Jack can’t move, but his stomach shoots to the top of his throat the same way it would if a trapdoor had opened beneath him. Corva can hardly move, but the expression on her face is a clear progression from confusion to surprise to horror, ultimately ending in anger. He just used the Touch—well, a variation of it, as best as he could know from that beat-up old notebook the old man used in his training. If she didn’t know before, then there’s no question now who Jack’s people were. The Shadowfold. The people responsible for wiping out entire towns. Towns like Fareburne.

He may have been doing it from an awkward position, there on the floor, half trapped by the subsonic paralyzers, holding his breath in spurts so he could move, but the movements for the Touch are direct, distinct, and without fanfare. If she’d witnessed any of the Shadowfold forgivers—those were the ones who actually went into the towns during a mercy—she’d recognize the distinctive application of two fingers on a person or a live image of that person. From the look on her face, there’s no doubt that she’s put it all together.

But he had to do it. How else were they going to stop Death? The bony jerk already had Zeke. He was going to cut Corva’s head off with that blade of his. What choice did Jack have?

Still, something’s not quite right. If Jack had performed the Touch correctly, Thegn would be a crumpled mess now, dead. Instead, the old wrinkly bastard tripped over Jack and careened across the floor. He hears Thegn crash to the ground. Hopefully the fall didn’t injure Zeke any further. Jack can’t see either of them, but he knows they’re not dead. He can feel it. Something broke in the Reaper, but Jack’s variation of the Touch didn’t force the life out of him like it should’ve.

Maybe he did it wrong. It’s not like Jack’s had a lot of practice with the technique. Old Man V only ever walked him through the steps on dandelions and flowering cacti that they brought into the training kiva in Cliff City. Said it was too cruel to test it on rodents or even insects and it was certainly too dangerous to try out in the open, without soulmantic shielding.

Maybe he did it right, though. This is Death they’re dealing with, after all. Techniques that destroy normal people might only be a minor inconvenience for the last of the Four. Maybe—

The skin and skull at his hairline starts to ache. No, not ache. It feels like a hot iron is being held up to his head. Something definitely didn’t work right. It can’t have. Even on those small walkthroughs with plants, he’d never felt anything like this.

Jack grimaces at his pain; he can barely even cough. It doesn’t help that Thegn’s leg had swung out after he got hit with the Touch. The wrinkled old man’s foot had collided hard with Jack as he flew back, and all Jack can feel there now is the increased blood flow pumping to where foot had met chest. It also doesn’t help that he still can’t move. The subsonics are shaking him to his core, and he can feel exhaustion seeping into his muscles. Using that breath-holding trick took a lot out of him.

If he could get rid of just one of those sources of agony, he’d at least be able to move. To get up. To talk to Corva. Explain to her that even though he was born into the Shadowfold, he didn’t have anything to do with Fareburne. With the death of everyone she knew.

He looks at her face from his spot there on the floor. Her face is usually never hard to read, but right now, the emotions mixing in her eyes compete for control of the rest of her face. He wouldn’t blame her if she felt betrayed. That’s how he’d feel. Maybe he deserves all this hurt.

The searing pain at his hairline seems to agree.