SARAH
The heat from her palm still bloomed across my cheek, a bright, shameful flower.
But it was nothing. A candle flame compared to the inferno of watching Kael's hand on her arm, pulling her out. Taking her from me. Again.
Always taking her from me.
I sat perfectly still in the sudden quiet, a strange vibration humming under my skin, a swarm of bees trapped in my veins. People moved toward me, their mouths opening and closing, sounds like far-off radio static.
"Miss? Do you need assistance?"
"Are you hurt?"
I looked through them. They were ghosts. Insignificant.
A new sensation bloomed in my chest, a hollow, gnawing ache. It felt wrong. Like a sickness. An imperfection.
I wanted to claw it out with my own fingernails. To tear through skin and rib to remove the faulty, feeling part of me.
I stood abruptly, the chair legs scraping a shriek against the floor. I collected my bag and walked out, leaving their concerned murmurs behind me.
