Empower

Chapter 19

‘We pay a price for everything we get or take in this world …’

Lucy Maud Montgomery

when a person forces herself to live in a world that has no sun, it is a dreadful existence. Most would be better off never having known the sun existed than to be left cast into perpetual shadow with nothing but the memories set on constant repeat. Memories cannot – do not – recreate the sun.

It comes from every angle, attacks every sense and fibre of our beings. The sun, more than anything, is the very assurance that we are real and that there is life.

Awareness slowly returned and I was conscious of one thing and one thing alone.

I’m lying in the sun.

And before I’d even opened my eyes, I was crying my heart out, for the first time in two years.

My memories had never, could never have, done it justice.

‘Don’t cry, Vi,’ the sun said. ‘Don’t cry,’ he repeated, as he smoothed the hair from my forehead and gently stroked the contours of my face. ‘Please wake up. Wake up so that you can come back to me,’ he whispered, as if I could be the one special enough to belong to the sun. And even more, as if, by some miracle, the sun still belonged to me.

But I’m not. And he doesn’t.

Lucidity increased by the second. It took only a few brief moments before my hand was briskly wiping away my unauthorised tears and my eyes were blinking open.

Lincoln sat on the edge of the bed, leaning over me.

‘Hey,’ I said, my voice catching.

‘Hey,’ he said, his voice soft.

He reached over and held out a glass of water with a straw.

I sipped, and nodded when I’d had enough.

He stood then, and started to pace. At first I was struck by the pure relief that showed on his face and then, somewhere between trying to remember what he’d said as I woke up and seeing that his expression was morphing into something decidedly more furious, I began to sit up, moving into a more defensive position.

Right on cue, Lincoln spun towards me, one hand up in helpless confusion. ‘What the hell did you think you were doing? You were half dead when we found you!’

He really has developed a hot temper.

I rolled my eyes. ‘I’m fine.’

‘You are not damn well fine. I’ve spent the past twenty hours in here trying to heal you and you’re still black and blue.’

I grimaced, wondering just how banged up I looked. But then his words registered. Twenty hours? Wait. ‘You … you healed me?’

‘Of course I healed you,’ he said, his irritation growing.

I could feel it now, his power, his self running through me, fixing me. It was wonderful in the worst possible way.

‘I wish you hadn’t done that,’ I mumbled.

‘Why?’ he asked, his anger giving way to sadness. ‘Do you want to die?’

‘No. But we’re not partners any more. You shouldn’t have …’

Lincoln laughed sardonically. ‘God, you are so twisted it’s not funny.’

He’s not wrong.

‘I never said any of this was funny.’ It was then that I noticed I was wearing a gown instead of my clothes. I blushed, looking away from Lincoln. Had he undressed me?

The door opened and Gray walked in, smiling when he saw me awake. ‘On the mend, then?’

I nodded and then sent him a sharp look. ‘Did you let him heal me?’

Gray scratched the back of his head. ‘Well, I didn’t bloody well stop him, if that’s what you’re asking. I suspect a herd of elephants would’ve had more luck at that. The man can be quite insistent when he wants to be. No one was allowed within ten bloody feet of you,’ he said, his British accent thickening.

I continued to glare at him.

His eyebrows went up. ‘I’m flippin’ serious! There’s a doctor out there with a badly broken nose to prove it. And anyway, I figured you’d want to be up and about to get on with saving your friend, and for that you really are going to need to be vertical.’ He smiled mischievously. ‘Though to be frank, I won’t deny that there is one horizontal activity I think you’d highly benefit from.’

My mouth dropped open in shock. I didn’t miss Lincoln’s smirk from his position at the end of my bed.

Gray broke into full belly laughter. ‘I see my work here is done. Should I let the troops know we’ll be pushing ahead?’

‘Of course,’ I said just as Lincoln said, ‘No. She needs more rest.’

I glared again, giving equal attention to Gray and Lincoln.

Gray backed towards the door. ‘Sorry, mate,’ he said to Lincoln. ‘But now that she’s awake, well, let’s just say, I know what she’s capable of when she’s pissed off.’ He ducked out the door and as he did I spied my clothes folded neatly on the armchair.

Lincoln held the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

Is he counting?

‘Is Rainer okay?’ I asked.

He nodded. ‘She’s back, Violet.’

He wasn’t talking about Rainer. Nyla was back. It had worked.

‘It might take her a little longer to wake up than it did me since she was gone for so long, but her brain activity has returned and Rainer says she felt the transfer work. You brought her back.’

I let out a deep breath. ‘I hope it was the right thing to do. You should … call Griffin. He’ll want to know.’

‘Steph’s already spoken to him. He’s preparing to come over and should arrive in the next day or so. He said to tell you it was about time you got back in the game.’ He cleared his throat. ‘And … that you did good.’

Tears stung my eyes but I held them back. I’d woken up crying – a display I wasn’t about to repeat.

I pushed myself up further, spending a little time on healing the worst of my injuries. I’d patch myself up properly later. ‘Can you pass me my clothes?’ I asked, pointing to the folded stack.

Lincoln handed them to me and I pulled my jeans on beneath the sheets. I settled for just my T-shirt when I saw the state of my sweater. I was sure Steph would lend me something else. ‘Turn around,’ I said.

Lincoln did as I asked while I stripped off the hospital gown and threw on my top. By the time he turned around I was pulling on my boots.

‘What happened at yesterday’s meeting?’ I asked, worried I missed the arrangements.

‘It was rescheduled for today. They should be heading to the hall now, in fact.’

I stood up, trying to hide the shaking in my legs. ‘Well, we’d better get going, then. They can’t assemble our team unless we’re there, right?’

Lincoln huffed, clearly not finished with this conversation – or lecture. I ignored him and walked carefully to the door, unable to hide a few sharp winces.

‘You know I could help with that,’ he said from behind me, his voice suddenly low.

I froze, knowing exactly what he meant. When we connected our healing powers were much stronger, but it was always confronting, sharing our emotional as well as our physical abilities.

I shook my head. ‘I’d prefer not.’

I am a pathetic liar.

‘Hmm,’ he said, brushing against my side before opening the door for me. ‘We’ll see.’

When I passed him to go through the doorway, he grabbed my wrist, holding it tight. ‘Next time you decide to do something so reckless, at least tell someone you might be on your way to die. You know, just so we can find you,’ he said, unable to disguise the bitterness in his tone.

I licked my lips. ‘Sure. Next time I’ll do that,’ I snapped, trying to pull my arm from his grip.

‘Be sure you do. Maybe then it won’t be so hard to tell you that what you did was just damn amazing.’

My breath caught. I stared as Lincoln simply dropped my wrist and stormed ahead towards the hall.

Only when I heard the chuckling did I notice Steph standing in front of me.

‘What’s so funny?’ I asked.

She shook her head. ‘You two. You’re just so … annoying.’ She laughed again.

‘We can’t seem to stop yelling at each other.’

‘Maybe you should try doing something that doesn’t involve talking,’ she said with a wink.

I looked to the ceiling. ‘Please. Not you, too. Come on, we’d better get to that meeting before Lincoln has another reason to yell at me.’

She snorted. ‘You have some housekeeping to take care of first.’

I looked at her, confused. ‘Such as?’

‘Such as where Phoenix is going to be staying.’

‘Steph, Phoenix is an angel. As in incorporeal.’

She rolled her eyes and pointed behind me. ‘Well, Vi, honey, you might want to explain that, then.’

My heart skipped a beat and my breathing practically stopped completely as I turned slowly on my heel to see Phoenix, in the flesh, sitting on one of the waiting-room chairs with his elbows on his knees and his head slumped forward, looking at the ground.

‘What. The. Hell?’ I breathed.

‘If that was our only question it would be easy. He hasn’t said much, but according to Rainer you weren’t going to make it. So, Mr Self-sacrifice here brought you back.’

‘He … he …’

Steph placed a supporting hand on my shoulder. ‘He exiled, Vi. For you.’