Chapter 166 A curse
My throat dried up and I blinked in disbelief.
“You’re scaring her. That’s counterproductive,” Mordiane said as his face began to harden again.
But Hale whipped his head back and the ocean waves clapped, startling me.
“Will you hide this from her too?” But when he turned back to me, his eyes were sad, as though he regretted his outburst.
What were they hiding from me? What else were they not telling me?
I felt a hand running down from my elbow till five fingers locked with mine. I turned to the beautiful man who had finally come out of his shock.
He was staring intently at Hale and I followed his gaze towards the man again.
“I know this seems exciting, but you can never let that happen again.” He moved his hands up to gently cradle my face. “That was an activation, and your life just changed.”
I opened my lips to speak, but he shook his head.
“Your power is escalation, storms, lightning, the bloody weather. It’s crucial that you tap back into that calm personality of yours. From now on, you cannot allow yourself to feel any strong negative emotions for an extended period.”
My jaw dropped.
“It has to be genuine too. You cannot pretend to be OK, or hold in your rage, you will simply be turning all that power you just saw into yourself. You will fry yourself alive slowly.”
I pushed away from him, from all of them, shaking my head. This was madness. How could anyone live that way? Even when I was at my softest and sweetest before the changes started to happen in my body, I sometimes got irritated, angry, and I nursed grudges for weeks at a time.
“Lys,” Hale called over the sound of the beach waves, his eyes mournful. “I’m so sorry this is happening to you. It was important to unlock this so you can protect yourself, I believe.” He glanced at Mordaine and turned to me again. ”But being a Seleneid is a curse.”
Finn closed our distance and pulled me to his side. When he turned to the men, his eyes were twin storms. “What is this? Why'll you let this shit happen if it’s so dangerous?”
“Because that is the only way to protect her,” Hale finally yelled in frustration. “No one would be foolish enough to attack her now.”
Mordaine finally stirred, and in two long strides, he stopped before me. “I promise to explain this, all of it. But Hale is right, that is why I have been trying to teach you control. You lived a perfect life the first time and never had any problems. We will learn it again.”
My eyes stung, my ears ringing now. This could not be real. Could my life get any worse?
“You cannot cry, Lys.”
I pushed him away, my eyes furious. “I cannot cry? I’m not even allowed to cry? Why will you do this to me? What could you possibly be protecting me from?” I yelled, feeling a surge of sudden rage.
They were not exaggerating, because the tides seemed to roar. It rose high and crashed into us, soaking my dress and filling my mouth with salt water.
Mordaine grabbed me by the waist, and I felt the floor move under me. I opened my eyes to… darkness.
But I recognized the smell of green tea and the feel of polished wood under my grainy feet. We were back at the hotel.
Flames burst to my side, illuminating the suite. I gasped, staring at the flames dancing on the dragon’s fingertips.
The door opened and Hale walked in with Finn. I could hear commotion in the hallway, voices complaining about the sudden powercut, but they faded as soon as Hale shut the door.
Power came on the very second. We all looked up at the chandelier.
“Back up power,” Hale commented, turning for the couch with slumped shoulders.
Large arms hugged me from behind then, and I sighed, melting into him. Mordaine glanced at us, put the flames out, and walked away without a word.
He sank into the ottoman, placed his elbows on his spread out knees, and his head fell forward.
“You need to rest.” Finn whispered, leading me to the bed. I sank into the softness as he disappeared into the bathroom and returned with a towel. He dropped in a squat and cleaned my legs with the warm cotton before he propped them on the bed.
In the same gentle whisper, he inquired whether I wanted food, a drink, a bath, or a blanket, to which I responded, “No, thank you,” every time.
Finally, he settled for sitting on the bed with me. He wrapped his arms around me from behind with his back to the headboard, and leaned his cheek against my head as I stared into space.
We all still had on our party clothes, except for Mordaine whose shirt had burned off. Silence hung in the air, cold and eerie like we were at a wake.
I must have dozed off.
It was not a deep sleep because I was still aware of the room, the thick arms around me. But I felt myself leaving the gold-lit luxury suite to a garden in a time that was oddly familiar.
I found myself in an old world town. The type you saw in historical movies. My attention was immediately drawn to my feet, bare and running on brown earth. The bangles around my ankles clanged loudly every time my feet hit the floor.
The clothes were ancient too. A layered outfit that covered every inch of my skin even though the sun was so hot the ground was like a bed of coals under my feet.
But the clothes seemed to have been made for heat because the open robe made the wind billow around me, and the long cotton inner dress flapped around my ankles, keeping my legs cool.
My hand instinctively shot up to pull my scarf tighter around my face as I ran faster, chasing after a man riding off on a dark horse.
He looked regal, and his hair fell around his shoulders in a pattern that I thought vaguely familiar.
But he was drawing further and further away from me, his horse trotting faster and kicking up dust behind him.
“Tarek!” I yelled out.