body. It is much too dangerous. You need to collect itinsideyou before you fully absorb it.”
“Oh.” I curl my fingers over my palm and extinguish the white orb. Then I close my eyes and listen, until warmth gathers in my chest and my Yeoiju hums inside me. I meet his gaze again. “You mean like this.”
“Yes.” Something close to wonder replaces his frown. “Just like that.”
“W-will it hurt?” I whisper.
“More than you can imagine. But once I begin, I cannot stop until I have transferred all of my divinegito you,” he says gravely. “If the transfer is interrupted, it will kill us both. If you die during the transfer, I will die as well. The only way for us to survive is to complete the transfer.”
“Well, we better complete it then,” I grit out.
He reaches toward me, but when I flinch, he snatches his hand back.
“No, please.” I shake my head and fist my hands. “I’m ready now.”
Hwanin gingerly presses his palm against the flat of my chest, right below my collarbones. My torso jerks at the light touch, as though I’ve been shocked by a defibrillator.
Still, I don’t pull away. I clench my back teeth and prepare myself. I’ve survived unspeakable pain before. I can handle this.
I was wrong.
Hwanin’sgiis both ice and fire, and I ... burn. Torrential power floods my body, bringing unimaginable pain with it. It shreds me, piece by piece. It melts my skin off of my bones. But when I look down at myself, I remain unscathed on the outside.
It hurts.
My mouth opens on a gasp, but no sound escapes. My eyes widen until the skin around them tightens with strain, and tears fall soundlessly down my cheeks. I want to pull away from Hwanin’s hand. I want to die to make the pain stop.
But I can’t move.
“Uh ... uh ...” I can only whimper when I want to scream.
My hands twitch as Hwanin’s life force pulses through me, then my arms jerk against my sides. I can’t control my body, and my limbs flail against my will. I don’t know how I stay upright as my whole body starts convulsing, and my head whips back and forth.
“E-Ethan.” His name is a reedy whisper that clings to my lips. There is no way he heard me, but it’s the best I can manage.
“Stop,” Ethan cries at my side. “She’s hurting.”
What have I done?
I’ve sentenced him to certain death. Hwanin’s divinegiis too powerful, horrible in its beauty. It will burn Ethan alive.
“Please stop,” he says again.
He’s still alive? How?
“They will both die if he stops,” Yongwang answers, not unsympathetically. “Step away from her. Or the light will burn you to cinders.”
“I don’t give a fuck what happens to me,” Ethan growls.
“N-no,” I stutter.Ethan, go back,I want to tell him, but neither my voice nor my telepathy cooperates.
“Please tell me what to do,” he pleads. “Wh-what can I do to help her?”
“You can hold her.” Yeomla relents. “You can help anchor her, but you might not survive the contact.”
“Thank you,” Ethan says with genuine gratitude, completely uncaring about the part where hediesif he touches me.
