Page 12 of Ecliptic

I batted the thought away. Who cared how she healed? The wolf was here, strong and magnificent. That was all that mattered. The desire to run my fingers through her billowing fur overwhelmed me, but as the wolf neared, she slowed, avoiding my outstretched hand. Her nose sniffed the air as she circled a wide berth around me, not letting me touch her. Amber eyes blinked at me from a distance, and she lowered her head and whimpered.

Fear immediately gripped me. The beautiful beast never faltered at my touch.

“Sabra, come here, girl. What’s wrong?” I asked, patting thedry grass. I reached for her again, but she turned away from me with a flick of her snout.

I watched in confusion as she darted back to the village. Disappointment quickly morphed into elation as I saw Rowen sprinting towards me in a desperate fury.

“Keira!” he shouted my name from across the field. Emotion swelled in my chest like an overflowing chalice, choking up my throat and welling in my eyes. Members of the village rushed behind him to greet me.

“Rowen,” I cried as I ran to his outstretched arms.

Rowen closed the distance between us and gathered me into a fierce embrace. But as soon as his hands landed upon my skin, he flew from my fingertips.

He catapulted across the sky, slamming into a tree with a devastating grunt. Fear cinched around my ribcage as I hunted for whoever attacked Rowen, ready to turn my hands on them and incinerate them into dust.

When I saw no one near, I sprinted towards Rowen, my dress trailing behind me in a stream of light. He let out a groan as he struggled to pull himself up.

I placed my hand on his arm, my murderous eyes scanning for whoever did this, but as soon as my skin touched Rowen’s, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he convulsed violently in my arms.

Repulsed, I yanked my hands away, realizing I was the one inflicting pain on the only person I had ever loved.

Ever since Rowen had emerged through the mist of my dreams, I felt an inexplicable pull toward him. What began as a delusional attraction evolved into an earth-shattering love that spanned across galaxies. But the man who owned my heart and soul wasn’t breathing, and something deep in my chest whipped in fear.

“Keira,” he finally gasped, and the breath I’d been holdingloosened at the sound of his voice. “When I told you to learn to knock me on my ass, this wasn’t what I had in mind.”

A ragged laugh puffed up my throat.

I turned to see the entire Wyn village gaping in terror, their star-kissed hair gently blowing in the midnight breeze. I whipped my head back to Rowen.

His gaze trailed up my body, but the more he took me in, the more his brow furrowed in confusion and awe. “You’re so beautiful,” he rasped. “Are you all right?”

“You’re worried about me?” I asked incredulously. “You’re the one who was just hurled into a tree.”

“I’m okay,” he grunted as he sat upright, clutching his shoulder.

The light from my dress cast a glow upon the dark hollows of his face, revealing a trail of blood dripping from his nose.

The red stain upon his skin curdled my insides, and slowly, I took in my surroundings. The villagers looked horrified; the plants that used to shimmer in my presence were dead, and the dried grass poked at me like needles.

The once lush village was dying.

Suddenly, darkness bubbled up inside me—thick, heavy, and rotting—taking root within me like a seed of decay.

Death enveloped me. It was everywhere, all around me.Withinme.

Erovos was right; my body was failing. I could feel it dying a little more with each passing second.

Tears flooded my eyes as anguish crept up my throat and choked me. When suddenly, lightning struck a nearby tree and shook the earth.

The Wyn elves gasped as they dodged the violent bolt.

I could feel more than see Rowen reach for me, just as he always had. “Don’t touch me!” I screamed, tears streaming down my face and clouding my vision. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Another bolt of lightning pierced through the nearest dome like a skewer. The Wyn scattered, trying to escape the sky. Escapeme.

Takoda suddenly appeared beside me; his healing hands remained by his sides. “Star-touched, breath. Control yourself,” he soothed in my ear, but the death was too strong, and growing, and lightning struck again. I was harnessing the Alcreon Light in bolts of lightning, but I wasn’t controlling it.

I had no control.

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