Page 53 of Dark Angel

Jordan’s brows furrow at her. “You need to take it out so that you heal, Kora.” He reminds her, leaning forward to grab it again.

She shakes her head at him urgently, pushing his hand away once more with her elbow. “No. I need to leave it in.”

“Just take it out, Kora.” His voice is calm as it can be.

His hand grips onto the handle, and he pulls out the dagger with ease. Jordan watches as red and gold blood releases from the wound, trailing down her skin and clothes. The wound is momentarily open before closing and mending itself within seconds.

She hears the dagger slip from his grip, falling to the floor. Her blood dripping from the sharpened edge. Gilded scarlet blood.

“What the-” He stops himself before he curses loudly in front of her.

Kora can’t bring herself to see the alarmed look on his face. It’ll be the same as when Clarence first discovered her special abilities when she was eight and he first struck her in their attic.

She stands, her sticky blood already drying against her skin. Her internal organs and bones are still repairing, but they will be fully healed within minutes.

“How?” He asks her, his voice breathless, like he can’t believe what he’s seeing right in front of him.

“I don’t know.” She answers honestly, her voice raspy and innocent.

Jordan reaches out, touching the already healed skin with his fingertips. The golden laced blood stains his extremities. Kora flinches under his touch from his energy sparking her own. “How long have you known about this?”

She looks at him finally, her eyes glassed over with fear. Fear of not knowing if he will tell the Elders. Fear of not knowing how he will react. Fear of not knowing if he will even talk with her again.

“Since I was born,” she starts, her voice croaky, “I have always had this… ability. Clarence found out when I started training with him. We don’t know why I am like this, why I am so different from everyone else. Seraphim can heal faster than Mortals, but nothing like this. When I was much younger, I’d heal within a few minutes. Now it only takes mere seconds.”

Jordan’s eyes continue to search hers as he stays silent.

“Nobody else knows about this except for Clarence. You can’t tell anyone, please. Promise me you won’t tellanyone.” Her voice breaks as she lets out all the tears she’s fighting back.

He continues to stare at her in shock.

Even though he’s the one half naked in the room, Kora suddenly feels more exposed and barer. She’s allowed him to see something of her that nobody else knows, not even Daisy, her closest friend. And that thought frightens her the most because something about Jordan is trustworthy. She can’t even place exactly what it is that enables her to trust him, but there’s something unexplainable inside of her, assuring her.

Maybe it’s the way he’s so comfortable around her, or how her breath halts when she simply looks at him. Maybe it’s because he’s so highly regarded amongst her friends. Something draws him to her, pulls them closer, like two magnets connecting.

When he doesn’t say anything, her heart sinks a little inside her chest. Perhaps he will tell someone about this. It’s not his secret to hide. Why should he care?

Then, without a word, Jordan pulls her into his arms. It’s the last thing she’s expecting him to do.

His smooth skin is like silk under her touch as her arms wrap around his midsection and she sobs into the crook of his chest. Tears keep flooding from her eyes. Warm salty tears of pain, anxiety, and candour.

“I won’t tell anyone about this,” he whispers to her. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Kora.”

He feels her body relaxing into his, like a weight has lifted from her shoulders. “Thank you.” Kora rasps out.

“You will be all right. I won’t let anyone else find out about this.” His voice drops as if people on the other side of the shielded glass can hear them. “I promise.”

She nods against his smooth skin.

“But you need to find out how you have this ability. What makes you different from the rest of us.” He adds on.

Her head lifts, and she pulls herself away from him. Her skin itches to stay connected with his, but she shakes her head hastily. “What if I find out something that I regret knowing?”

Jordan frowns at her. “But what if you find all the answers you need to know? Perhaps you should see an Augur. Your answers might be inside your memories. Memories that you can’t surface. I can come with you if you like?” he offers kindly.

She gives him her weakest smile before shaking her head again, wiping her tear-stained cheeks with her forearm. “No. If I do this, then I need to on my own.”

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