Descend- Seeing Stars by Sean Oswald (the ebook reader .TXT) 📕

      Granted his vision was blurry but at first, he thought it was Amelia. She was certainly aggressive enough to take the attack to him like this, but she wasn’t powerful enough. Then he realized that she was too tall to be Amelia. Her skin was too dark. It must be Trina. But then he felt his skin ripped open by claws. Trina had never manifested body transformations, so it had to be Jessie.

      He could feel that it was one of his fuses but strangely even though his body was running on autopilot essentially, he couldn’t keep up. He was too drained, too much damage had accrued and even his incredible levels of PSI were struggling to keep up.

      One clawed hand grabbed the back of his head and another shoved a shadowy blade against his throat. Then a voice that he couldn’t quite place said, “Surrender.”

      He closed his eyes and dropped to the floor unconscious.

Interlude 1- Amongst the Wives

      Amelia watched as Zuri, Sora along with some of the other healers knelt around Jay working on him. Even Emma insisted that she be allowed to protect his mind in her Intellect Fortress. A part of Amelia wants to push them aside and do the healing herself.

      All of the fuses had Huong’s healing ability, they just didn’t all have her skill with it. And there was something more. Perhaps it could be called a natural talent. So whileshe had more power, she didn’t have the skills of a natural healer. There were other reasons too.

      Amelia looked over at her beautiful rival. Trina had everything she didn’t have. She was naturally tall, leggy, and just plain gorgeous. She was the kind of woman that men just drooled over. Hell, even she thought Trina was hot. So, she couldn’t blame Jay for having a crush on her back on Earth. That was just it though. Trina had a history with Jay. Amelia didn’t have that natural charisma or that history.

      It cut her to the chase at times. Even though she knew it was silly. She worried that Trina would replace her as wife number one. She was so nervous about it that she hadn’t even been calling dibs lately. A part, well actually a big part of her knew she didn’t have anything to worry about.

      Amelia knew how Jay felt about her. He adored her. But he also loved all his other wives and was even building up something like that for Trina. It wasn’t there yet, but it was growing. Knowing the silly boy scout has a heart two times bigger than it should be, he would end up sappily in love with every girl he fused with. As much as she enjoyed making fun of him for it, she still loved it when she was the object of that affection.

      It was because it was so precious to her that she let that little voice of doubt in the back of her mind nag at her. Trina cared about Jay. If she had to say, based on what she sensed through the fusion, Trina actually was in love with Jay now. It was ironic given how they had both described the way he had felt about her back on Earth, but it was there. The fusion never lied.

      She also knew that Trina only had Jay’s best interests at heart. And hers for that matter. The fusion made them one and so no matter how that little voice called her a rival they were still allies in this. That was why she had stood back instead of rushing to Jay’s side. If Trina said that Sora was the best healer, they had other than Huong then Amelia was inclined to believe her.

She just would have liked to be the one he first saw when he opened his eyes. She would have liked to be the one holding her hand against his face when he knew that everything was going to be okay. And she would have liked to be the one to receive that Jay smile of appreciation. He wasn’t exactly stingyhow he doled them out but somehow, they made her heart race every time.

      Amelia cursed herself for being a fool. How did she ever get so emotional like this? This was supposed to be a practical arrangement. Then she looked at her man as he lay there on the ground being tended to by five healers. Her man, she liked the way that sounded. Her husband was even better. There was no doubt that he was powerful beyond anything she could match but today showed again how boneheaded he could be at times.

      Who but Jay would have thought it was a good idea to let everyone blow off steam by blasting him. He was pushing himself too hard and she worried that between the threat of the Forlorn and Higen’s kidnapping that he expected to shoulder all the burden. He needed to rely upon his fuses. He needed to rely upon her.

      Amelia was so lost in thought that she didn’t even notice that Trina had walked up next to her. “You know we are going to have to protect him from himself.”

      Amelia took a second to process what Trina had just said. “Yes,” then she sighed and added, “And he won’t like that.”

      “Since when has that ever stopped you?” Trina asked, chuckling.

      “Well, I do try to make him happy,” Amelia replied.

      “I know. We all know. There is a reason why you are his first wife. But I also see how you help him out. He is more resilient and braver than I expected and more generous than I deserve, but he does have blind spots,” Trina said.