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I recalled the mark on his ribs, and how its resemblance to mine unnerved me.

Zeke buckled his belt. “We all have the mark.” He looked at Ezra. “His is between his shoulder blades. Cyn’s is on his ankle.”

“What? The exact same mark?” I sputtered a weak laugh. “It can’t be like mine.”

Zeke moved closer and knelt. I didn’t retreat when he reached for my hips and turned me around. His trembling fingers traced the birthmark on my upper thigh. “The exact same mark,” he whispered in awe before his fingers twitched against my skin.

“Zeke?” Cyn dropped to his knees at my side.

I spun around, my breath catching when I saw Zeke’s milky white eyes, vacant and unblinking, stripped of pupil and iris. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Shut up,” Cyn barked, thumbs brushing Zeke’s face as a tear fell from his frosted eyes.

Ash stepped around them and wrapped an arm around my lower back. “Zeke has the gift of sight. Our strongest seers in Elyrdin are Vithrelas. Not all Vithrelas are seers, though. Just as not all Shyrlivi who possess the gift of sight are Vithrelas.”

“Sight?”

“He can’t control it, but sometimes when he touches something connected to a person, he’ll slip into a trance and gleans information—past, present, or future—about them.”

“Why is he crying?”

“That, I don’t know. I’ve never seen him cry during a vision, but don’t worry. This is normal. Cyn usually helps him when he comes out of it because he’s out of sorts.”

As if Ash’s words called him back, Zeke collapsed into Cyn’s waiting arms. He curled into a ball, nuzzling deeper into Cyn’s embrace like a frightened child. What had he seen?

Ezra leaned a hip against the counter, arms crossed, studying the pair on the floor in silence.

“You’re okay,” Cyn whispered, fingers curling into Zeke’s shirt while his other hand cradled the back of his head. “I’m here.”

No one spoke while Cyn soothed Zeke with hushed whispers and gentle touches. Seeing him handle Zeke with such surprising tenderness made my chest tighten.

After several minutes, Zeke broke away from Cyn’s embrace, wiping his eyes. He looked up at me, eyes bright blue again. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he whispered. He rubbed the flat disc on his earlobe, frowned, then asked, “Did you guys tell her what happened?”

“I did,” Ash said. “What did you see?”

Lines formed on Zeke’s forehead as his features pinched. “I… don’t remember.”

Ezra’s deep voice grabbed our attention. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, there’s nothing. It feels like I lost time. One minute I was touching Rae’s leg, and the next I was falling over.”

Ezra’s glacial stare connected with mine.

Avoiding the intensity of his eyes, I looked at Zeke again. “And my birthmark did that to you? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I don’t understand it either,” Ash said. “Have you ever had a case where you couldn’t recall your visions?”

“No.”

I wrapped my arms around my stomach. “Your marks never made this happen?”

“No,” Zeke said. “Though I don’t think I’ve ever touched them on purpose. But mine hasn’t.”

Ezra tucked his hands in his pockets. “I’m still trying to comprehend how Raelynn shares the same marking as we do.”

“I don’t understand.” I looked at him. “I mean, you don’t find it strange the four of you share the same mark?”

“No.”