Page 15 of Ecliptic

“He helped me in the end, and I . . . I locked him away with Erovos,” I said, my voice containing no emotion. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Demil sacrificing himself. Was I grateful or remorseful? Both felt wrong, considering he put me in that position in the first place.

“He will most likely be tortured,” Alvar commented solemnly.

“How I would like to torture him myself,” Rowen said, a fire darker than anything Erovos could conjure flaring in his eyes. “Though I hope Erovos does a skilled job of it.”

Nepta’s stare passed through mine and latched onto something much deeper within my soul. “You are quite a force, child, battling two warring dragons within. One breathes great life and healing unto this world while the other wields destruction. You must choose which beast to nourish, the one who heals or the one who destroys.”

Nepta’s words chaffed. The line between ruin and renewal was thin, and I feared I had lost the boundary altogether. But both the beasts inside me agreed on one thing. We needed Rowen’s touch. Desperately.

As if reading my mind, Rowen stepped directly in front of me and said, “I would like to try touching you again.”

“Rowen, you only woke moments before Keira. She did quite a number on you. I’ve only just managed to slow your heart rate and stop the bleeding from your nose and ears. Not to mention how I had to put your shoulder back into place,” Takoda said, motioning to his propagated medicines and supplies.

I felt the color drain from my face.

“We will test it again,” Rowen offered me with a weak smile.

Takoda sighed. “You must be able to pull back, Keira. If you hold on for too long, his heart could give out.”

I blanched, but Rowen cut in before I could refuse. “Keira, I trust you.”

“That makes one of us!”

“Please,” he begged. “Try.”

“As lightly as you can,” Takoda instructed.

I was terrified of injuring Rowen again, but I was willing to try. For him. And I nodded reluctantly.

The healer glanced at the warriors surrounding us. “Others, brace him. We don’t want him flying into the trees again.”

The warriors latched onto Rowen’s shoulders, their arms holding him in place. His deep-cut, linen shirt was low enough that it exposed his skin. His massive chest, dappled with dark curls, rapidly rose and fell with each desperate breath.

Surely, the spirits weren’t cruel enough to keep me from Rowen once again, especially after having left him alone and frightened for three long months.

I reached out and touched him as lightly as I could, barely pressing the pad of my finger to his chest.

Rowen’s eyes immediately rolled into the back of his head. He convulsed violently, triggering a chain reaction that struck the line of warriors with my current. I jerked back in horror, helplessly watching as they all struggled to regain their balance.

Takoda darted to one of the warriors who had fallen to the ground. “Keira, I am sorry, but you are to touch no one until you have mastered your powers. And no one is to touch you. Not even your soul flame,” he said with a pointed look at Rowen.

So the spiritswerethat cruel.

“No,” Rowen growled fiercely as he swayed on his feet. “We have a few sprouted noxlilies. Give her one. Heal her,” he demanded as the veins in his temples bulged.

“Rowen, she is not ailed,” Takoda said with pained honesty. “She is uncontrolled.”

I grimaced. I’d been called similar names by my parents. The treatments they put me through,forcedme through, still pained me like a break that would never heal. I couldn’t believe I was reliving the same situation, only this time with people who truly felt like family. And as if on instinct, a protective shield raised around my heart.

“Perhaps I could brew a few petals into a tea, but the flowers are slow to bloom and should only be used for grave injuries. Like Sabra. It is only because of the noxlilies that she is healed.”

“He’s right, Rowen,” I whispered, my body aching to hold the man I was forbidden to touch. “Save the noxlilies for those who need it.”

Rowen’s jaw tensed, but he nodded in agreement. We’d only been given a few precious nights to touch and hold each other the way we’d always wanted to but had been denied. And though our separation only felt like days for me, it had been months for him.

My heart plummeted with a gut-wrenching force, but I agreed with Takoda. If my touch was hazardous, it was out of the question for me to get too close to anyone, even if it was the man I loved with every shattered and broken fragment of my being.

Nepta turned her regal stare to Alvar. “Now that we know the cause of the quakes, and where they originate, we must gather warriors to guard the crevice. Have them report any movement from our enemy.”

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