Page 66 of Jacinth

I snorted, suddenly exhausted.

“Every good thing I have ever believed of you has most thoroughly been disproven. So tell me, what is it that I should be thinking?”

Alisdair watched me for a long moment. If I didn’t know him as well as I did, I may have misconstrued what I saw in his eyes as regret.

“We were always supposed to do this together. I wanted... we were supposed to be together in this.”

Shit.

Maybe Niko had been right.

Moving slowly, so as not to startle him, I rose on my knees, closer to him than I was before. I didn’t trust him at all; he seemed... unhinged... in his vulnerability.

He burst to his feet and paced tight circles around the clearing.

“You had to go and ruin everything. You had me sentenced to death! Why did you do it? Why couldn’t you just be who I needed you to be? Who I thought you were.”

He was, by turns, screaming and mumbling, as though he couldn’t decide how best to approach this situation he found himself in. This wasn’t the boy I remembered, but maybe I could use our shared past.

“Dare,” I called, intentionally using the nickname I had given him when we first met at seven-years-old.

“Dare, come sit by me. You’re upset.”

Even half mad, muscle memory and that old urge to seek comfort took over, and he sank to his knees, folding into me as I welcomed him into my arms. His fingers clawed in my shirt as he grasped at me, like one who was drowning. I wondered how much of this madness was a byproduct of a power he couldn’t hold, yet couldn’t cease collecting.

“Let it out,” I whispered, as his body began to tremble. “Let it go.”

As the first sob left his body, I placed my right palm on his chest, my left on the ground, and slowly released my power. His distraction was so complete that, for a moment, he didn’t realize what was happening. A tear leaked down my face for the friend I had lost as he jerked back in fear.

“I’m sorry, old friend.”

With a surge of power that threatened to steal my consciousness, I ripped a soul from one vessel and fed it into another. I ripped one thread of fate... and replaced it... with another.

CHAPTER 45

Jacinth

I was suspended in darkness.No feeling, very little awareness. Drifting, like a marshmallow in a mug of cocoa. Those bastards never melted fast enough.

I became aware of a tickle on my nostril. Weird. I had nostrils now?

It was just inside, and now I encountered the age-old dilemma—do I scratch it and look like I’m picking my nose? Not that there seemed to be anyone around to witness the alleged pick. I shifted my arm up and felt an itchy coarseness beneath my body.

I wasn’t sure I was still in the other place. How did I get here?

The brush of moving air danced across my cheek, and the tickle in my nose became unbearable. With a weak arm, I slapped at the itch and returned to consciousness with a flinch.

Note to self: Don’t slap your own nose.

I found myself eye level with a whole lot of grass. I was positive there hadn’t been grass when I closed my eyes, but given I didn’t know when I had last seen, that was neither here nor there. That phrase didn’t really make sense... or maybe it did. I didn’t feel here, but I most certainly wasn’t there.

I sat up and looked slowly around. The fact I was in my clearing in the cemetery registered far slower than I would have liked. An attractive man lay, completely unconscious, on my grave.

Gingerly, I pushed myself to my feet and made the three steps to his side before my legs gave out.

He seemed vaguely familiar. Like from a dream. I reached a finger out to poke him, and was satisfied as he let out a weak growl. Not dead.

This was about the time I realized I was completely and utterly naked. Not the best turn of events. The only logical solution here seemed to be to steal the passed-out guy’s shirt because it was long enough that I could use it as a dress.

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