For now.
Don’t say anything that brings that look back into his eye.
Get out of here safe and sound.
“May I speak to Creed?”
His nod is small, and he calls out for his brother. My eyes follow every step he takes into the room.
“What’s wrong?”
“That lesson you taught me. Is…was that real? A knot?”
His lips pinch together and he charges forward. My eyes flare and Kyzen jumps between us. They whisper amongst themselves and everything in me grows sour.
They’re planning something.
You plan faster.
“Please don’t do that.”
“I was telling him to give you space and answer your question.”
My gaze bounces between the two of them.
I don’t know if I can believe whatever he says now, though.
“Yes, my endling. It was real.”
Endling…is this the end?
A long, slow breath leaves my lips, and I search inside of myself to see if my soul actually stretches toward them still. All of them. Just because he stroked it doesn’t mean anything.
He can touch everyone’s soul.
As soon as I count the four ropes, I tie the realm’s tightest knot in the tethers. I never take my eyes off them.
Their gazes never shift.
Okay, they can’t feel you now.
Slow, steady, and safe, Thayla.
Get yourself somewhere safe.
“I…I’m ready to go now.”
“Okay,” Kyzen whispers.
They split apart and allow me to walk between them. The second my foot crosses the threshold, the low hum that’d been hissing in my mind disappears. A new, familiar kind of buzz sings across my skin.
Fast. Don’t hesitate.
The room I’ve grown to love—or so I thought—greets me as my power releases me.
It’s real.
I slide down the door until my butt hits the ground and I flatten my palm against the wood at my back.
