Page 183 of The Fifth Heir

“It’s happening.”

Torren lowered himself in front of me, keeping his hands at my waist.

“Look at me.”

“I might shift.”

“I know.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Your body does.”

“What if it doesn’t?”

“Then we stop whatever comes next.”

“You can’t stop a first shift.”

“I can keep everyone away from you until it finishes.”

The pressure spread down my spine.

Clear lines appeared beneath the skin of my hands. They looked like cracks until light separated through them in small bands of color.

Sebastian moved closer.

Torren turned his head. “Back.”

“I need to see whether scales are forming.”

“You can see from there.”

“Torren,” I said.

He looked at me again.

“He’s trying to help.”

His jaw tightened, but he allowed Sebastian two steps closer.

“No additional scales,” Sebastian said. “The light is beneath the skin.”

“That is not reassuring,” Rafe called.

The crystal torc tightened.

I pulled at it.

Torren caught both my hands. “Leave it.”

“I can’t breathe.”

“You’re breathing.”

“Not enough.”

He put one of my hands against his chest.