Page 50 of A Touch of Stars and Stones (Kirrian #1)

“Push against the vision. Look past it until you feel resistance.” My mind rebels at the words, but I force myself to comply.

I squeeze his hand and focus on the white world I can see, but I look harder, and sure enough, there’s something behind the image, like it’s a living picture that I can see the edges of.

As I step towards the periphery, an invisible boundary stops me from going anywhere, from seeing inside.

“She’s there,” Ten’s voice cracks, and my eyes fly open. Beads of sweat coat his brow, and his whole body is tense and rigid.

“Stop it. Let go,” I say, trying to drop the connection. But he just grips me tighter.

“No!” he growls. Instead of letting me go, he runs his free hand up my cheek and wraps it around my jaw and neck, keeping me from pulling back as he rests his forehead against mine.

It’s overwhelming.

Consuming.

Disarming.

All at once. Stars .

I hitch my breath, struggling to regain control of anything.

Heat thunders from the centre of my chest, and that calm well of water now rages like a torrent and the control I had grasped spirals.

Explodes.

“Ten,” I shout in my mind.

That’s all I can think. All I can focus on. He’s everywhere in my mind like he’s invaded, and I can’t escape.

The vision we’d shared dissolves in my mind, and a waterfall takes its place, lush with green foliage, trickles of water pouring down multiple paths through a gloomy rock, all shrouded in mist.

It’s beautiful in the ruggedness of it. How wild it looks.

And I’m breathless.

The waterfall explodes, replaced with a night sky dancing with stars. Pretty and vast. So vast, I feel lost. Alone. Singular in the world. But I can feel Ten. He stands next to me.

No, not standing. I’m lying down. Staring up at the sky.

“Ten?” I ask.

“Right here.” I hear it in my mind. In the vision.

It turns cold. The ground is chilling beneath me. The stars fade as I keep looking up. More snow above me, and great craggy rock faces lean over me. Then pain.

My pain.

In my body—my head, my chest. Ripping through me, tearing me apart. Raw and visceral. Aching, throbbing pain.

“No. No. No.”

Ten’s shouts echo inside my mind, ringing, distant.

I clutch my chest, the centre of where the pain emanates from.

Ten let’s go, dropping both his hands from me and our connection, and the vision vanishes.

I’m left gasping… reaching for… He’s already putting space between us as I open my eyes, and there’s a stricken look on his face enough to dredge all my fear to the surface.

“What happened? Ten?” Kamari asks as I keep my eyes on his, studying for any clue or explanation.

Ten steadies himself, leaning down on his knees for a few beats. He shakes his head before answering. “I think the visions I’ve seen and what we just experienced are the past and the future. Or at least possible futures.” His words trigger what the Maker told me. She said I would see possibilities.

“I was hurt,” I say, convinced that was what happened. And I know he saw everything that I felt. He was there with me.

We were in a place in time in the future where I was gravely injured, staring up at the sky, Ten by my side.

“Okay. Have you two had a third join?” Kamari asks, her eyes lingering on me, studying me.

“Ravi. He tried to break our connection, I think.” Ten’s voice is hollow.

“And what happened?”

“Darkness,” I answer, remembering that wave of blackness blocking everything out. Like I’d been plunged into something so cold and vast I couldn’t escape.

“Aten, we’re going to go over everything you’ve seen since you and Ever have connected. I want every image, every colour, every detail. But I agree with your conclusion. He’s right, isn’t he?” she asks.

“Yes.” I can’t lie.

“Maybe that’s how to explain what happened with Ascella.”

“That was different,” I add. “I was the one holding the blade and killing her. This wasn’t quite like that. I was watching the scenes we went through. Until the last part.” When I wasn’t watching anymore.

I glance at Ten again, and I’m reminded of how he looked in the classroom. It eats at my chest, the sorrow and fear all rushing back, filling the gap in my chest and poisoning the calm I’d barely held onto.

“You two have something. Instinctual at some level. Work on that. Practice. And we’ll continue, too, Aten.” She nods to him. An order.

That’s it?

Ten nods, that slight bow he offers towards Kamari reminds me to do the same, and then he heads for the door.

“What?” I’m not catching up.

“Come on, Ever.”

My vision clears, and I plead with my mind to unscramble. Even my footsteps feel unsure, like the ground isn’t quite as sure under my feet as I need it to be.

Ten closes the door to Kamari’s office behind us and leads the way down the corridor and stairs, confident in every turn until we’re out, walking into a wall of stifling heat.

The need to throw my arms around his neck and just hold him hits like the heat, but I shove that down and ignore the burning in my eyes, telling myself it’s the hot air. Not the emotion that still churns in my chest.

“Come on. We need a drink and some food before class.”

“Class?” I croak out.

“Yes.”

“After all of that?” I can’t train. I can’t do anything.

“Yes.”

“Ten. Stop. Look at me. What did you see? Because I know what it felt like.”

“Don’t. It’s only a possibility. That’s what Kamari said.”

My feet refuse to continue as I call to him. “I was dying.” It’s a strangled cry from my throat, betraying the terror now worming through me. If this is how Ascella felt in her vision, I understand why she hates me.

He keeps his back to me. “We also saw me trudging through ice and snow. The only snow I’ve seen is on the tops of the Jet Mountains or beyond.

And believe me, I’ve never fucking been there.

” He tips his head up towards the giant plains of rock that shadow and play barrier and protector to The Court.

Finally, he turns to look at me. “Just possibilities.” He twitches his lips in an attempt at a smile, but I don’t buy it.