Page 82 of Synodic

I could barely believe I’d been out for so long. That blast from the crevice had nearly taken everything out of me.

The last thing I remembered was crying in Rowen’s arms. Only now, vaguely recalling the slow walk back to the village, one arm strung around Rowen as he helped me limp back home.

Sitting up, I saw I wasn’t wearing the last thing I put on.

I glanced to Takoda, his silver hair down in its full glory. “One of the women helped change you into something more comfortable, and I’ve been monitoring your condition. With a few scratches and a twisted ankle, your injuries were easily tended to,” he said, gesturing to the vine-filled hydroponic tube he held in his hands, indicating the leaves and roots he’d used in his healing poultice.

“Drink this,” he said, handing me a cup of deep-berry liquid. “It is filled with all the sustenance you will need to regain your strength.”

I took several replenishing sips, and the cramping in my stomach sighed with relief. “It’s delicious, thank you.”

Already feeling better, I removed myself from the depression of the bedroll and tested the weight of my wrapped ankle. Feeling no pain, I asked, “How does it work, your healing?”

Takoda pondered my question, sliding the glass vial through the empty slot in his wooden terrarium, adding it to the line of other propagated plants. “We are all born with heightened gifts, though some forget this as they grow. The energy from this earth is ready to give, if you know how to ask. Wounds of the flesh and living medicines speak to me; bones, however, are another matter. There are times a body can be too broken to mend.”

Relieved I hadn’t broken anything, I gulped down the rest of the nutrient-infused drink.

“Is she awake yet?” Demil’s voice carried from outside the dome.

“No, not yet,” Rowen said, sounding beyond exhausted. My eyes shot to Takoda, but he was too engrossed in situating his supplies to notice. Even though he was acting oblivious, it seemed he wasn’t above a bit of eavesdropping himself.

“Hmm,” Demil hummed before asking, “What happened that night in the cave?”

“Not now, Demil. I’m not in the mood.”

“I don’t mean to pry, but it appears you have been enjoying the fruits of your labor a little too much.”

“I said, not now,” Rowen growled.

“She is the bearer of the Alcreon Light, and now a charge under all our protection. If you’ve become too clouded, there is no shame in stepping down as her guardian.”

“I wonder who would be the first to volunteer to take my place.” Rowen’s reply dripped with sarcasm.

I didn’t hear Demil’s response. I was too busy barreling towards the door, ready to let them know I was indeed awake and perfectly capable of joining their lovely conversation. But as I was about to reach the handle, Rowen entered the room with Demil on his heels. He stopped in his tracks. “You’re awake,” he said, studying me with dark circles under his eyes.

He hadn’t shaved in a few days; the rugged stubble I loved so much had grown back across his tight jaw. His face was etched with worry, and his dark hair was tousled from continually running his hands through it. Where I had gotten nothing but sleep, it looked like Rowen hadn’t slept at all.

Rowen’s tired eyes wandered to the frayed hem of my shirt, short across my exposed thighs. My mind instantly shot back to our kiss in the cave, when his hands had run up and down nearly every inch of me.

I wondered if his mind went there too, to the touch of my skin beneath his fingertips, to my bare legs wrapped around his body, or the way he held on to me as if he were afraid I would slip through his fingers.

His gaze shot back to mine. “What happened in that crevice?” he demanded darkly, supplying no other greeting. The shadows cast upon Rowen’s exhausted features deepened. “You were completely out of it, murmuring over and over again that he wasinside you.” I’d never seen his expression so easily readable; he looked as if he was ready to tear down the world with his bare hands. “What happened in there, Copeland?” He braced himself for the worse, even Takoda and Demil completely stilled.

I sat back down on the bed and told them everything.

I told them of the lifeless body next to mine in the hospital. How I’d pushed my consciousness outside of myself and reached into Maddock’s vacant mind. How there had been nothing there. Nothing at all.

How the cold pressing chill calling to me had been the connection I’d forged with Maddock Mosa. And how he had savagely tried to overtake me. How he’d almost succeeded had it not been for the powerful force of the Alcreon Light shooting him out of my body.

Takoda stood wide-eyed, and Rowen ran his hand down his mouth. “Thank the Spirits you’re alright, Keira. You’ve no idea how I’ve tortured myself. Playing out every single scenario of what could have happened to you in there. Sitting beside you for days, unable to ask you what happened.”

“I really thought I could’ve helped,” I said, devastated yet relieved to have made it out. “I was so sure there was something I could have done.”

I realized now how stupid that was, how careless I had been with myself and the enormous power I held within my veins. It wasn’t mine, it didn’t belong to me. It was entrusted to me to wield and protect, and I had put it in enormous jeopardy.

I saw Rowen’s green eyes replaying the description of Maddock forcing his way into my body—my mind—looking like he was about to be sick. “I knew I should have gone in there with you.”

“There was nothing you could have done. I should have listened. I should never have gone.”

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