Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Liora's POV

He stepped farther back, giving me even more space, but not too much. Just enough that I noticed it.

“Hold your hands out,” he said.

I did, palms facing up.

“Now,” he continued, “Don’t try to do anything. Just decide that you want to feel… it, on your palms. Whatever ‘it’ is for you.”

“That’s still not helpful.” I said, meaning it. Feel it? Huh?

“Neither is panicking,” he shot back gently.

I sighed and closed my eyes again, then I took a breath like he showed me. In through my nose, and out through my mouth.

Then I focused on my hands, and the space above my open palms. And then, I slowly embraced the imagination of something being there.

Nothing happened.

“I don’t feel anything,” I said.

“Good,” he replied.

I opened one eye. “How is that good?”

“Because you’re not forcing it.”

There he goes again with his elderly talk.

I let out a slow breath, and I tried again.

This time, there was… something. It felt like a faint pressure, almost like the air was thicker between my palms.

“Wait,” I said quietly. “I think-”

And then I tried to grab it.

The pressure vanished instantly.

“Ugh, I lost it,” I finished flatly.

Kysen chuckled. “You scared it off.”

“I did not scare it.” If that’s even possible. What even is ‘it’?!

“You lunged at it.” he argued.

“I gently reached for it.” I retorted.

“You mentally pounced,” he said calmly.

I glared at him. “You’re enjoying this.”

He shrugged, “Maybe just a little bit.”

I crossed my arms. “That’s rude.”

He chuckled lightly, “So cute.”

That made me pause. “Excuse me?”

He looked at me like he hadn’t even realized he’d said it out loud.

“I meant-” He cleared his throat. “You’re… focused, when you’re frustrated.”

I raised a brow. “That’s not what you said.”

“Don’t push it.” he said and I bit my bottom lip, before I turned back to my hands, pretending I wasn’t smiling.

“Fine. I'll go again”

I closed my eyes, and went through the routine again, desperate to feel what I did earlier.

This time, the pressure came back, and I slowed my entire body down as I studied it. It was softer and warmer than before, almost like holding something that was invisible but alive.

My lips parted.

“Kysen,” I whispered. “It’s… there.”

“I know,” he said, low. “Don’t look. You’ll break it.”

“I’m not looking.”

“Good. Now don’t get excited.”

“That’s unfair.” I argued.

He stepped closer. Again. Dear Green. I felt the heat of him before I heard him.

His breath brushed my ear when he spoke again.

“Hold it.”

And immediately, it slipped, and the pressure collapsed.

I tried, but with how close he was to me? There was no freaking way.

I groaned and dropped my hands.

“I lost it again.”

“It’s fine, we can just go again. Plus, you didn’t fail, you just rushed into it” he said, and I blinked back blankly. If only he knew that he was the reason I lost it…

I looked up at him.

He was way too close now.

“Next time,” he added, “Stay right there. In that space between trying not to feel the excitement of wanting to feel it, and trying to focus at the same time.”

My heart was doing something very unhelpful in my chest, as his words fell on semi deaf ears.

“Easy for you to say,” I muttered.

He met my eyes.

“That’s why I’m here.”

I held his gaze for a second too long. That was becoming a pattern.

“Then stop hovering like that,” I said. “You’re distracting.”

His mouth twitched. “You’re the one who keeps losing focus.”

“Because you keep getting in my space.” I argued. I really was arguing a lot lately.

“Only because it’s fun to see you freeze when I do.”

I scoffed. “I do not freeze.”

Lie. I do.

“Liora,” he said, calmly but very confidently, “You stopped breathing.”

I exhaled slowly and looked away first, annoyed at myself.

“Whatever. Can we try again? Before my pride dies in here?”

He smirked, and stepped back this time. Actually back. Enough that the space between us felt normal again.

“Good,” he said. “Now reset. Shake it out.”

“Shake what out?”

“All of it.” He gestured vaguely. “Tension, thoughts… Me.”

Unbelievable. “I am not thinking about you!”

Another lie.

He hummed, but kept quiet. He was teasing me and it was seriously getting to me.

I huffed but rolled my shoulders anyway, letting my arms go loose at my sides. I bounced once on my heels, then twice, like I was trying to convince my body that I was not in fact about to explode.

“Better,” he said. “Now hands out again.”

I lifted them, palms up.

“Close your eyes.”

I did.

“Breathe in slowly. Like you’re filling your lungs with patience.” he said and I cringed.

“Ew.” I said, as I made a face.

“Out,” he continued, ignoring me. “Like you’re letting go of control.”

“I’m not sure about that part,” I muttered.

“Try anyway.”

Again, I did.

And this time, when I focused on the space above my palms, the pressure came back quicker, and I felt the warm pressure again.

My shoulders relaxed without me telling them to.

“There,” I whispered. “It’s back.”

“I see it,” Kysen said.

That made my eyes flicker open, and the pressure wobbled instantly.

Again.

“Don’t,” he warned, but it was too late. The feeling thinned, like mist in sunlight.

“Sorry,” I groaned, “I was just surprised you could actually see it”

He sounded more amused than annoyed.

“You’re curious. That’s not a flaw.”

“Feels like one right now.” I sighed.

“Only because you keep trying to grab instead of hold.” What was it with him and his weird way of talking?

“That sentence makes no sense.”

“You don’t chase your power,” he said. “You let it sit with you.”

I raised a brow. “You talk like it’s a person.”

“Sometimes it acts like one.”

“That’s unsettling.”

“Welcome to my life.”

I smirked despite myself. “Okay, okay… One more time. And if I lose it again, I’m blaming you.”

“Fair.”

I closed my eyes, and repeated the routine, focusing on my hands like they were waiting for something instead of hunting for it.

The pressure came back, a little faster this time.

My lips parted.

“Kysen,” I whispered softly, calling his attention, as if shouting might chase it away.

“That’s good,” he said quietly. “That’s very good.”

My pulse skipped. I held onto the feeling, resisting the urge to grab, to squeeze, to do something with it.

And for the first time since we started to train that morning, it didn’t disappear.

My chest lifted with a soft, shaky breath.

“I’m… I’m actually holding it.”

“Don’t celebrate yet,” he said. “Just stay there.”

“Okay, okay. I’m staying.” I said, scared of actually losing it again.

Then the pressure flickered.

No, no, no.

My brows furrowed. “It’s slipping.”

“Because you’re thinking again.”

“I can’t help it!”

“Yes you can. You’re just not used to not controlling everything.”

“That is such an attack.”

“Still true.”

I bit back a smile and forced myself to breathe slower.

The pressure steadied again.

“Good,” he murmured, and maybe he was the distracted one this time, but he moved closer, “That’s it. That’s the line you walk.”

My heart was pounding now, but it was not because of fear anymore.

It was because of him. What is this feeling, Liora?

“Liora,” he added softly, “If you can stay right here, on this line of control… you won’t hurt anyone.”

I swallowed, and my eyes flickered open softly, meeting his beautiful grey ones.

Tell me Kysen Dravon, how am I supposed to control anything when you look at me that way?