She didn’t have time for that. As soon as Tynan told Andra the truth about Tori, Nika needed to be whole and healthy enough to go find her. She was not going to be left behind this time—seen as too frail and delicate to rescue her baby sister.
Nika looked each man standing in front of her in the eye. “I don’t want to do this.”
One of the Theronai—the one with skin and eyes the color of dark chocolate—gave her a reassuring smile. He had a thick accent she couldn’t place. “We won’t force you, but Joseph has told us of your broken mind. Perhaps we can help.”
Nika hated it that they’d talked about her. It made her feel like a child to have her mental health discussed with perfect strangers. “You can’t. If you could, I’d know.”
“Please let us try.”
How many times had she heard that? Too many over the past few months to count. They were always wrong and never learned from the mistakes of those who had gone before.
Nika let out a frustrated sigh and held out her left arm. “Fine. Just hurry. I have things to do.”
Joseph moved, putting himself between her and the strangers. “Are you sure, Nika? You look tired. It can wait until after you’ve slept.”
Part of her wanted to put it off, but she knew she wouldn’t rest well if she did. She’d be worried about it, thinking about the pain she knew was to come. As much as she didn’t want this, getting it over with was better than delaying the inevitable and losing a day’s sleep over it.
“I am tired, but it’s fine. Let’s just do it so I can start to heal.”
“We won’t hurt you,” said the second man in the same thick, broken accent as his companion.
The way he looked at her—so full of hope and yearning—made Nika’s stomach tighten. She couldn’t be what this man wanted her to be, and as soon as he touched her, all that hope would be crushed. He’d have to go back to his old life of pain and suffering and there wasn’t a thing she could do to stop it.
“Just be quick,” said Nika. She closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see that look cross their faces. This was hard enough without the guilt that came along with her failure.
She felt the heat from one of the men’s hands near her arm, close but not touching. He hesitated, as many of them did, as if the wait would somehow change the outcome.
“Do it,” she said between clenched teeth, bracing herself for the pain.
Warm, calloused skin met hers. His fingers closed around her in a tight grip. Pain streaked along her skin, setting her arm on fire. She held her breath, waiting for him to let go, but he held on.
The pain grew, multiplying as the seconds passed. Nika tried to pull her arm away, but he didn’t relent.
She opened her eyes to see the face of the taller man twisted in a grimace of pain.
“Let go!” she shouted.
Joseph grabbed the man’s arm and tried to pull it away, but his grip was too tight.
The skin around his hand turned bright red, searing as if she’d laid it against a hot coal. She struggled harder and another cry of pain ripped through her.
Rational thought scattered under the strain as her thoughts tried to flee the agony of his touch. She felt her mind crack and fling out pieces of itself into the world, seeking shelter.
Nika tried to control it, but she hadn’t been prepared for this. She was tired from too much effort last night and not strong enough to stop this involuntary reaction.
Her body grew weaker and it became difficult to stay standing. She locked her knees, praying Joseph would force the man to release her. If she could just hold on a few more seconds . . .
She felt her body jerk as both men pulled on the other. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw a huge fist fly past her head and slam into the jaw of the man burning her.
The man let go and stumbled backward, knocking both him and his companion over.
A wave of dizziness whirled through Nika and she grabbed for the wall to steady herself, but it was too far away.
A pair of strong hands caught her and kept her from falling, but these hands didn’t hurt.
Madoc. She’d know his touch anywhere.
“What the fuck were you doing to her?” He shot the harsh question at Joseph.
Joseph looked at the angry, blistered spot on her arm, then back to the man on the floor who was bleeding from his split lip. Guilt tightened his mouth, making the lines around it deepen. “Get her out of here. I’ll deal with him.”
“No. I’ll deal with him,” said Madoc. “You take the girl.”
“You’re the only one who can touch her. Besides, from the look on your face, you’d just kill him.”
“So?”
“So, that’s not the way we do things. He lost his head. You know how it is—how desperate the pain can make us. I’m not going to kill a man for doing something I’ve thought about doing way too many times for my own comfort.”
A low, warning rumble rose up from Madoc’s chest. “Don’t you dare.”
The man who’d hurt her pushed himself to his feet. Nika backed away from him, tripping on her own feet in her haste.
“Go, Madoc. Get out of here,” said Joseph.
Nika regained her balance and tugged on Madoc’s arm. She really didn’t want to be the cause of any more bloodshed, and if she didn’t get him to leave, there was definitely going to be more.
“Take me home, Madoc. I’m tired.”
He looked down at her, and his blunt features relaxed. His green eyes slid to her arm and he let out a violent curse before picking her up and heading down the hall.
The part of her that needed to prove she was independent warred against the part of her that loved being close to him like this. In the end, the practical side won. She hadn’t spent the last several months getting stronger only to be treated like she’d break if the wind blew too hard. “I can walk,” she told him.
“Nope.”