Page 130 of Of Serpents and Ruins
Brandt flung his head back, clipping her chin.
"Enough of this. He's going to hurt you and himself." Arjax strode over. He pressed his hand over Brandt's carotid arteries.
Brandt stiffened, then went limp as if he had been drugged. Arjax grunted.
Lorna lifted Brandt up easily and carried him out of the steaming waters. She then laid him down on the ground just beyond my sight. "Poor kid," she muttered.
Kine handed her the other heavy grey blanket he'd brought with him.
"Thanks, baby blue."
I still stood there, unable to move. I could see Brandt's feet sticking out from beyond the stones. Lorna wrapped the blanket around him, mumbling about how they likely had clothing that could fit him if they couldn't find his.
My eyes squeezed shut. That one had been early as well.
But we had saved time, so that meant this wasn't his last time before the insanity became permanent. I tried to run the calculations in my mind. There was one more, right? One more before his last.
How had it happened? What was causing it?
That horrible hazy sensation blurred everything. I staggered toward Brandt as Lorna searched for his clothes.
Arjax stepped in front of me. "Stella—" he started.
I tried to move around him.
He stood over me, sniffing the air. He lifted his hand, scowling. "Your smell changed."
"Wha—" I stared up at him, blinking. "What does that have to do with anything?" My voice shook a little at the end. I brushed my fingertips over my collarbone as if searching for the necklace.
"You no longer have that strange smell. It’s changed." He strode back a few paces, muttering something to Lorna.
Lorna started searching as well.
Arjax crossed over and swept the necklace with the charm and moonstone up. His brow furrowed as he drew in a deep breath, inhaling the scent. He recoiled almost at once, his thumb pressing down over the smooth surface of the sephorite charm. "This is not from this place. Not from Terrea."
Brandt suddenly lurched up, his eyes blazing. The charm around his neck flared bright yellowagain.
"No!" I screamed, my fingers digging into my scalp. "No!"
Lorna seized him by the throat and rendered him unconscious once more. He dropped to the ground like a sack of over-boiled potatoes.
I didn’t even have words any more.
Kine explained what I couldn’t. His voice droned in my ears as everything faded away.
I knelt beside Brandt, collapsing over him. I didn't care.
The muscles in his face twitched. That vein along his neck and across his forehead was just as vivid. I tried to smooth the agony away. Dull fear clawed at me.
Trap.
Yes, it was probably a trap, but he was mine.
It wasn't over yet. We still had time.
I stroked his face, shaking. My fingertips pressed against his cheek, his jaw, his throat.
What the Gola Resh had done to him was unforgivable, but he wasn't gone yet.
