Didn’t ask what it would cost.
I didn’t hesitate.
Didn’t think.
Didn’t care.
I took it from his hand and drank.
This one didn’t hit the same. It wasn’t like fire this time. It was like stepping into an iced lake.
The cold liquid moved slower, deeper, like something was being pulled instead of forced, like it reached under my skin and started shifting things from the inside out, bone, muscle, structure, just enough to throw everything off balance without breaking anything outright, like I was still myself but misaligned, like if I moved too fast something wouldn’t follow correctly, like my own body needed a second to catch up with itself.
I didn’t react this time.
I breathed in and out until my face wasn’t mine anymore.
Elias swore again beside me, louder this time, less controll
