I don’t give him time to react or think or adjust, because instinct takes over in a way I’ve never experienced before, raw and certain and powerful. I reach down and grab his arms, my glowing hands closing around his forearms as the heat surges out of me like it’s been waiting for permission.
He screams.
The sound rips through the forest, high and panicked and nothing like the controlled cruelty I grew up with, and he drops me instantly, howling as he staggers back and clutches at his burning skin. I hit the ground hard, the impact knocking the air out of me as pain flashes through my side, but I roll instinctively, scrambling away on shaking hands and knees as I suck in a ragged breath.
“What did you do to me,” he shouts, stumbling, his eyes wild as he tries to pat at the burns and onl
