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I feel tears rolling down my cheeks as I press my hands to Dusk's chest. He winces, and I hate that I have to touch him. Hate that I have to cause him more pain. But I will, if I can save him.
In my mind, I picture every moment we've shared. The times he's made me smile. The times he's made me laugh. This man is special, important. There is no one like him in the world, and I can't lose him. Iwon'tlose him. I have the power to heal, even if I don't know entirely how to use it. I beg my powers to help me now, when I need them the most.
But nothing happens.
I try to focus. I try demanding that my powers work. But still, nothing.
Reaching for the strength inside me, the source of my power, I sense… emptiness. Panic unfolds inside of me. I have to save Dusk. If I can’t save him, nothing else matters. Not myself. Not this fight. Nothing!
Heal, damn it!I scream into my mind.
And then I feel it, a power that wasn’t there a moment ago flaring to life, filling me. My body shudders in protest, almost like it’s too much for me to handle. But I ignore all the warning bells and reach for it, knowing it’s Dusk’s only chance.
My hands begin to glow. My breathing grows harsher as I try to focus on how much I care for this man, and how important it is that he heals, that he survives this. Every healer said this was essential to their magic, this focus on the task at hand, on the person who needs healing. I’d never more than causally listened to healers discuss their magic, but now I channel that idea with every thought in my head focused on Dusk and my desire to save him.
My hands glow brighter and brighter against his ragged flesh. Maybe I press, I don’t know, but he makes a miserable sound, almost a scream that he’s trying to swallow down, and it takes everything in me not to stop and check in with him. Instead, I stay focused. He begins to fight beneath me, and I see Onyx and Phantom take hold of him.
Dusk's entire body begins to glow. I feel a little like someone who can suddenly control electricity but doesn’t know how the hell to do it. There’s so much power at my fingertips, power that I hope I’m funneling into him as I picture the parts of his body that need this magic. I don’t know if that’s exactly what I should do, but it feels right. So I keep going, watching, hoping.
Before my eyes, I see the bleeding slow and change. I don't understand what's happening inside his body, butsomethingis happening, something I hope is good. And then the sides of his flesh begin to pull together, closing the massive wound in his chest. Time passes, and I'm not sure when to stop, when it's enough. I feel sweat dampening my body, and now I'm shaking so hard my teeth are chattering, but I don't stop.
And then the glow radiating from my hands begins to dim. My gaze clings to Dusk, trying to notice any small detail about him.Is he better? Will he be okay?After a tense moment, his breath comes easier, his pale skin floods with color, and he opens his eyes, a smile on his beautiful lips.
I touch his cheek, returning his smile. But then I hear men screaming, moaning, and I jerk. It's like I'd tuned out every sound and sense around me, just focusing entirely on Dusk, and now that I'm not, the world has opened itself back up to me.
It's overwhelming. The smell of coppery blood and smoke in the air. The trees in the clearing splattered with blood. The bodies everywhere. My gaze sweeps over the battlefield, and I realize that most of the men are injured in some way, although their friends are already helping them, already scooping them up and carrying them from the battlefield. But it’s like a nightmare as the various torches and burning piles of grave trolls light the dark night, sending shadows dancing like more enemies come to destroy us.
I shiver again.War. This is war.
A man passes Phantom. "We're taking them to the home cave. We'll save everyone we can."
Phantom looks grim. "The shadow king and his men won't be back, at least for a little while, so just focus on our injured. Take whatever you need of our supplies to save them."
The man nods and disappears into the woods.
I try to stand, to help, but my legs give out from underneath me. I try again, falling once more.
“Ann, rest,” Phantom tells me, and I see it in his eyes: he knows what I want to do.
“I can help.”
“You already have.”
My eyes sting. “Not enough.”
A man screams when two people lift him from the ground. His scream carries above the others, and he struggles in their arms. His screaming turns to begging, and then they set him back down. There’s a flash of a sword.
Then silence.
I try to stand again. This time when I fall, I start to crawl. Phantom is there in an instant, scooping me up and placing me right back beside Dusk.
“Rest,” he says again, and there’s a warning in his voice.
If I was stronger, I could save them all. But I’m not. I never have been. At the academy, I was average at best. The most interesting thing about me was that someone as powerful as Rayne was my mate. Here, strange and unexpected powers are awakening that someone like me shouldn't have. But despite all logic, I do. And yet, they’re not enough. Even if my men could carry me to the injured, I can feel it inside of me. I only have so much left. There’s not enough for even a fraction of the damage I see around me.
But I can dosomething.
Turning my hands to Phantom, I reach out for him.
