I can’t stop the small laugh that slips through my lips. Those feisty eyes snap to me.
“We are the furthest thing from fine, angel.”
Her frown deepens. Not in anger, though.
“You’re all mad at me.”
“No,” we echo.
“Then why aren’t we fine?”
A sigh slips out of me as I take another step toward her. This time, she doesn’t retreat.
“Because you don’t want to take the barrier down. And we both know it’s not only for the reasons you told Yemi.”
Her eyes narrow, and I give her a small, knowing smirk.
She exhales, and her tension cracks just a touch.
“I didn’t realize…” Her voice falters, and she turns her head, like even looking at us makes this harder. “Yes, she told me I’d experience my true emotions once it came down, but I didn’t understand what I was actually doing when I put it up.”
She paces, but she doesn’t have very far to go. From the side of her bed to the back door, then again. The other three align themselves with me, and we wait her out.
“I thought I was just dulling what I felt for you. Just enough to think. To function. And when I took it down when I saw all of you, it hit me square in my face what that really meant.”
Her fingers curl at her sides, and Amick shifts beside me. I don’t look at him, but I feel the moment he locks in.
“It wasn’t only how you feel about us. It was every emotion brought forth because of us. Every controlled conversation with the gods, every thought, every instance where you would’ve handled it differently.”
He steps closer to her, and she tightens her lips, staring into his eyes. She’s either looking for a different answer or an easier solution.
Pretty sure she isn’t going to find either.
“We were the whole reason for everything you did over the last two days. So everything had a dampened emotion attached to it.”
“Yeah,” she breathes.
“And that’s why your powers have been so easy for you to wield.”
She glances at me like she isn’t sure if she heard me right.
I chuckle. “Come on now, little burden. You didn’t think I noticed that?”
“I…”
“You waved your hand through the air and turned bodies to ash in less than a blink. Any other time your fingers would’ve been trembling calling that power forward. You still aren’t comfortable using it in front of us. And that touch of Consequence in the Neutral? Yeah, felt that too.”
She places her hands on her hips and lets her lids drift shut.
“Yes. They’ve listened to every command I’ve given them, and I can actually recall everything I’ve read about them over the last two days.”
“You read about them?”
“How many of them have you used?”
Amick and Kyzen glance at one another, then back at her. She gives Amick a tender smile first.
“Yeah, I read. All your notes, plus some extra passages when I didn’t understand something.” He beams at her like this is the best thing he’s ever heard. She focuses on Kyzen next. “All of them. Well, except for Seduction. Didn’t really have a need for it.”
