AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My palms started sweating at the thought of jumping off the railing on the roof and plummeting toward the far away ground, but I’d never get stronger if I didn’t try. “Okay,” my voice wavered, and I tucked my head against his chest, letting the steady thrum of his heart soothe my racing one.
Black, leathery wings snapped out behind him, nearly knocking Drazen over, and we shot into the sky.
“Asshole!” Drazen called from below with a hint of a smile tugging at his lips.
Once we’d reached the roof and the wind ceased howling in my ears, Ruslan murmured, “You know I’ll be there to catch you if you fall. Always.”
“I siphoned awaysome of Ruslan’s anger earlier,” I told Zuriel as we sat cross-legged on the mats in the training area beneath Ryza Citadel.
“And what did you do with it?” Zuriel asked, raising a white brow.
My gaze dropped to my hands, twisting them together. “I forgot to do something with it.”
“Let’s try a visualization exercise so you can start our training today clear-headed,” Zuriel suggested. “Close your eyes.”
My lids were already heavy, and it was no trouble to follow his instructions.
“You’re standing beside a stream, watching the water flow over the stones, creating a small waterfall. Cup your hands beneath it, feel the wetness in your palms as it fills them. Take a deep breath in.” My mind formed the image with perfect clarity as my chest expanded with air. “That little pool in your hands is what you drained from Ruslan. It does not belong to you. Open your palms and release the water back into the stream, breathing out all the air you’ve been holding.”
As my hands emptied in my mind and my lungs emptied in my body, a little of that exhaustion I’d been carrying slipped away along with the emotions that were not my own. We repeated the exercise nearly a dozen times before I felt clear and light, some of my energy returned.
“Thanks, Zuriel, I really needed that,” I admitted, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my palms.
“You are an empath, which means you are in tune with theemotions of every being around you, not only your own. It is important that you clear yourself regularly, especially after you siphon from someone. If you do not, you risk their emotions becoming your own,” Zuriel warned.
“Drazen keeps telling me I need to let go of the grip I have over my emotions,” I sighed, leaning back on my elbows while the Angel’s lips tugged upward.
“Drazen is right. You need to let them flow like water over rock. Holding onto them will only serve to hurt you.”
Heaving out a frustrated breath, I asked, “But what if that hold is the only thing stopping me from falling for Ruslan? I love Kazimir – even though I have doubts about his intentions, and I’m afraid if I surrender to them, I’ll lose him.”
But as the words left my lips, I wondered if I truly meant them anymore.
Another unreadable flash crossed Zuriel’s ice-blue eyes, and I instinctively reached out to him with my mind, trying to read his emotions.Guilt.I got the sense the Angel knew more than he let on, but he did not seem inclined to share.
“The only way out is through,” Zuriel replied. “You must walk the path without obstacles to truly know your heart. You may surprise yourself, cousin.”
I gave him a half-smile then pushed myself to standing. “Can we work on shifting emotions today? I think I’ve got the hang of siphoning and flooding, but some more subtle emotional changes would be helpful.”
“Absolutely.” Zuriel rose, his frame lithe and graceful as he crossed to the other side of the arena. “I want you to try at a distance, too. You can’t always rely on proximity.”
Searching inside myself for the moonlight- and flame-wrapped crystal, I filled it with happy memories – riding Mistik and Twilight, reading by myself, besting opponents in the sparring ring – then reached out to Zuriel, searching for his mentalbarrier across the domed room. It took immense focus, but I finally felt that thin barrier and worked my magic beneath it.
Zuriel was agitated, a mixture of guilt, sadness, and helplessness. With a gentle nudge, my magic spread feelings of calm and peace, and little by little, Zuriel’s mood shifted, until he was serene. I retreated from his mind, then opened my eyes to find a wide smile gracing the Angel’s face, making him look otherworldly.
“You are brilliant, Izidora. That was the perfect direction to take those emotions, and you did it in a subtle enough way that most would not notice,” he praised.
“Do I need to clear after shifting emotions too?” I asked, wiping sweat from my forehead with my sleeve.
“It wouldn’t hurt, though you needn’t clear right now while we’re still practicing. We can finish with another exercise, but remember if you siphon or influence Ruslan’s emotions later, clear again,” he explained. “Try shifting my emotions again, and this time, I will walk around. You need to maintain a connection with my mind at all times, which can be tricky while I’m moving.”
We spent the rest of the afternoon working on siphoning, flooding, and shifting emotions at a distance, until my magic was utterly spent from using my Fae part for fighting and my Angel part for mind-work.
“I’m tapped out,” I finally admitted, swaying on my feet. As if Ruslan had been perched outside the training area waiting for me to utter those words, he strode through the door, eyes immediately locking on me.
“I see you’ve worked her hard today, Zuriel,” he said, those gorgeous grays dancing over my sweat-soaked frame.
The Angel crossed to the center of the space to join us. “Izidora is an exceptional student. We’re going to conclude our lesson with a visualization exercise. Would you care to join us?”
