“What in hells just happened?” Tiernan asks. His hands are shaking so badly, he doesn’t even try to sign.
“I don’t know.” I keep my own hands pressed firmly against the wood.
I watch a string of expletives leave his lips as he runs his fingers through his hair, tousling it. He looks toward the bedwhere Taig is still fast asleep. “Was that the dream you’ve been having?” he signs when he’s collected himself enough to face me again.
I nod.
“And … my dream,” he adds. His throat bobs as he swallows. “They merged. Except, neither of us were asleep. You daywalked.”
Again, I nod.It would seem so.
He pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes before his shoulders sag.
“I could feelyouremotions,” I say.
Surprise plays over his features, but he smirks despite himself. “Empaths can sometimes inflict emotions upon others. In this case, I think it was more your powers merging with mine, giving you the ability to temporarily feel my emotions.” Getting to his feet, he reaches down, and I take his hand to let him pull me upright. “Do you think you can project that dream onto me again?”
I stare at him, flabbergasted. “I don’t know how!”
“Do what you did before?”
I huff with frustration. “The dream hit me out of nowhere. Like a vision. But I don’t have visions.”
“Don’t you?” He raises a brow at me in that way that forces me to stifle an eyeroll. “You’ve had ominous feelings many times before. Like right before the attack outside of the Verge.”
“I assumed it was a coincidence.” I glance over at the bed to make sure that Taig is still fast asleep before looking to Tiernan again. “You’re telling me my powers can just keep changing?”
“Not changing,” he says. “Strengthening. Evolving. And that dream you keep having …”
I wipe my clammy hands on my skirt and lick my lips as my mouth goes dry. “I don’t want to think of that being anything other than a dream. Because it seems very …”
“World ending?” he offers.
I nod.
“You can say no, but do you want to try intentionally projecting this time?”
My fingers snag on my messy curls as I run them through my hair. Idly, I begin to detangle the knots as I try to think of how to use theseevolvedpowers with intention.
My mouth still tastes bitter, and I could use some water, but I sigh and say, “I think I need to touch you.”
He quirks a brow, and I lightly whack the back of my hand against his chest, making him laugh. “Alright then, beautiful. Touch me.” There’s the tiniest spark of playfulness in his eyes as he holds his hands, palms up, toward me.
I suffocate another eyeroll, but a small smile twitches onto my lips. Until my eyes shift to his extended hands, taking in the lines on his palms. The idea of intentionally projecting visions into his mind is daunting. Breathing in slowly, I place my hands in his. I close my eyes and concentrate on the dream. On the land being sapped, the ice breaking across every surface. My body grows weightless again, sensations morphing and undulating, multiplying until my mind is not just my own, butbothof ours.
When the vision snaps into Tiernan’s mind, it’s like seaming fabric together—I hold on to it, letting the dream run its course—letting the icicles drip and the dark skies linger overhead. When I can’t stand watching the dream any longer, I release my mental grip, and my hands follow, the vision slipping away.
My knees buckle, but before I can fall, Tiernan grasps my elbows. I grab on to him again. Throbbing grows behind my eyes as I meet his gaze.
Slowly, a smile spreads across his lips, his golden undertone seeping back into his face. “You amaze me,” he says.
I would laugh from the improbability of it all if I had the energy. “I need to sit,” I mumble.
The bed is too far away for the way I feel right now, so I shakily sit on the floor. Tiernan sits beside me and wraps an arm around me, letting me rest my head against his shoulder. The floor shakes very slightly and Tiernan’s body tenses. My head is heavy as I lift it from his shoulder.
“Chiyo,” he signs a moment before the door opens.
There’s urgency in her signs as Chiyo motions, “You’re wanted in the Assembly Lodge.”
