Page 107 of Tortured Soul
What was wrong with me? I made a choice earlier as I stayed in the archives to think about all this. Leaving was the best thing for me to do. Arc would be better off, and Carter and I were never going to get along.
And yet, Arc had made my mind take another turn, deciding instead to stay a little more. To follow his lead and go with the flow.
And now, I was helping Carter.
Strange how the wind had shifted in the span of a couple of hours. They either had a strange power they used to make me forget about my concerns, or that stupid mate link was trying to pull a dirty trick on me.
“How did you do that?” Carter asked, his voice raw.
I tilted my head to the side, halting the movement of my hands on his wings. “What do you mean? It wasn’t hard to take the shards off if—”
“No. Not that—yourmind trick.”
Oh.
The lapse in judgment where I was so blinded by centuries of rage that I used a power I’ve been forbidden to use on other Immortals for almost my whole demon life.
I guess setting me free had unlocked it, like my ability to turn myself invisible.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have.”
I sat back on my haunches, ready to get up as he turned around sharply, knocking a few things off with his wings in the process.
“How?” he insisted, grabbing a hold of my wrist.
The touch was firm, but not painful. Softer than he ever handled me before.
“I-I don’t know. It’s something I was able to do from the start, but was bridled pretty quickly so I couldn’t do it anymore. I’m free now, so my limitations are gone. I acted on a whim, and I shouldn’t have.”
He leaned closer, a frown pulling down his face.
“Buthow?”
“You’re gonna have to be more specific,” I answered, ignoring the fluttering in my lower stomach. “I don’t know exactly what you saw.”
“Felt,” he corrected. “Heard. It was like I fell, all over again.”
My face fell, heart dropping. Even if Carter and I didn’t get along and probably never would, going through that was something I would never wish on anyone, even upon my worst enemy.
Or maybe just the asshole who took my soul.
“I can make people relive their hardest memories, and twist it to make it worse,” I explained. “I can amplify any feeling, any senses to various levels. I use it a lot on humans when I feed.”
I made him relive hisfalland amplified everything to the maximum level. No wonder he looked like a wreck now. Why he wanted me out.
“I’m sorry,” I breathed out, dropping my head to avoid his stare.
“But how did you know that was what was going to hurt the most?”
My throat bobbed and I caught his gaze again.
“I didn’t. My power latches on an existing emotion, I don’t get to choose which one. That’s why it’s useful on humans, but only when they’re already filled with lust.”
He stared straight into my eyes, dark circles under his. I didn’t move. Didn’t try to pull my arm away to stand up and leave, like I would have normally done.
I broke his mind for a short moment, while glass was perforating his skin and wings. And he sat here now, watching me without an ounce of the hatred that had deformed his face since we met.
“How does it feel to not have a soul?” he asked, his thumb rubbing circles on my wrist, eyes searching my face. “Mine hurts constantly. Everyday, I wish for it to be gone.”
