Elizabeth's fingers tightened around two throats at once.
Jasmine and Arina dangled in the air, toes barely brushing the broken ground. Their nails dug into Elizabeth's wrists, but her grip felt like iron welded to their necks.
Arina could feel her lungs locking up.
Each breath came out shorter, thinner, as if the air was being squeezed out of her chest. The pressure at her throat spread upwards into her skull. Her vision darkened at the edges, sound muffling to a distant hum.
'If this keeps going… I'll stop breathing,' Arina thought. 'I have seconds. That's all.'
She did not waste them.
She shoved the panic down, forced her focus away from Elizabeth's cold eyes and the searing pain at her neck, and turned it inward.
Toward her blood.
Toward that strange, invisible barrier that had always answered whenever something charged at her too quickly.
Distance Rejection.
Up until now, it had always acted on its own, a passive shield that responded automatically.
