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That gave him some relief. Enough to steady his breaths again. “Does that mean when his shadowed form touched mine, he took control?”
“Yes. Touching your ethera with his own strengthened the link to your cereba. That allowed him to manipulate your body. A difficult task with such a temporary connection, but it was enough to force your hand to lift the crystal and hold it over your body’s sternum. That closed the circuit, creating a sustained link from Morkai’s ethera, to your cereba, to his heart-center.”
Teryn furrowed his brow. “Heart-center?”
“The spiritual aspect of the heart. His is stored inside the crystal. So long as the crystal is near your body, within at least sixteen inches of where your heart-center should be, the circuit remains closed, giving him primary control over your cereba.”
Primary control. Overhisbody.
Nothing good could come of that.
“Where is my body now? What is he doing with it?”
Emylia held his gaze, nibbling her bottom lip as if debating whether to answer. Then, with a sigh, she waved a hand. A ripple of shadow crossed his vision. As it settled, the bedroom grew somewhat sharper, the walls and furnishings more distinct. She stood and gestured toward the bed. Teryn rose too, feeling that strange buzzing resistance between his feet and the floor. Slowly, he turned toward the bed, dreading what he was about to see. He was right to feel dread. For there, upon the bed, lay himself. Asleep. His own body separate from the soul he was now.
“Is this real?” Teryn asked. “Is this truly my bedroom? Truly my body?”
She nodded. “I can utilize some of the magic in the crystal. With it, I can forge a likeness of any place I’ve seen. That is what I first showed you when you awoke. I muted the light of the crystal and showed you something familiar to set you at ease. But what you see now is real. In addition to casting illusions, I can create a window of sorts that allows me to project my ethera—and yours—outside the crystal.”
“So we’re free from the crystal now?” Even as he asked, he knew the hope was too good to be true.
“No, our etheras are tethered. Mine even more than yours, as I have no link to a living body. We can experience the crystal’s immediate surroundings, but that doesn’t make us free of our captivity.”
Teryn wondered if Morkai had been able to project his ethera in the same way. If so, Morkai could have been watching Cora the entire time she’d possessed the crystal. Rage burned through him at the thought.
“Where is the crystal now?” he asked, stepping closer to the bed.
She angled her head at the sleeping Teryn’s chest. “It’s beneath your shirt.”
“And Morkai is…”
“Resting his ethera. Controlling your cereba is taxing, especially since he has no link to your vitale. He’ll need to sleep, and that is when you have the highest chance of regaining control. It will be hard, though. He maintains the primary connection even during sleep. To loosen his grip, we must move the crystal more than sixteen inches from your sternum and open the circuit between your cereba and his heart-center.”
Teryn studied his body, saw the lump beneath his shirt that must be the crystal. If Morkai’s spirit was sleeping, now was Teryn’s chance. He surged toward his sleeping form and reached for the collar of his shirt—
His ethera’s hands went straight through the cloth, resulting in nothing but that buzzing resistance. That thickening of the air.
“Breathe,” Emylia said, and Teryn realized his lungs had begun to contract again.
Teryn took a few steps back, deepening his breaths and watching his body’s chest rise and fall in tandem. “Seven devils, this is madness.”
“I know, and you had the right idea. But before you have any chance of manipulating physical matter, you need to strengthen what little connection you have to your cereba. You maintain a slim link between it and your vitale.”
“What can I do?” He had to do something. Anything. Morkai was in his body. He would wake. He would…
Teryn didn’t want to think about what he might do.Whomhe might do things to.
“For now,” Emylia said, “align your ethera with your body and simply breathe. Feel your heart. Your pulse.”
“You want me to just…lie down and breathe.”
“Do not underestimate your connection to your vitale. So long as your awareness of it remains strong, you hold the upper hand. If you let fear disconnect you from it, you leave it open for Morkai to take. He isn’t strong enough to take it yet, but he has plans to do so. I know he does.”
What were his plans? And how did Emylia know so much about Morkai, about utilizing the crystal’s magic? Who was she aside from a trapped spirit? Could he even trust her?
Emylia opened her mouth, but before she could speak, he said, “If you tell me to breathe one more time, I’m going to lose my godsdamned mind.”
She pursed her lips and gestured toward the bed with a pointed look.
