Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 237 Ava: Wrung Dry

By the time we exit the training room, Vanessa and Marcus have to hold me up to walk in a straight line.

It isn't the type of exhaustion where my muscles are sore and stretched and tired after running or doing a thousand squats. It's more like the energy in my body has bled away, leaving me so weak that my muscles can no longer function properly.

When exercising, you can kind of feel good about your exertion. The pain and exhaustion comes with a sense of accomplishment.

This?

It just feels like I'm a wet dish rag wrung out one too many times.

The water's gone, and now I'm going to float away on the next strong breeze.

Ava! Where did you go?

Selene's panic is so explosive in my head that my legs buckle, even with the support of two shifters.

Long story. Training room. Magic place. My body's dead. Training sucks.

Even in my head, I can only speak in short sentences. It feels fuzzy and also like something's slamming into it with a sledgehammer, fueled by the rage of a thousand flying monkeys.

Not sure where the flying monkeys came from, but I'm just going to go with it.

Are you okay? she asks, and the warmth and care from her side of the bond also seems to infuse me with a little bit of extra energy.

wake up in the middle of the night to

see you've re-established contact," Magister Orion says, peering at

head jerks up. "What? No.

You

like that,"

despite his

years of experience," I mutter, wishing I had the strength to shove the both of them

comfortable making fun of me for such a

I had the time, I'd love to pick it apart. Especially you,

slice me open and look at me under a microscope, Selene says, and I can feel her internal shudder from my end of the

with his line of interest, because she interrupts him to ask, "Why do you call her by her

the dining room as we talk. "It is a bit of a custom among the Fae. We don't have a first and last name as you humans do, you see. We do have a family name, but it isn't a part of

a family name, wouldn't it be a part of your identity?" I ask with a frown, as Vanessa and Marcus help settle me into a chair. With a wave of

cuts of meat. I've learned since coming here that Fae food doesn't always have a particular corresponding animal to the ones we are used to in our world; for example, their steaks might be from a giant carnivorous beast that they hunt, or an herbivore similar to a cow. Some

and—most importantly—have no magic in them

seemed horrified at the possibility when I brought it up, but I haven't told him the entire story of Sister Miriam and the Fae food. I'm still not certain on the allegiances of people in this city, and I'm hesitant to get Sister Miriam in trouble for possibly going outside of some sort of law

food without being asked, and I give her a smile when she catches my eye. Everything on the table is food I've had before and enjoyed; I'm not blind to the kindness that Magister Orion is

how exhausted I

my plate, Magister Orion finally responds to my question. "Your identity is not defined by your family.

stab of pain shoots through my heart, interrupting its normal rhythm for a moment. There's no way he's talking about my family dynamics, but I still feel like I've been put on

his question makes

sense of self is not tied to our