Instructor Ranni seemed at a loss for words. Azriel regarded her calmly on the surface, but inside…
Everything was a mess. His vision blurred. Tears pressed against his eyes without permission. His throat burned and itched. His whole body felt as if it were melting in fire—and yet he was numb, and not numb at all.
Azriel was in pain.
He was feeling pain, which was wrong. Ever since he'd first escaped the Forest of Eternity, his sensitivity to pain had been almost nothing. That was why most of the wounds he took fighting Corven and his soul echoes hadn't slowed him down. But now… the poison had twisted something. It had multiplied his pain a hundredfold. If he could barely stand the touch of air, how would a normal person survive it? They would kill themselves just to stop the pain of breathing—because breathing for Azriel had become a labor. His lungs felt like charcoal.
"I—" Ranni started suddenly, catching his attention through the faint ringing in his ears.
