I could hear the yells and screams of the fight that surrounded us, feel the rattle of the building as it was rent with explosion after explosion. I stopped hitting him, stopped screaming at him; I just sat there, staring at him.
He could have been sleeping. The way his hair fell across his face, the way his arms lay lifelessly at his side. I watched him, expecting him to grumble something in his sleep and roll over the way he always did; my heart almost willed it to happen. I traced the dark purple circles of his bruise, let my fingertips run the length of the healing scar across his face. He was in pain.
My voice howled in agony as I fell onto him, my arms wrapping around him. My magic rushed into him, glad to be home. I felt it swirling within him, mingling with the flaring embers he had kept hidden inside himself. I cried into his chest, feeling the connection grow within our bodies. His arms reached around me, his strong arms clenching me against him.
“Ryland?” I pulled myself away from him, my magic pulling back into me as I moved. I looked up into his face expectantly; my hope shattered at the black eyes smiling back.
“You are exquisite, aren’t you? No wonder this body seems to want you so badly.”
My heart screamed inside my chest at the deep voice that came out of him. I wrenched out of his arms and scurried away, my feet slipping against loose rocks that littered the slick marble floor.
“What? Don’t you want this body, too? You seemed to be desperate to have it just a second ago.” His body uncoiled toward me dangerously, the shoulders squared and back straighter than Ryland ever held himself. He towered over me as I continued to slip in the rubble. The building rocked with another explosion and I lost my balance, landing on my stomach.
Ryland reached down as I slid around in a desperate attempt to find my balance, and his large hand wrapped around my neck as he lifted me up. I was being choked at the pressure, my lungs unable to take in breath.
“Hello, pretty girl,” he sneered as he brought me up to face him, the depths of his black eyes staring back at me acidly.
I didn’t have time to react before he shot a flame against my abdomen. The powerful surge collided against my stomach, burning away the lower half of my shirt. The strength of the pulse shot me away from him, flinging me through the air to land hard on the marble floor twenty feet away, the impact sending a painful jolt rippling through me. I sighed as I rolled over onto my back, my body protesting the movement.
I should be hurt; I felt a powerful warmth, smelt the burnt fabric, but there was no pain. I looked at my stomach in confusion. The bottom of my shirt had been destroyed; the skin below it was blackened like charcoal, but nothing more. I wiped away the black residue, surprised to see no wound. My stomach was intact, the skin pale and smooth beneath the ash.
A white orb collided angrily against my chest, sliding my body across the floor with the impact. My attention was pulled from my stomach as Ryland’s new attack sent me slamming into the wall. I looked up just in time to see him land in front of me, another pulse already prepared to fling my way.
I knew I should fight him, I knew I should attack him as he was attacking me, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I couldn’t bring my magic to me with enough strength to defend myself from the Trpaslík, let alone fight or injure Ryland. The thought of purposely harming him set my heart into a flutter of pain.
I scuttled to the side, the attack shattering the wall behind me instead. Without thinking, I grabbed a table next to me and flung it at him. My heart sank as I watched it fly, terror gripping me at the impending impact. It had almost reached him before he swayed to the side, the table flying uselessly past.
He walked toward me, smiling wickedly as I continued to shoot objects in his direction. All my attempts were useless; the small pieces of what my wind could grab and carry were either dodged, deflected, or they bounced uselessly off his chest. I knew I needed to fight back more intently, I knew I needed to try, but my heart wouldn’t let me.
“Throwing things with wind; is that the extent of your power?” Ryland raised both of his hands toward me; I could feel his wind build around me as he shot all the useless objects I had sent toward him right back at me, but with a much greater force and in a quicker succession. I shielded my head as the wall on either side of me was pelted with the arsenal. Plaster and small rocks flew into my hair and bounced painfully against my bare skin.