Page 7 of Gift from the Nexus

NO!

Draken, I’m so sorry.

Mentally, I apologize countless times to Draken. I tell him how much I love him and hold onto the thought of him for dear life as I try to shrink in on myself to protect my side. My legs trytheir hardest to kick out of the restraints and my back bows as far off the table as it can. But it’s no use.

The air leaving my lungs as I scream and the force I’m having to use to hold my dragon and bond at bay are suffocating me. I can’t breathe. My body is at war with itself on what to do and my dragon and bond are at war with me.

She’s withering, raging in my chest. Scratching her claws and beating her wings furiously against the fortress I have her locked in. Her need to tear him limb from limb swells everywhere within me, and I swallow down the roar trying to break free.

My bond pounds against my rips. Begging, pleading, pushing against its cage to reach out to my other halves. Seek their comfort, their help, anything. It just wants to feel them.

“You’re so much like her, it disgusts me. If you’d been a son, I have no doubt you’d have fallen in line with me. You’d have been incredible, unstoppable. But no. You had to turn out just like her. A defiant, no good whore.” He snarls.

Spittle flies from his gritted teeth as he stares down at me. It’s acid burning through my skin and my tears can’t wash it away fast enough. A whole new wave of fear hits me when I focus on him because I’ve never seen him like this.

Unhinged.

His eyes typically carry such emptiness. If not emptiness, resentment or disappointment. He’d never allow anyone to see him other than perfectly tailored, poised, and professional. A respectable, honorable member of his community. Right now, though, he’s anything but that. He’s letting his hatred bleed through unchecked. He’s no longer the enemy I know.

He’s a whole other beast I’m not prepared for.

I have no clue about the time that passes as he continues to tear into me carelessly. As soon as he’s pleased with the sight of my mark, or lack thereof, he takes a few small, calming breaths and switches back to a normal blade.

Back to torturing me relentlessly.

His knife slices anywhere he can throw his arm out as he maneuvers around the table like he’s dancing around a bonfire. The only skin that’s safe from his blade are the areas my bra and underwear cover, and he leaves my face unharmed.

My eyes nearly bug out of my head and my mouth falls open on a silent scream as he drives his knife through my hand. Ringing in my ears starts a moment before the pain hits, nearly blocking out the sound of the tip breaking against the stone beneath my palm. The thought, the knowledge, the agonizing feeling of it going all the way through, has me leaning to the side, spewing my guts up.

The bile burns so bad as it continues to crawl up my raw, hoarse throat and my vision swirls as I fight back the desire to pass out, enter the darkness that’s desperately calling my name. It takes every ounce of my energy to keep my eyes peeled open, fight through the dark spots, and force my fingers to relax.

“I adored that knife.” My father sighs as he snatches both the knife out of my hand and a pitiful cry from my mouth.

Violent tremors vibrate through every inch of me as white-hot agony consumes me completely and honestly, I can’t tell if it hurts so much I’m numb, or I’m numb because I’m going into shock.

“Take a small break while I find someone to clean up your mess. I’ll be back in a moment,” he says so calmly, almost sweetly that more bile forces its way through my lips. With one last pitiful glance at me, he shakes his head and walks out of the room.

I wait until the door shuts, then…

I shatter into pieces.

“I can’t do this. I was wrong, so wrong. I can’t handle this. Why do I have to endure this again?” My voice is barely a whisper as I sob harshly.

“I asked myself that question so many times, Willow. Why did I have to endure? Why did you have to endure? Why couldn’t Elementra fix this and be done with it?”

“Very valid questions,” I murmur. Even in my mind, it’s a small, broken sound.

“She gave me the answers I sought. I didn’t want to accept them, not because they weren’t right, but because I was so angry with her for choosing me and choosing you.

“Elementra was once a power that could take shape as a being. She wandered through space and time, searching, looking, hunting for someone, something. She was far too powerful for any other realm or creator to accept. They wanted to destroy her, while all she wanted was someone to love. She was lonely. So she made the ultimate decision to create a realm of her own. She’d share her power, use it to fuel the entire creation.”

My foggy mind slowly clears as I become solely focused on their voice. I block out the pain to the best of my ability and I hold onto their words like a lifeline. It’s the only tether I have and if they’ve decided now is the time to tell me this, I’ll listen.

“In order for her to do that, she had to become one with the fabric of this existence, merge herself into a single entity with the realm itself. In doing so, her power flows into each of us, into everything. All living things in Elementra and any being that made a home here have her power flowing through them.

“She told you, if she were to step in too much, it would be complete destruction. She meant that. For her to step in, crossing the line of balance, it would pull her power from her creations back into herself. It’d kill us all. And she refuses to do that. We are the only love she’s ever known. So her way of keeping the balance, while maintaining our way of life, is by blessing some of us with a little more. We are tasked with keeping the realm safe through our purpose.

“She knows what is to come, many, many, millennia before, and she begins her preparations. She aids and guides those of us she has chosen as much as possible without tipping the scales.”

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