Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)(78)

The first time he killed her, she didn’t even see it coming. He explained how the amsa would affect her brain. The next thing she knew, it was nine days later when she awoke in her dormitory, experiencing for the first time in her life what a hangover must feel like to a mortal after a week-long bender.

Her verumkai training resumed immediately when Jayesh showed her the phana point to alleviate the throbbing of her head.

She’d experienced death several times since then, but it never got easier.

Sasha reluctantly made her way along the well-worn path to the northwest pavilion. She trusted Jayesh to keep them moving forward, but each day got a little worse than the day before.

“Lay down,” Jayesh said when she joined him in the gardens. “This one will be difficult, so let’s get it out of the way first.”

Panic rose in her throat. “Will it kill me?” The first time she died, it was instant. But with other marmas, she had suffered painful deaths that were more terrifying than anything she’d ever experienced. It gave her so much respect for mortals who approached their deathbeds with grace and dignity. For them, death was a part of life. For her, death was an anomaly and rarely final. Even knowing she would come back, the intensity of death affected her more each time.

“It shouldn’t.” Jayesh looked her in the eye. “This will give you a violent seizure, but if I can release the pressure in time, it will not kill you and we can move on after you have recovered from the shock.”

Sasha settled back into the grass, gazing up at the sun high in the sky. They could practice anywhere, but they both preferred the gardens and the privacy it afforded them.

“Ready?” Jay peered down at her, his forehead furrowed in concentration and worry.

“Yes,” she said, reaching up to smooth his brow. “I’ll be fine.”

“I know you will. You’ve taken this like a champ.”

“When we get out of this place, you owe me a trip to Hawaii and about a month’s worth of fruity drinks with pink umbrellas and a few roasted pigs.”

“It’s a deal.” He smiled down at her. “Ready?”

“Let’s do it.”

“Close your eyes and follow the movement of my fingers along your skull. Here is the simantakas.” He pressed against her forehead and along her hairline. “This one can affect your reality and your sanity as well as the blood supply to your brain. Here.” His fingertips moved through her hair, sliding along the seams of her skull to the peak of her head. “This is the adipati. It affects the functions of the mind, the nervous system and, when under pressure, can cause an epileptic seizure.”

His hands in her hair felt nice. After all the time they’d spent together, they shared a level of comfort and intimacy now. Sasha caught herself wondering what it might be like to have his hands on her when he wasn’t teaching her about pressure points.

It’s not fair to Quinn. She shouldn’t be thinking about someone else. She owed him more loyalty than that. Especially after the way she’d left things with him.

But Sasha wasn’t the same girl that had entered the Chola Valley more than two years ago. Two years for me. She couldn’t fathom going back to her old life, picking it up like nothing had changed.

“Deep breaths. Let’s try to get through this without further injury. Bite on this.” Jay placed a strip of leather between her teeth as he pressed a knee to each of her shoulders to hold her steady.

With his palm gently at the nape of her neck, he struck the top of her head with the point of his knuckle.

Sasha exhaled. She’d expected it to hit her immediately. Confusion clouded her mind.

“What’s going on?” she muttered around the leather strap in her mouth. “What’s that awful smell?” It was like gasoline. She tried to sit up, but her arms twitched and her fingers curled against her chest as she convulsed.

The seizure hit her hard as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she foamed at the mouth, her back arching and her feet jerking.

Jayesh rolled her onto her side, holding her steady and giving her a moment to experience the effects of the adipati marma.

What an awful way to die. She shrank away from her body, retreating to the safety of her mind, the pain growing distant and dim.

The sharp crack along the top of her head brought everything back into sharp relief. Her body trembled and jerked, every joint and muscle a tightened coil of tension.

“That’s it, Sasha. Breathe.” Jay’s voice sounded like a warm haven of life, pulling her back from the darkness of death. “You did it.” He smiled as he pried the leather from her teeth and rolled her back onto the grass. “Just breathe.”

“I don’t like dying,” she murmured as a tear slid down her cheek. She turned away from Jayesh and curled up in a ball of misery.

“I know, angel. It’s almost over.” His gentle hand at the small of her back brought a surprising comfort.

~~~

“Feel the separation of the tendons?” Jayesh asked as Sasha ran her thumb down the back of his neck.

“Here?” she asked, settling on the small depression where his back muscles met his neck.

I could run my fingers across his body all day long.

“Yes. And what is it called?”

“Hmmm?”

“Focus, Sasha. What is this marma called?”