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His voice was less kindly when he spoke again. "Please. One way or another, you will heal me.
I'd rather it be on your terms, not ours.”
She shook her head again. He made a slight gesture toward Kenneth.
And that's when the pain started.
Lissa screamed. I screamed.
In the SUV, Dimitri's grip on the wheel jerked in surprise, making us veer. Casting me an
alarmed look, he started to pull over.
"No, no! Keep going!" I pressed my palms to my temples. "We have to get there!”
From behind my seat, Alberta reached forward and rested a hand on my shoulder. "Rose, what's
happening?”
I blinked back tears. "They're torturing her…with air. This guy…Kenneth…he's making it press
against her…into her head. The pressure's insane. It feels like my—her— skull's gonna
explode." I started sobbing.
Dimitri looked at me out of the corner of his eye and pressed the gas pedal down harder.
Kenneth didn't stop with just the physical force of air. He also used it to affect her breathing.
Sometimes he'd smother her with it; other times he'd take it all away and leave her gasping.
After enduring all that firsthand—and it was bad enough secondhand—I felt pretty confident I
would have done anything they wanted.
And finally, she did.
Hurting and bleary-eyed, Lissa took Victor's hands. I'd never been in her head when she worked
magic and didn't know what to expect. At first, I felt nothing. Just a sense of concentration.
Then…it was like…I don't even know how to describe it. Color and light and music and life
and joy and love…so many wonderful things, all the lovely things that make up the world and
make it worth living in.