Clearly her love for humans extended to her allies, too.

I heard the door behind us open. If I let her drag me through it, I was finished. Pain, terror, and furious, burning anger bloomed. Rather than pushing it aside, I focused on it, letting it bolster my mental shields.

I had thrown Torran out of my mind during our shielding practice. Once. But if I’d done it once, I could do it again.

Then I’d show this smug Valovian traitor exactly how I’d survived a decade of war.

My finger moved. Not much, but it was a start. The hot rush of victory was nearly drowned by a wave of pain, but I pushed onward. Slowly, so slowly, I wrapped one finger, then two, around the hilt of my plas blade.

The loud squeal of metal tearing came from behind us and the telekinetic’s mental vice grip loosened for a fraction of a second. It was enough. I shoved her from my mind with a roar, and in her surprise, the telelock faltered. My feet hit the ground, and I spun, operating on muscle memory and adrenaline.

I drew and activated my blade in one move, then closed the distance between us and drove it upward, under her chin, into the weakest part of her armor.

The red blade sank a centimeter, right on target, and I pushed harder, so focused on her death that I didn’t notice she’d lifted her hands until she shoved me away. The blast of power flung me across the room. Torran shouted, and I jerked to a stop so close to the wall that I could see individual dust particles clinging to the flat surface.

For a moment, the cool comfort of Torran’s power wrapped around me before the mental ice pick returned. Something yanked viciously on my head, and I arched my back, trying to save my neck. Bones cracked and the pain became a suffocating blanket that stole my breath. It felt like I was being torn in two.

I groaned in agony. My mental shields were shot. I’d failed, and now I didn’t have the energy to throw her out again. Distantly, I heard a heavy, metallic crash and the sound of plas weapons, but it was all I could do to cling to consciousness.

Then strong arms wrapped around me and the pain receded slightly. “Hang on, I’ve got you,” Torran murmured.

It was the last thing I heard before my overtaxed brain shut down and everything went dark.

I awoke to the gentle rocking of someone carrying me. For a brief, fuzzy moment, I enjoyed the sensation. Then my memories caught up, and I cracked open my eyes to see where I was.

Pure darkness met my gaze.

My head felt better, but had something happened to my vision? Terror dug in with sharp claws.

“You’re safe,” Torran whispered in my mind.