The vision hit her like a lightning strike. Her back arched, a strangled gasp tearing from her throat as her magic surged wild and uncontrolled. It washed over me in chaotic waves. Fragments of images that made no sense, emotions that weren't mine, flashes of light and darkness that seemed to burn behind my eyes even though I wasn't the one seeing them.
Alex's face, twisted in pain. A cavern filled with shadows. A red thread tangling into knots. Marcus laughing, but the sound was wrong, distorted. Then nothing but darkness so complete it felt like there was no air.
"No, no, no," Talin was whispering, her hands clawing at the air between us like she was trying to grab onto something. "I can't... it's too much. I can't hold it."
Her magic was spiraling out of control, feeding off whatever connection existed between us and amplifying until the very air crackled with the energy that flowed through us. I'd never felt anything like it. Raw, untrained power that was as beautiful as it was dangerous.
"Talin." I shook her, her magic sending painful shocks up my arms. I gritted my teeth and smiled at the pain as my entire body hardened in response. "Look at me. Focus on my voice."
I repeated myself until her green eyes focused on mine, wide and terrified. "I can't make it stop. It's like you're... like you're making it stronger somehow, but I can't control it. Everything's too bright, too loud, too?—"
The lights in the bar exploded in a shower of sparks and I pushed her head down, protecting her with my body. More glass shattered somewhere behind us. The thread between us flared so bright I could actually see it for a split second—a silver rope of energy fluttering in the space between her heart and mine.
Then suddenly, she was pulling away from me, stumbling backward until her back hit the table and chairs behind her. "Don't," she gasped when I took a step toward her, holding up one shaking hand to keep me at a distance. "Don't come any closer. I can't..."
"What did you see?" I asked, my voice rougher than I'd intended.
She shook her head in frustration. "Just fragments. Pieces that don't fit together." She was breathing hard, her hair disheveled and her pupils still too wide. "Alex is alive, but he's... he's not just a prisoner. He's connected to something, Elias. Something twisted. But I couldn't see what, couldn't follow the threads because everything went dark." She gazed up at me with such desperation, I wanted to grab her again and follow her into the darkness. But instead, I just stood there feeling fucking helpless because I had no idea how to fix this for her.
"Maybe this was a mistake," she breathed. "My family was right. I'm not ready for this kind of power. And you..." She swallowed hard. "You make it worse. Or stronger. Or...whatever. I can't tell the difference anymore. But I can't control it."
"Running away isn't going to help Alex," I pointed out, though part of me wanted her to leave. The part that recognized how completely she could upend everything I knew.
"Neither is losing control every time I'm in the same room with you." Her voice held an edge of panic that made something primal and protective stir in my chest. "What if I hurt someone? What if I can't turn it off?" A look of complete and utter panic crossed her pretty face. "What if I hurt you?" She shook her head, her expression hardening. "No. I'm not ready."
I gave her a wry grin. "You're not gonna hurt me, little witch." But I saw the fear underneath the defiance. She was terrified of her own power. And somehow, my presence was making everything worse.
Or better, depending on how you looked at it.
"Your magic isn't dangerous," I said carefully. "It's just... amplified around me. A little wild. That doesn't make it wrong."
"It makes it unpredictable." She wrapped her arms around herself, a gesture that looked more protective than cold. "And unpredictable magic gets people killed."
"So does giving up." I took a single step toward her, then stopped when I saw her tense. "Alex is running out of time, Talin. You said so yourself. And right now, you're the only one who can see him."
"But I don't know what I'm seeing." The admission seemed to cost her something. "It's like you're... like you're connected to everything I'm trying to access. But I don't understand how or why, and it scares the hell out of me."
It scared the hell out of me too, but for entirely different reasons. "Maybe you don't need to control it," I said instead. "Maybe you just need to learn to work with it."
She laughed, but the sound held no humor. "Work with power that could level this building if I sneeze? You're asking me to trust something I don't understand with lives that matter to me."
"No. I'm asking you to trust me."
The words were out before I could stop them.
She stared at me, until gradually, something shifted in her eyes. "Why?" she asked quietly. "Why should I trust you? We barely know each other."
It was a fair question. One I wasn't sure I could answer honestly without admitting things I wasn't ready to admit. Not even to myself. "Because I can feel it too," I said finally. "This thing between us. And whatever it is, it's not going away just because we ignore it."
Her breath caught, and for a moment I thought she might step closer. Instead, she pressed herself more firmly against the table.
"What, exactly, are you afraid of?" I asked.
"Losing myself," she answered immediately. "Becoming someone I don't recognize. Hurting people I care about because I trusted something I shouldn't have."
The honesty in her voice made my lungs tight. Because I understood that fear. Had lived with it for decades, using control and order to keep the darker parts of my nature locked away. "And what if you're wrong?" I asked softly. "What if this thing between us isn't something to fight, but something to use? To save Alex. To figure out what Marcus is planning. To keep the people we care about safe."
She considered this, her green eyes never leaving mine. "And after that? When this is all over and Alex is safe? What happens to this connection then?"
