Her fingertips brushed mine.
The world tilted sideways.
I'd drained people before. Mera felt like cinnamon fire pouring through my veins. Cheon tasted like summer lightning mixed with honey. Even Aurora, that brief contact, had been bright and clean like morning air after rain.
Noel was none of those things.
She tasted like steel and ice water, sharp enough to cut glass. Her Essentia slammed into me with the force of a punch, and I realized too late that I'd underestimated how much power this tiny girl carried inside her perfectly controlled frame. The drain opened wider than I'd intended, hungry and greedy, pulling at her reserves like I was trying to drink the ocean through a straw.
"Ah—"
The sound that escaped her mouth made my brain short-circuit.
