"Are you entirely out of your mind?" Maribel's voice was a harsh whisper, vibrating with a mix of leftover adrenaline and sheer exasperation.
I blinked, my hand rising instinctively to touch my forehead where she had flicked me. The skin stung slightly, a sharp contrast to the complete void of sensation in my shattered right hand. "Maribel—"
"Do not 'Maribel' me, Seraphina," she snapped, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. Her eyes flashed with the residual light of her earth magic, dark and grounding. "You stood right there. You felt the heat surge. You felt the power spike, and instead of throwing yourself backward or letting me pull up a wall, you just *watched* him."
"I was trying to understand," I said softly, my voice sounding distant even to my own ears.
