My breathing changed before I realized it had.
My hand stilled on a page.
The paper trembled slightly beneath my fingers, and then my hands started shaking—not because I chose it, but just because my body remembered faster than my mind did.
"That's her," Tala snarled, all the dry humor stripped out of her voice entirely. "Let me have her—"
"No," I said quietly.
I didn't want her hurt. I just wanted it to stop.
Kael leaned in, his presence filling the space beside me. "Is that the girl?"
I nodded.
His expression shifted—sharpening, locking on, the look of someone filing a face away permanently. He went still for a moment after that, eyes unfocused in the way that meant he was somewhere else entirely.
"He's mind-linking," Tala said.
"I can see that," I replied.
I couldn't do that.
