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"Breathe."

"I am breathing."

"Badly."

There was something deeply offensive about that.

His mouth shifted slightly. "There you are."

I glared at him.

"Stay here. Just me. In."

He drew a slow breath.

I stared at him.

Nykos waited.

Then did it again.

In. Hold. Out.

The simplicity of it irritated me almost as much as the fact it began working. I matched him. One breath. Then another. His face stayed steady in front of mine, giving me something singular to focus on while I forced my ability inward. I found his heartbeat first because he was closest, then pushed even that away. The people behind him blurred into awareness rather than individual bodies. The jungle resisted longer, an entire wall of life pressing against senses I'd spent years making precise, but eventually it receded too.

Not gone.

Never gone.

Just distant.

Manageable.

I took another breath without Nykos prompting me.

Then another.

The pressure behind my ribs finally let go, all at once, like something had been holding its breath along with me.

Something eased in Nykos's face. "There."

I swallowed. "I had it."

"Of course."

"You didn't need to do that."

"No."

I stared at him.

He stared back.

Then he smiled.

Not a smirk. Not the irritating expression he wore whenever Alex embarrassed himself. Just a small, almost private smile that lasted barely a second before he turned away.

"Corian's waiting."