A Battle of Pride and Desire

Chapter Seventeen

Brigette glanced down at herself and she was glowing, glowing an iridescent green. A faint light about half an inch in depth glowed from her skin, leaving a green hue on her skin from its reflection. It danced on her skin and swayed to the light breeze felt in the infirmary. It moved in waves, like an emerald sea on her skin. It was beautiful and mesmerising, refusing her the permission to look at anything else. This was coming from her, from her body. The sound of Taran's scrambling footsteps forced her to look away from the glow emanating from her.

"You-" he started. "No," he gasped.

He sounded how she felt. The glow was not easing up, only growing brighter and more beautiful. It didn't feel wrong, it felt benign, a part of her. Natural. She looked to her hand on Tomás's bed and her eyes widened at the sight. Her glow was travelling from her fingertips to underneath Tomás's skin. Beneath the skin of his hand was a faint emerald light that she knew was coming from her and being shared with him. She didn't retract her hand immediately but rested another hand on his forehead to allow the glow to continue to travel to him. Underneath his forehead the same faint green glow began to appear.

"Brigette," Taran warned.

"Come here," she said with an exhale.

He obeyed and came back to her side. She reached out one of her hands, taking it away from Tomás in a gesture for Taran to do the same. Reluctantly he gave her his hand which she took quickly.

"Tell me what it feels like," she said and did her best to channel the glow from her to him.

The glow travelled safely to beneath his skin and his eyes closed in what looked like pleasure.

"Brigette," he sighed.

"What?" she released his hand. "Does it hurt?"

"No," he said in disbelief. "No it doesn't. It feels... I can't explain it. But it's not bad."

The glow was not diminishing, rather it was growing stronger. It begged her, called on her to share it so she did. She reached out to Tomás and put a hand on either side of his face. Her necklace hung from her neck, swinging and shining brightly as she breathed steadily above him. His face grew warm and the colour began to return to him. It was like watching him be born again, the life he had lost filling him once more. Brigette closed her eyes and centred her focus on Tomás. Somewhere in her mind she knew Taran was watching her in shock but she didn't allow that to take hold of her thoughts. To the best of her ability she centred her focus on Tomás and allowed her strength to carry from her to him. Allowed the glow of life to travel to him. Her head began to spin as she gave more and more of herself to Tomás. She lost sight of the necklace, lost sight of Tomás, lost sight of herself as the room began to sway and spin. She tried closing her eyes again but was met with black splotches. She felt so dizzy she thought she would vomit any moment now. She was no longer in control of what was travelling into Tomás, her body could have stopped glowing and she wouldn't know.

"Taran," she gasped.

She wasn't sure if she had said it aloud, her entire world was closing in around her. She was too disoriented to separate herself from Tomás. She was drowning in the loss of the strength she was pouring into him, she grew weaker with every second. In a flash a hand grabbed her wrist and jerked her back. Suddenly she could breathe again but her vision was still spotty in places. She was breathing heavily as though she had run a marathon and she was confident she may as well have with how drained she felt. Taran's face didn't reveal much of how he was feeling as always. But she was beginning to be able to decipher his feelings through his body movements. Hands wrung together meant either worry, stress or both. His hands were wrung together. It also helped that she could read his mind but her exhaustion didn't allow her to.