Page 9 of A Dance With Fire
“Davina...” She wanted to chastise her for being so careless until she saw the goosebumps all over her naked skin, the way her whole body shivered as if she were standing in ice.
It wasn’t particularly cold or warm out, but when Shula pressed her hand against Davina’s shoulder it felt like she’d dipped her fingers in snow.
Shula looked at Davina’s eyes, unseeing and rolled to the back of her head. Sympathy rose inside her. One couldn’t very well help what powers they were born with, and they couldn’t always help when the power looked for an outlet.
All magic needed to be released, otherwise it built inside a Fae’s body. To suppress magic meant terrible consequences. Shula didn’t want to think about what would happen to her for keeping her powers tightly leashed, or how she’d been able to keep them that way for so long. She wondered if it would be this bad or worse.
“Let’s get you out of this cold water.” She threw her wrap around Davina’s shoulders. Even though the woman didn’t reply, she was docile as Shula pulled her away from the river and up the little slope of dirt and grass. “Can I dry you off?”
Davina dipped her head in a nod. Even though her eyes were completely white, she was still capable of hearing. That was something, at least. Taking the scarf from her shoulders, Shula used it to pat down Davina’s body as gently as she would for a child. Being out here in the open with Davina’s ears exposed made Shula nervous, but her worry overrode that sentiment.
She briefly wondered if the reason the discomfort had swept over her body was because she was meant to find Davina, to help her. Now that they were so close, her own pain seemed really far away.
“Did you send that vision to me somehow?” Her ministrations didn’t stop against Davina’s body, but Shula’s voice was quiet as she asked the question.
Davina’s response was a mere rasp of breath. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the prophecy...”
A shiver slid against Shula’s skin that made her hands shake. “What prophecy?”
Her eyes were blank and unseeing, but they focused on Shula with such an intensity that it made unease crawl over her. “Our destinies are already foretold.” A deep breath. “Yours will change the world as we know it.”
“Speak clearly,” Shula snapped. She knew it was out of fear. Fear of those words, about the world changing. Everyone feared the unknown, and the Fire Dancer was no exception.
But Davina sounded far away. “I see robes of white and red. I see chains of iron and symbols carved on the ground. I see you, choking on water that burns like fire.”
“Davina, what are you talking about?”
“Twin flames carved in flesh.”
“Who’s flesh?”
“Scars.” Her whole body shuddered. “The eyes of the demon lead to freedom.” Her every word was shaky and disjointed, and Shula couldn’t make sense of a single word of it. “The resistance. Twin flames. Twin flames. Twinflamestwinflamestwinflames—” She broke off and crumbled.
Shula cried out and grabbed her before she could fall to the grass. The impact of their bodies colliding seemed to break Davina out of her stupor. She gasped, blinked, and her eyes went back to their normal dark hue. She pushed away from Shula and straightened, taking the scarf with her to wrap it around her body.
“It’s awakening,” Davina whispered.
Shula clenched her jaw. “What’s awakening?” she gritted out from between clenched teeth.
And Davina met her eyes and there was something coherent and ominous in them. Her eyes spoke of warning and danger. “You.”
Before Shula could ask what she meant, Davina turned and walked away.
“Wait!” Shula took a step and that’s when the pain came. Her knees buckled and gave out under her. She dropped to the ground, a cry bursting past the barrier of her lips.
It was an all-consuming feeling that ripped through her every nerve. It burst past her bones and her head pounded like she’d been hit with a hammer. It spread over her every inch, rising. Her blood heated beneath her skin, and her body shivered even while she felt the heat like she was over a bonfire. It burst. It burned. It took her sanity and every sensation except the pain.
It was how she knew. Her magic; she’d suppressed it her whole life and now it was fighting back, retaliating and demanding exit.
No. Her fingers scraped over the earth, and her nails cracked and bled.
No.
She wouldn’t let it. This couldn’t be happening.
