102. The Stranger
Chapter One Hundred Two
The Stranger
H e kissed me. He kissed me. He kissed me.
The words bang around my skull, a litany of accusations, of truths. He kissed me, and you can’t. She promised that would be for us. She asked me to wait. And yet?.?.?.
The room around me stands in a state of suspended animation, frozen on the verge of exploding from my power, frantically trying to repair the damage again, even as another volley is unleashed.
Even as I rage against her, I rage against myself more. I put genuine fear into her eyes today. I let my anger and jealousy take hold to the point I saw nothing, and she was scared. Of me.
The room rights itself again.
My gut twists at the memory, clarity slowly chiseling its way through the fury. She tried to say something else, but I didn’t want to listen. Couldn’t listen.
I wave my hand, pulling up my various surveillance spells until I find the right moment and force myself to watch. The berserker leans in, and she pulls back. She didn’t initiate. She didn’t continue the kiss.
He kissed me. I didn’t kiss him back.
That’s what she was trying to say. I bury my face in my hands, more of my frustration and rage turning inward.
Without my power, I am useless. Without my abilities, I am nothing. Without her, I’m just a monster playing at being a shell of a male hiding behind a mask. A mask I’ve allowed to define me. A mask that consumes me, and now I’ve broken the only thing I’ve ever loved .
No.
He kissed her. She didn’t kiss him back. She kept her promise, and the boy needs to learn to stay away from what is mine.
No one kisses her but me. No one touches her but me.
I repeat the words like a prayer over and over.
It’s a litany of insanity that I build on, allowing it to spiral around me until I can no longer see the fear in her eyes.
I sink deep into it, letting it drive me toward what I need to do next.
The boy must pay. Just enough for my message to be clear.
You do not cross the hand of Life and Death.
The rest is a blur of anger and jealousy, of how close I teeter to just touching the sleeping berserker with my hand and turning him to dust. But the bruises I know I left on her keep flashing in my mind, reminding me of my loss of control.
Despite that, I somehow exert restraint that I didn’t know I was capable of, and the boy lives.