Page 157 of The Immortal’s Mark

Hurry, I think back.

“I am. I swear it. Just…hold on. Don’t let⁠—”

White-hot agony jolts down my spine.

“AH!!” I scream and fall to my knees.

Adir holds my hands to the slab, and dread drains my face of blood. The stone is glowing, and an eerie light is creeping up my arms.

And Adir’s, too.

No!

“I’m almost there!” Even in my head, the panic in Des’s words strikes me.

Fresh tears roll down my face.

My forehead rests on the edge of the slab. My neck is too weak to hold my head up.

“—taking so long,” Adir growls above me. “She should have succumbed by now.”

“Resist!” Des’s voice crashes in my mind, in perfect time with another crash that makes the floor under me tremble. “I’m close!”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I grab onto the hope like a lifeboat in a raging storm and hold tight.

I don’t know how to fight this. I don’t know what this even is.

It’s like someone is plucking at the chords that make up my soul, trying to reshape them, redirect them.

And it feels wrong.

The power I’ve yet to master recoils at the sensation. It tries to resist, pushing the plucking fingers away. But never for long.

I grit my teeth and focus.

I can give Des time. I will give him time.

Adir won’t win.

He can’t.

A burst of strength returns to my arms, and I pull.

My hands slip free.

“What are you doing?” Adir snarls and grabs me by my hair and yanks.

I yelp and stagger to my feet.

I reach for the hand holding me and dig my nails into his wrists.

He growls and jerks my head roughly. “Stop!”

No.

I will never stop fighting.

Not even if this bond takes place.