Page 70 of Alpha Exile

Blessedly, the peanut gallery is silent after that, which gives me the time and space to concentrate on what I'm seeing. I want to see it better—to seemore—so as a last-ditch effort, I take the bottle of water from the cavern, draw the rest of it to my lips, and down it.

When I open my eyes, they dance in my vision.

Threads, long and red, stretching out from Roarke's skin, twisting around, then doubling back in. They seem to bind him to himself at first glance, winding around him in a messy maze of knots and twists.

It takes me several minutes of studying them to realize that they all lead towards his heart. I stretch my fingers towards his chest, fingers skimming his skin—then jump back as he snarls, his head jerking down to glare at me.

"Okay, okay," I murmur, pulling my hands back and glancing down. He's still aroused, but clearly he wants to be the only one doing the touching around here. "I won't mess with you."

At second glance, though, I can see that it's not just the red threads winding around him. There are a few delicate golden threads as well, snaking across the empty air towards... me.

Inhaling deeply, I tell Kieran, "I'm going to try severing some of these threads. But I think there's a chance he won't like it. Think you can keep him still?"

"I can if it'll save his soul," Kieran says grimly, pacing around behind Roarke and reaching towards his shoulders. His hands hover just above Roarke's skin as he murmurs, "Will it take long?"

"I'll do it as quickly as possible," I promise him, wincing at the memory of Roarke bucking and struggling beneath Kieran's weight as we tried to rid him of the ancient spirit within. "This might not be pleasant, though. We should probably restrain him before I start."

There aren't many things available to us in the bathroom, so we settle on tying Roarke up with a flat bedsheet and a few towels. They tent noticeably as they drape between his thighs, and he snaps like a wild animal if we touch him for too long, but eventually we manage to get him semi-restrained. Once that's done, Kieran gets into position behind him, and I hold my fingers out towards the red threads near his heart.

"Ready?"

Kieran nods. "Ready."

We flow into position all at once. Kieran grabs both of Roarke's arms tightly together, and knocks his leg between Roarke's shins, kicking out until he buckles at the knees. I crook my fingers around the red threads at the same time, gathering a handful of them together and jerking them tight.

Roarke howls at this, his lips parting on a snarl and a ghastly, rage-filled sound leaving his mouth. I jerk my eyes away from his face and concentrate on the threads, pulling at them and jerking them apart until they sever.

"Keep going," Kieran says, gritting his teeth as Roarke throws himself backward and hits him in the jaw with his shoulder. "Do whatever it takes."

I do just that, ignoring Roarke's struggle as I gather more threads and sever them. After a few more repetitions of this, it becomes clear I'll need something more, so on a whim I pull Gregor's dagger out and hold it to the threads as if they were made of wool and not magic.

To my shock and awe, it slices through them like a hot knife through butter.

That makes the rest of the job as simple as gathering as many threads together as possible before severing them. Roarke bucks and fights through this, until eventually Kieran has to wrestle him to the ground and sit on top of him, holding his hands far away.

At one point, I hear the others call out, "Is everything okay?"

Kieran calls something back, which I don't even hear. I'm concentrating too hard on the threads in my fingers. They're starting to stir and move now, twisting away from my severing. Instead of gathering dozens of them together for each twist of the knife, I'm able to get maybe three or four at a time.

Eventually there are so few left that I have to search for them, squinting in the darkness and hunting them down.

Then I hear Kieran say something. He says it again, voice hoarse. "Delilah."

It takes me a moment to realize that the bathroom has gone quiet. Roarke is no longer howling and screaming; he's just quietly panting and growling sometimes, his eyes fixed sightlessly on the ceiling.

Kieran motions towards Roarke's chest. "Look."

Scrambling towards him, I pull the edge of the bedsheet away and stare down at a glowing red spot in Roarke's skin, just above his heart. I wince sympathetically as I brush my fingers against it, feeling warmth and power just beneath the surface of his skin.

Two gemstones are surging up from inside his body and pressing against his skin, which is cracked and reddened.

"Just a few more threads," I murmur, gathering their frantic, wiggling forms and severing them with a flick of the knife. "This will hurt, but it'll be quick, I promise."

I don't even know if he can hear me, much less understand. But I have to believe some part of him is conscious of what's going on, and that he knows we're only trying to help him.

Still, my eyes sting with sorrowful tears as I flip the tip of the blade towards his chest. Inhaling sharply, I hold my breath as I slice delicately across his skin with the tip of the dagger.

He cries out again at this, the sound full of unending rage.

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