Page 258 of Hunters and Prey

Glancing at Black, I bit my lip.

“So how do I stop it?” I said. “How do I stop doing it?”

Glancing around at the faces and eyes staring at me, I firmed my jaw.

“Can I learn to control it?” I said, looking at Zarat.

She looked at me, then at Black, her eyes thoughtful.

“I don’t know,” she said.

I frowned, looking around at all of them again. Black was staring at the shaman too, his face probably in roughly the same expression mine was.

“Then why are we all sitting here?” he said in a growl. He made a vague gesture with one hand, one I couldn’t quite interpret. “I thought there was going to be some kind of woo-woo ritual or something. I thought you’d do something to her aleimi so she wouldn’t just fucking vanish whenever she fell asleep…”

He looked at me, and I saw that worry in his eyes.

“…Or when her husband was a dick to her,” he muttered in a lower growl. “Or when he said or did something to stress her out.”

I saw a few subtle smiles at that, but no one spoke.

It was hard to tear my eyes off Black, but I made myself, looking at Zarat.

“What are we doing here?” I said, my voice more subdued. “Or is this just some kind of symbolic thing? All of us sitting here while you tell us what you saw when you meditated?”

Zarat blew warmth at me, smiling.

“We have something we’d like to try.” She looked at Black, her voice polite. “…With both of your permission, of course.”

“Yes,” Black growled. “If it might help her, then yes.”

Zarat glanced at me.

When I nodded, I saw something in her eyes relax.

“Good,” she said. “Thank you. Of course, there is no guarantee it will work––”

“Whatwill work?” Black growled.

She turned, looking at him.

From a number of fidgets, exchanged looks, and irritated glances Black got, I strongly suspected people didn’t usually interrupt Zarat like that, or yell at her, or make any demands of her at all. Really, I barely saw anyone do that to anyone here, regardless of their station.

It just didn’t seem to be done here.

Zarat herself didn’t seem to mind.

At the very least, she seemed to mind a lot less than the rest of them. Her eyes and voice remained utterly calm when she answered him.

“We would like to attempt to connect more strongly the newly awakening structures in your light,” Zarat explained. Glancing at me, she added, “You are connected already through the bond, of course… but we would like to speed up the connections where you are more actively dependent on one another.”

Her silver stare grew more meaningful.

“There are risks,” she added, a touch sharper.

When she didn’t go on right away, I glanced at Black with a frown, then back at her.

“What kind of risks?” I said.

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