Page 19 of Legacy Ascended

There's no warning. It's on, everywhere, and my back arches hard enough that I nearly come out of Ander's arms. My left wrist ignites — the three arcs flaring together, bright under the skin, hot enough that I try to pull away from my own arm.

And then a fourth line burns its way up beside the others, dark and sharp beneath my skin. It hurts for a moment, and I whimper.

Ander makes a sound too. It snaps his whole body straight and stops his breathing, and he puts his forehead down against the top of my head.

All three existing bonds jolt at once. Torres's hand jerks around my wrist. Behind me, Luke's snarl cuts off. Soren's head comes around.

Then it's done, and I'm shaking, and there are four arcs on my wrist.

Ander doesn't move. His hand is still flat on my back, and his breathing is rough and uneven.

"Oh," he says.

Then his grip firms, steadying me against his chest.

Torres looks at my wrist, then at Ander.

"Okay," he says quietly. He grips Ander's forearm once and lets go.

Elise shoves a thick pad of gauze into Jon's hand as he reaches me. He presses it against my shoulder hard enough that I swear at him.

"Keep talking," he says, without looking up. "Where's your physician, and what has she got? I want a vehicle at the bottom of this slope, not the top."

Klaus is already shouting it down the hill.

"How did you find me?" I get out.

"Ardent kept search files on these valleys after the war," Ander says. "There was one section in them that seemed like it might be a fit."

"He found the road," Torres says. "And we hustled.”

"And we came in the back," Luke says, arriving on two legs with his shirt half fastened. "Not the gate. I was getting you out no matter what."

He crouches beside me. His hands lift as if he means to touch me, then stop.

He presses his forehead to my temple and says nothing.

As soon as Klaus's men have the outsider cuffed, Soren crosses to me. He goes down on one knee, takes my right hand in both of his, and looks at my face.

"Your pulse is fast."

"I've had a night."

"Yes." He gets his coat over me. His hands aren't steady, which I will never mention to him as long as I live. "You're very cold."

"Soren. I used the thing you taught me and shifted right when I needed to."

His grip tightens around my hand. "Good."

Off to the side Benny is standing apart with his hands loose, waiting to be arrested by somebody, and Elise is telling Jon about the dressing before he can ask.

Frances comes down the slope in a damp coat, gray in the face, and stops when he sees me on the ground.

“He was one of the hired outsiders,” Klaus says before Frances can speak. “That weapon didn’t come from this valley.”

“He aimed it at the children,” Benny says. “She was almost into the trees, and she came back for them.”

Frances looks at the open service door, then at Benny and Elise, and finally at me.