Chosen (The Warrior Chronicles #1)(59)

“Enough about me, let’s talk about me…” Shanti articulated in a voice so dry it was amazing one of the nearby candles didn’t light it on fire. She looked away.

“Sterling spoke to you earlier. What did he say?” the Captain asked.

“Aren’t real nosey, are you?”

“Not real nosey, no.”

Her glare promised eternal pain. He answered by smiling, his dimples transforming his face into something just shy of perfection. Why did she want to punch everyone she talked to tonight?

“My clothes are easy to move in, and yours aren’t. There isn’t much you can do,” the Captain said easily, reading her mind. Or her face.

“Isn’t there?” Like a needled child, wanting to get even, she gathered power and let it blossom, the air around them crackling with the electricity of it.

His smile disappeared immediately. He grabbed her arm with a quick hand, turning her body toward the wall, probably trying to hide her glowing eyes from onlookers. Her power leapt to him, mingled and spread, vibrating between his body and hers, traveling across their skin like a fizzling plague, igniting little pulses that pooled into their bodies. The spicy feeling became a pleasing scent. His own power rose, unasked, calling to her, desperate to open out and join, barely kept at bay by his massive strength of will.

The seconds ticked away, chaotic power surging around them, threatening to break free. Shanti desperately forced it down, trying to collapse it, using her life’s training to try and tuck it away. She struggled against Cayan’s answering attraction, the power so intense it seemed to draw from deep in the earth, quaking the air around them with his raw power.

“He informed me of his amendment to his previous judgments,” Shanti said in a strained voice, trying to control her breathing, jerking her arm away from his bare hand, then grabbing his arm, encased in fabric, to turn him to the wall, too. His eyes glowed more now than they ever had.

“I don’t know that I can hold it, Shanti,” Cayan whispered in a tension-filled voice.

“Step outside. Look at the sky, and envision throwing your mind up to the nearest star. If that isn’t enough, envision roaring with the power. Just make sure to direct it up or we’ll all get a blast. I’ll find Lucius and send him out in case you throw all your life’s energy with it.”

He nodded, his whole body tight, and walked swiftly to the door. Their power ripped in half, fizzling in his wake. Shanti clutched her own power tightly, used to managing its surges, although struggling with the amount now battering against her. She spotted Lucius across the room, speaking to a pretty girl with lust-filled eyes. Still struggling for control, though grappling with less of a burden now that Cayan wasn’t coaxing her power higher, she walked gracefully, attempting to fit in. But when older men edged away warily, she realized her grace was another man’s nightmare. So she settled for a fast walk and a lazy hand on Lucius’ arm.

Lucius turned to her with a question in his eyes.

“The Captain needs you outside. Quickly. Possibly Sterling, too. But only you two. You might need to… carry the conversation…”

Lucius barely gave a parting word to the woman he had been leaning into a moment before, leaving Shanti with the impression that they were either very close, or she wasn’t all that important to him. One would understand, and the other didn’t matter. And since she had nothing else to do, she figured she might as well meddle.

“Hello, I’m Shanti.” She couldn’t hide the strain in her voice, wondering when this flux would die down.

The woman, sweet and delicate, tore her gaze from Lucius’ back and met Shanti’s. She smiled in a practiced way. “Yes, hi. Lucius mentioned you. You are foreign.”

There was no movement toward hand touching. Possibly only men and women shook? A glance at Molly told Shanti that the older woman was irritated, but that didn’t help much.

“I am foreign, yes, that’s right. Did you come with Lucius?”

“No. We are friendly, but I am just getting to know him.”

“Ah. Well, he should be ba—“

A burst of power rocked her body, making currents in her blood and wiring her jaw shut. She reached for the wall and just barely found it before toppling. Molly was there in a minute, straightening her. Asking if she was all right. Shanti heard a ripple of nervous laughter around the room, everyone having felt something bizarre with no explanation.

“I’m okay,” Shanti managed, her voice shaky and her body starting an answering growl. Power started to build on its own, reaching away from her body, thrashing against her ironclad self-control. It was reaching toward Cayan. It was reaching toward its mate. The little mouse had been right.

Blood boiled, bubbling up her spine and infusing her with an elation, the equal to which she had never before felt. She stumbled outside, Molly trying to cover for her. Once there she broke away and ran, not knowing what her body was doing, not understanding what this power was, or how to control it. Her dress tore down the sides, her hair flew from her back. She pushed faster, trying to run it off, feeling the night embrace her, feeling like a wild animal on the hunt.

She made it to the park and kept going until she was at the wall. Flipping off her sandals and scraping all available skin, she was up and over and running again, trying to overcome the feeling. Trying to outsprint it. Trying to get to a safe distance where she could figure out a way to extinguish it.