and smiled. His hand tightened on her arm, hoping to reassure her.
Cami bit her lip and then took a deep breath. “I felt way more than nervous as we were walking. Dread comes closer to it.”
“Okay, you were afraid.” Colm hoped to prod her story along so that they could get onto reassuring her that they did take her concerns seriously.
She stiffened and leaned as far back as the chair would allow. Her eyes narrowed a little and her breathing quickened. He clenched his teeth as he realized how harsh his words had sounded. Putting her on the defensive was the last thing he wanted to do.
“Everything inside of me was telling me that going near that forest was a bad idea. At first, I thought that maybe some of it was nerves, because I hadn’t been out in the open in a while. I wasn’t completely unaware that might be the cause. It’s why I kept going after the first time we stopped.” She looked at him and anger burned brightly in her eyes.
Colm saw Linc’s hand stroke up and down her arm, probably trying to soothe her once again. He kept holding onto her hand even when she tried to pull away from him. Better she realize quickly that he’d hold on tightly now.
“So you tried to ignore the feelings, but they were too strong. What happened that finally convinced you of that it wasn’t a bad case of nervous fear?” Linc’s voice rolled smoothly through the room.
“As we got closer to the forest, I saw images. It wasn’t a complete scene as I normally get, but flashes, disjointed little snips and a rush of feelings. Some of the emotions, I’m certain weren’t mine.” She shivered and her scent changed. With the drug in her system, he couldn’t quite identify it, but her body language and expression were enough to tell him fear played a part in it.
“What were the images?” Colm asked. He hoped she realized that he wasn’t questioning what she saw or how she felt about it. He needed to know more about what made it seem so real to her, why this time was different from all of her other visions of the future.
“I saw a flash of light. At first, I tried to make myself believe that it was a bird or something that caught the edge of my vision. It wasn’t.” Her voice strengthened and the she looked him straight in the eyes.
“You became certain it wasn’t a bird.” Linc patted her hand.
She glared at him. Colm shot him a dark look too. The last thing they needed was Linc bumbling around verbally. Colm did enough of that. He wanted her to know they supported her, but everything they said seemed to put her on the defensive.
She pulled at her arm, but he held onto it. If he released her, she’d get up and walk away from them. He wanted to haul her into his lap and hold her tight, but he knew she’d fight that. She was much too angry already.
“No, it wasn’t a bird. I saw flashes of scenes, as if it was a moment out of time. A hand gripped a knife, but I didn’t even have time to wonder who was holding it before the next one hit me. Kynar’s face, his lips twisted into a sneer. I saw blood flowing across grass and dirt. It pooled beside a male hand. And then there were the feelings.” She took a deep breath and shuddered.
Colm felt the tremor as it passed through her. Whatever she’d seen had shaken her badly. Even if this wasn’t a true vision, he wanted to beat the two men who had hurt her. Colm knew he’d made his own mistakes, but he didn’t like paying for theirs. He’d had to fight for her trust since he met her. The desire to rip the barriers away grew every day, but even as part of him railed at the delay, it wasn’t that easy. He might demand her complete trust, but he couldn’t make her give it.
“What feelings? Tell us what you sensed. We need to understand why it seemed so real to you.” Colm winced as he realized how the last of that sounded.
“A strong wave of hatred and anger hit me. It wasn’t mine. I know that much, but I can’t tell you who the feeling belonged to or even who it was directed at. Then almost equally intense was a wave of sadness