Page 139 of Alchemised
The door slammed behind her and Ferron had her backed against the wall.
So much for his promise not to touch her.
He leaned in and pressed his palm against the side of her neck, fingertips tracing the ridges of her spine. She forced herself to tilt up her chin as his head dipped forward towards hers.
She started to inhale but couldn’t move. Her heart stalled as she registered it.
Ferron drew back, studying her with flat, emotionless eyes.
Her lungs were already starting to burn as she tried to work out exactly what he’d done to her. Experienced as she was as a healer, she’d never had anyone use vivimancy on her.
He tilted his head, holding her upright against the wall by one shoulder. “Do you have any sense of self-preservation? I could have killed you fifty times in this building alone.”
Helena couldn’t respond. Her eyes were beginning to bulge. Her heart still worked at least; it was racing inside her chest. Her eyes must have looked terror-stricken, because he chuckled.
“Don’t worry, I won’t take advantage of you,” he said softly in her ear.
His fingers just barely moved and the paralysis on her lungs disappeared, but only her lungs.
She drew a ragged breath through her teeth because it was the closest she could get to screaming.
She couldn’t find a way to untangle her body from his control, couldn’t even find her own resonance. He’d caught her completely off guard by making her think he meant to kiss her.
“I’m going to show you something interesting now. I’m told it’s one of my special talents.” His free hand pressed against her forehead, obscuring her vision.
That was all the warning she got before his resonance pushed into her mind like a large needle puncturing her skull.
Her body jerked.
She could feel him. His resonance hit the forefront of her consciousness like a bolt of lightning, and her memories sprang up before her eyes like a zoetrope.
It was as though she was reliving the moment: her shoulders against the wall, his body leaning in, tilting her face up; then time skipped back and her hand was pressed against the door; then she was finding her way through the tenement and the claustrophobic nearness of the buildings.
Ferron moved deeper into her memory; she watched herself strapping on her medical satchel to head out.
He could read her mind.
She couldn’t let this happen.
She struggled, trying to get free, to rip her consciousness out of his control.
He delved further.
She was in an empty chymistry lab transmuting several rare compounds into an elixir. She coated his ring with it, careful not to disrupt the mirrored entanglement.
Ferron let go very suddenly, and the paralysis vanished.
Her knees gave out and she slid down the wall, her head throbbing so violently that she could barely see straight.
“What did you do to my ring?” he asked, standing over her.
“What did you do to me?” she retorted, her voice tremulous.
“It’s a trick I learned from Artemon Bennet,” he said, stepping away from her. “He calls it animancy. When we take Resistance fighters alive, it’s not unusual for us to examine their memories. So if you’re ever captured, there’s a chance it’ll happen to you. Which makes you a liability for me.”
Helena closed her eyes, struggling to compose herself. The Eternal Flame had no idea such a thing could be done. What kind of defence was possible?
“Now, I’ll ask again.” Ferron’s voice was implacably cold. “What did you do to my ring? Where is it?”
