Page 59 of Their Chosen

“She needs to cast a spell, or it will consume her. She'll burn out.” I heard one of the guys say, but I couldn't focus enough to determine which one.

“And how exactly do you expect her to do that? She doesn't know any spells, and we don't even know which affinity she has,” Callum growled in response.

A sob escaped me as the pain reached my shoulders, and I knew that if something didn't happen soon, this would devour me, killing me before I had even had a chance to start. “It hurts. Please, help me,” I begged them, hoping one of them had the answers to help me.

“Move!” I heard one of them yell, and I felt the immediate removal of Callum's heat, followed by an icy chill that soothed my nerve endings slightly. I sobbed in relief but knew that whatever was happening hadn't stopped yet.

“Princess, I need you to listen to me for once,” Lennox demanded.

“O-okay. I'll t-try,” I sobbed, wanting to move closer to him and his cool presence. But I couldn't move, stuck where I was by whatever was consuming me now. So much magic. So much power coursing through me.

“No. You will, Princess. For once in your life, do as I say,” he demanded harshly, snapping me back into my determined mindset. He was right. I didn't have a choice. If I wanted to survive, I needed to fight.

“Okay.” It was all I could manage to get out through my clenched teeth as the magic crept through my chest, making breathing more difficult.

“I'm going to take your hands now. Do not pull away, no matter how painful it gets,” he instructed me, not giving me a chance to argue. I felt his hands touch mine. It was like diving into freezing waters after being sunburned. So cold, it burned, but was only a small relief against the conflagration raging inside of me.

I clamped my hands down onto his, holding him tightly. I wanted to crawl into his lap as he sat opposite me, the icy touch soothing and painful all at once. I could feel the pressure backing away from my heart, back where it had come from. It was coursing from me and into him, but I had no idea how he was doing it.

“Now, Princess, I need you to focus. I need you to push the magic into me slowly. I need you to keep it from rushing into me too quickly and from overwhelming me. If it manages to do that, then it will snap back into you and kill us both,” he instructed, his tone brooking no argument from me.

“Okay,” I said, determined to make it through this. I wasn't ready to be done. I wasn't ready to call it quits. I still had too many questions that I needed answered. This couldn't be the end for me. So, I clamped onto my will, the one that had gotten me through the years of abandonment and abuse and turned me into a fighter.

“Now, Princess. Start pushing now.” He told me as if he’d known that I’d decided to fight and was ready to make this happen.

I didn't bother responding; just nodded while I kept my whole focus on picturing a wall inside me, blocking the magic from my body. One that could move and repel the magic back. I pushed it slowly back from my chest to my arms and shoulders. I could feel the sweat breaking onto my brow as I concentrated, rolling down my neck and back.

I was getting tired, but I was only about halfway done with pushing the magic out of me. Knowing this, I tried to pick up the pace a little, afraid I wouldn't be able to last at the current one.

Lennox gasped. “Too fast, Princess! Slow down!” His hands clamped down on mine even harder, almost breaking my concentration and causing me to drop the image of the wall. I knew if that wall crumbled, I was done for. I wouldn't have enough energy to make it through another attempt.

I backed off and heard him sigh slightly. “Nox, I don't think I can last much longer,” I admitted on a sob.

“Nope. None of that, Princess. You don't get to give up so easily. Now, focus and push. You're almost there,” he prodded at me, pushing me to continue.

My tears mixed with the sweat that was now flowing freely from my body. I could feel myself trembling at the intensity of the burning that continued to course through my arms, finally past my elbows and in my forearms. I was so close. But I was so tired.

“Nox, I'm so tired,” I whimpered, feeling the flicker of the wall in my mind and the panic started to return. My breaths increased with my heart rate, my heart feeling like it would burst from my chest.

“I didn't think you were a quitter, Princess. I thought you were some kind of badass. I thought badasses wouldn't let this get the better of them. Or are you not a badass?” he questioned me, needling at me on purpose. I knew what he was doing, trying to make me angry to get my determination back. The only problem was, I was almost too tired to care.

Almost against my will, my pride got the better of me and pushed the wall harder at his words, causing him to gasp. “That's it, Princess. Show me what you got,” he demanded.

I could feel the magic in just my hands, the pain centralized there, and the burning was the worst I had ever felt in my life. I could feel it creeping toward my fingers as I mentally shoved the wall with everything I had left inside me. I screamed out loud, pushing that final stretch of the way, giving one final heave as my voice gave out.

As the final traces of magic left me, I collapsed on the mats, my chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath. I was so tired, I could feel it in my hair, not even able to open my eyes. I could tell I was about to pass out, when an icy palm landed on my cheek. “Good job, Princess. You can rest now.”

I did just that and allowed myself to succumb to the blackness that had crept in to consume me, passing out.

Chapter Twenty Six: Lennox

I gazed down at Rhowyn's face as she passed out, her breaths evening out. I could feel the tremble in my own limbs, exhausted myself from the whole ordeal. We almost hadn't made it. We had both almost been consumed by whatever magic that had been. If I hadn't shown up when I did, she would have died.

“What the hell was that!?” I demanded from the guys who were huddled behind me, searching Rhowyn for injuries themselves. I knew it hadn't been intentional, but I couldn't help blaming them for placing her at such a risk.

Arryn knelt down on the other side of Rhowyn and placed his hands on her chest. I felt his magic course through her, searching for any injuries we couldn't see. When he was done, he rocked back to sit on his heels, his head hung low. I could feel his sorrow and shame at having allowed this to happen. He took his role more seriously than we all had, but it hadn't been enough to keep her safe.

“I have no idea. That shouldn't have happened. I just told her to look at her magic and describe it to me. We were trying to determine what affinity she had by the feeling, trying to cut down on having to try all the variations of the different seasons. It shouldn't have resulted in that, whatever that was,” Callum stated angrily.

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