Alex understood the comparison. It offered a way to separate her effort, not proof that their injuries were the same.
At his request, Mara tried to release the pressure she could feel near her wrist. One red thread fell slack inside the ice, but the movement farther up her arm grew stronger.
"That one," Alex said, touching the uninjured skin beside it. "Can you feel it now?"
She shook her head.
He waited through another pulse, then touched beside the point where it turned.
"There."
Her breath caught.
"I think so."
"Don't pull it toward your hand. Let the part at your hand stop first."
Mingyue widened the space around Mara's fingers as the blood ceased lashing at it. The woman made a frightened sound when she saw the opening.
"It isn't open toward them," Mingyue said. "Look at the wall."
The ice gave Mara's blood somewhere to settle against bare stone. No one stood beyond that side of the enclosure.
