Page 122 of Wraithwound

“Okay, yes. Correct it, but go back and get Cross first, please. It won’t take you long!”

“You would risk the lives of billions on three separate planets for a man whose soul has already been corrupted?” Runa answered as she prowled onward although Lena thought her interest had been piqued.

“We’ve all done things—made choices we can’t come back from. He’s a good person!”

“Do not feed me artifice and falsehoods. There are things you do not know about the warrior. I doubt you’d be so accepting then.”

It was this response that set her rage aflame, this creature, this monster acting like it knew her. Just because it had inhabited Lena’s body for some time didn’t mean it understood her or had the same lived experience.

She knew Cross had secrets. Everybody in Reimar had secrets. She could accept that. He’d accepted her, knowing what she was, the things she’d done, just like Henry had, and that meant more to her than she could have ever imagined.

It was this thought that threatened to drown her, to pull her into the darkest ocean until she couldn’t distinguish herself from the water pressing in around her. And there had been others. Others who had been willing to accept her, just as she was, so long as she let them in.

Let them in.

Let it in. Just like Wyn.

The small creature had accepted her circumstances, even early on. She had mourned the loss of her babies, the loss of her family, but not once had Lena seen the eleuth fight the change, on the contrary, she welcomed it, called on it when she needed it, and used it to her advantage to protect others.

Her heart raced as the realization sparked clarity. Lena had only ever worked to fight Runa and push her out, and instead, she’d only dug her claws deeper into Lena’s consciousness. The only exception had been when she was fighting the Nychtyra. But even then, she’d done so with fear in her heart, and she’d had to bypass Henry’s protection to do it.

Even as an incorporeal presence, Lena felt a bout of nerves as she made the decision. She closed her eyes and settled in within herself.

“To learn, you must do,” she whispered to herself. Then she began to search. Lena looked through the rooms her mind had visited, through heartbreak and regret, through her own light and darkness, until she found something. There. A loose thread.

Chapter

Sixty-Nine

An electrical network of passageways opened to her in the darkness, and Lena marveled at the sight. She could see where her body, her nerves, veins, and connective tissue ended and where Runa began. Runa’s control of Lena’s body materialized as darkness that had latched onto every fiber of her being, and yet there was still a clear distinction between the two.

What would happen if . . .

Lena pulled. She willed the darkness to come to her, to consume her completely and eradicate the line that distinguished Lena and Runa as separate entities. Lena commanded it. Demanded all of it. And it came, suffocating her, drowning her until the distinction between them was lost.

Lena crashed into her body so hard she stumbled backward, having lost the grace and assuredness with which Runa commanded her body. Runa tried to pull herself back out of Lena’s control, but Lena held firm. She breathed deeply, maintaining her focus on drawing the darkness.

The world around her morphed. The sky looked lighter; details in the world around her became clearer. The moss now emanated a black aura that rippled away from it, as did the strange flowers growing in the cracks. Only the vines at her feet were clear of it. Her sense of smell had sharpened, and she felt stronger. So much stronger. She barely had time to notice anything else when she was yanked out of her body and slammed back into her own mind.

No. No, no, no.

She’d lost her focus. Lena tried again to pull the darkness toward her, but nothing happened. She tried again and again. Nothing. Lena’s heart pounded, her breathing turned ragged as she thought about Cross lying in that cave, alone in the dark, dying.

It had worked. She’d commanded the wraith, even if for a short time. Lena racked her brain thinking of how she might regain control because there had to be something she was missing. Lena focused on what else she’d seen in Wyn. What else she might have learned. Her mind paused on a memory of the furry creature in the plains when they’d been attacked by the Nychtyra. The eleuth had trouble with the shift afterwards. Perhaps it was just something she needed to practice. To master. Lena took a deep breath and then a few more. When her heartbeat had slowed and her breathing returned to normal, she tried again.

The world around her evolved with details and depth. It worked.

“You know nothing of—” Runa’s voice slithered into her mind.

Lena slammed a mental door shut, cutting her off. She would not relinquish control of her body again, no matter how much Runa clawed at it.

She spun toward where Cross lay in the creature’s den and ran. She moved quickly, propelled by an unfamiliar strength. She skidded to a halt when she noticed the familiar entrance to the cave she’d left her pack in and yanked it off the ground before bolting back out. It didn’t take long to find her way back to the edge of the cliff. Without hesitation, Lena jumped, landing in a crouch on the ledge below. This time, her body absorbed the impact. She darted through the winding passageway and emerged in the cavern where Cross’s body still lay. Falling to her knees beside him, she laid her hand on his chest and waited.

Thump…

That was all Lena needed before she got to work. She cut the buckles on the side of his armor with the swipe of a nail and peeled it back, but what she saw underneath made her stomach turn.

How many times had he been stung?