Element [The Darkling]

Chapter Thirty-Two

I sat cross legged on the floor of the training room, my head in my hands as I tried to sift through the information I'd learned. I wanted so badly to go to sleep, reach out to Kirigan, and find out that David was lying.

But that was a monstrously stupid idea, and David wasn't lying.

So Genya might be dead.

I had to know the truth. I had to know everything David knew, but I didn't trust myself to be able to question him and focus on his heartbeat.

"Are you alright?" I looked up to see Tamar coming in, taking in the sight of the charred dummies and scorched walls with wide eyes. I shook my head.

"I'll be fine." I murmured, glancing back over my shoulder to look at the destruction I'd caused. Those dummies represented everything I'd ever touched.

Turned to ash.

I looked up at Tamar, and got to my feet, dusting myself off with a heavy sigh. "I just had to get that out. I need answers, Tamar." I said, and she nodded. "Will you help me get them?" I asked.

"What do you need?" She asked, immediately up for whatever I was proposing.

She and her brother were my new favorite people on the planet.

Tamar took me to the holding cell Tolya put David in and unlocked the door, opening it for me and letting me go inside the small room first.

"Oh look, you got a window," I commented to the man in chains, who turned around to see me, his eyes wide. "More than I ever got. Be satisfied I'm not petty enough to fashion a collar around your neck." I added bitterly, and he winced.

"Please, you must have them set me free, I can help you, if you'll let me." He requested desperately.

"One thing at a time." I said pointedly, and he sighed, nodding.

"Yes,"

"I want to know how merzost works." Alina came in and set the journal down.

"Oh, no no no. No." David refused.

"If you have no loyalty to Kirigan, then help me find a way to bring him down." Alina said firmly.

"I have no interest in merzost, but I agree with bringing him down." I said.

"The journal omits the most consequential detail. The cost." David said intensely. "Okay, you're asking the wrong questions. Although there is something you should know. I didn't want to mention it in front of the others." He admitted, glancing at me.

"Go on." I said.

"Even now, something may extend between you three. A shared bond of some sort that persists beyond what happened in the Fold." David said with various confined hand motions.

"I share no bond with Kirigan." Alina said, mildly outraged.

"I wouldn't be so sure," David said, shaking his head, thoughtful. "The fragment is out of his hand, but there is still residue of the stag." David leaned closer to us. "He asked me about a link." He whispered. "You may still be connected in some way."