Page 79 of Awry
Then, all but hidden under the pounding surf, I hear the sound of cartilage shattering or … vertebrae being snapped?
Someone is shouting … multiple someones.And … so much essence … so much essence flooding through me, from me …
But … that’s just an echo of earlier today, isn’t it?Just me recalling the feeling of claiming the intersection point along with the property.
I suddenly feel Rath hovering over me.His breathing is ragged, pained.His hands land on either side of my head.
I’m back in theNow.
Aren’t I?
Before I can get my eyes open to confirm — I might have been on the edge of falling into a deep sleep, or at least a deep meditative state — Rath groans in utter agony.“Zaya!Fuck!Zaya!”
I blink, straightening my head enough to meet his wild, amber-ringed eyes.
He’s … utterly … terrified?
“What?”I mutter.I’m still deeply mired, almost buried, within the sensations I’ve been chasing, even if only in my own mind.
Rath grabs my upper arms, yanking me into a sitting position so quickly that it hurts.I feel it in my neck and all my joints, which have gone cold and stiff.I cry out in pain.
He doesn’t loosen his grip, shaking me.A snarl from deep within his chest, deep within his being, emanates from him.“What the fuck are you doing?!”
I get my hands wrapped around his wrists.His skin is searingly hot.I gasp, almost letting go.
He’s still shaking me.
“Stop it!”I snap.
He doesn’t.I’m actually not sure he sees me at all.I’m not sure he’s even reacting to this moment.He looks crazed, unhinged, and utterly devastated.
“You’re hurting me!”I cry.
He releases me so abruptly that I fall back, just managing to catch myself on my elbows and not smack my head on the stone.
“What the fuck, Zaya?!”Rath shouts.
Even crouched before me, he’s huge.And for the first time I can honestly remember, as an adult, at least, I feel truly frightened — tiny, weak, and overwhelmed.
He inhales deeply as if he’s trying to calm himself, then he flinches.Catching the scent of my fear?His trembling hands slowly come up between us, either in surprise or surrender …
Or he’s going to try to grab me again.
I scramble back, still on my ass.My heart is pounding in my chest.I feel like screaming and sobbing.And even though some part of my mind understands that I’m overreacting, I can’t seem to stop, to quell that reaction.
“Zaya …” Rath says.His voice is shaking as he tries to soften it.He reaches for me.
And completely irrationally, I scream.I scream as if my voice were a weapon.I scream and scramble back farther, still crouched.I try to make it to my feet, but my limbs won’t work, and I fall hard on my knees and elbows, scraping my chin on the rocky ground.
It feels possible, according to my rational mind, that I’m still mired in the sensations I’ve been chasing.The memory I’ve been trying to recall?And with that comes this weakness.This limb-weakening fear.
I curl in on myself protectively.I can’t take my eyes off Rath, though.I can’t look away.
If I look away, he’ll be able to grab me and …
“Oh, Tempest, no,” Rath whispers.“Oh, my Tempest, no, no.I didn’t mean … I would never … you scared me.You … you … you looked like you were dead —”
Energy finally floods through me — but I can’t tell whether it’s my own or is coming from the intersection point.Utterly livid, I surge to my feet, so that I’m now the one looming over the crouching Rath.“You don’t touch me without permission,” I snarl viciously.
