Can she hear me? And why is she so easily distracted? She just pinched a girl with her dagger and is now eating like she is eating at a 5-star resort. Her face turns to me, her eyes widening as I stare back.
“Your food is just too good, and yes, I can hear you too. What is happening? Why does your face not move while you talk? And why does nobody but me hear you? And yes, I might beeasily distracted, but I am definitely not stupid,”she snaps at me. Her eyes narrow as I look around the room.
“That are a lot of thoughts for someone who is only asked if you can hear me.”I try to send her through my thoughts.“And no, I don’t know how this is possible, and I do not think you’re stupid either.”I continue reaching her through my mind. Her mental walls are up, and so are mine, but somehow, I am in. She furrows her brows and looks concentrated as she looks in my eyes. I think she is trying to say something, but nothing comes to my mind. I raise my brows in a question. She lifts her shoulders and shrugs. Hazel, who is sitting next to her, taps on her shoulder and whispers something in her ear. She is sitting too far away from me to hear what she is saying. Eliane nods and shoves her chair back, following Hazel into the hallway.
A strange twist settles in my stomach as loneliness creeps over me. Even with eight others in the room I can’t ignore her absence. I have no idea how our minds are connected, but somehow I feel her mood shift. It is like her sun gets covered by clouds and she is having a bad news conversation. Except it is with a random candidate she just met. Or is it even a random candidate? Could it be? No it can’t. I feel her lips move and tremble as she answers to Hazel. I don’t know how deep this thing goes, but I wish I could hear what was being said to her right now more than anything. I clench my fist, fighting the urge to lift up from my chair and storm into their conversation. Fight the urge to ask Hazel what she wants from Eliane. I tap my fingers, counting the seconds that pass by in slow motion. Waiting for Eliane to come back and tell me what happened. Something is off, but so is our mind connection that just started to take place. My brother starts talking but his words blur into noise. Then I hear her voice again. I don’t have to ask what they spoke about to have her start talking. Whether she says it orthinks it something freezes me in my seat and makes me drop my apple to the floor.
“I have a sister, Braxton.”
My eyes lock on the door, feeling her coming closer to me, her presence prickling my scalp. I have to grab my apple from the floor and blink my eyes to make sure I keep my stale face. The door opens and she has this weird look over her face. I am not sure how to react to what she just told me. She enters my mind again, looking at me with a straight face, but I can hear her cry the words out.
“I have a sister. Hazel is my sister. She was already born when I left. I didn’t remember her. I don’t remember anything before I found Da! They took something from me, and I can’t turn back time. I didn’t look for her. She entered this fucking trial to find me, Braxton! She is giving her life to find me.” She cries out hysterically, her face turns red, but besides that she seems under control. I can feel her anxiety, her breath pitching. My eyes flicker to Hazel, who looks just as upset as Eliane sounds. Shit this really just happened. Goosebumps appear on my skin as I watch her tapping her feet as a distraction. I can see her pulse thundering and her hand reach her chest. She is having a panic attack. Fuck.
“Breathe with me, Honey. You are going to be fine. Hazel is going to be fine. We are going to survive. Now breathe for me.”I take a deep breath in and out as I stare in her eyes intensely. She follows my breathing, and I can feel our heartbeat going slower. The anxiety sinks away, and she looks at me thankfully, but her thoughts are still stuck with her freshly met sister. My brother speaks up again and it forces me to look away from her freckled face and brown eyes that are still filled with worry.
“As you all might have noticed, something is happening to you. I didn’t just give you a drink with potion in it to make you film everything,” he announces. “Some might notice that you canhear your partner. And by hearing, I mean in your head. You are being bonded, not only through a promise, but also through blood and mind.” A few mouths drop but mine doesn’t. Eliane looks at me, eyes wide and more worry covers her face. “As I said before, you will depend more on each other as you could have ever imagined. You will be trained in this new ability of yours. Tomorrow, your training will start. Today, you have room to spar with each other and train your signet. Our royal trainer, Fintan, will be there to help you.” He went on, staring in the room blankly, exhaling sharply before leaving the room with a curt nod towards everyone.
As we reach the sparring gym, I catch a few eyes looking around fascinated. Some of us decided it was smart to train, others had other plans. I think this might be good for us. And it might bea good distraction to Eliane as well. To take her mind of things. The sparring gym has a grey brick wall and concrete floor with sparring mats here and there. Fintan is standing in the corner of the room, checking everyone out as we walk in. He smiles at me as he nods his head, inviting me to come over. Before I reach him, a ball of gold hair jumps in front of me, hugging Fintan’s shoulders tight. He put his hand over her head, stroking her hair, whispering something in her ear.
“I am scared, Da.” I hear her think in my head. Hearing all her thoughts makes me feel like I am an intruder. As she walks away from him again, a hand covers my shoulder. I stare at the tattoos on the black arm of Fintan before looking at him.
“Thank you, kid. For taking care of my girl.” He sighs. His eyes are shiny. I really don’t believe this girl needs saving. Everyone should be scared of her, and not the other way around.
“I owe you, but I don’t believe she needs my help,” I imply. He nods at me in agreement. I step out of his grip, strolling towards the mat where Eliane is standing.
“For all of you who were smart enough to show up, I am glad you are here,” he says, looking stern. “Today you will train and spar with your own partner, to get to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.” Eliane looks down, getting her show together. She looks in my eyes. Her brown eyes shimmer almost as bright as her hair and welcome me with the warm undertone just like honey.
“Ready to get my dagger against your throat again?”she challenges me. We revolve and circle around each other as she furrows her brows and narrows her eyes. Her gaze turns dark.
“If you’re so sure you can win from me why not play without signets and weapons, Honey,”I tease. I keep staring in her eyes. She acts so tough, but I don’t miss the glimpse of insecurity as she moves around me. Somehow, I hear her think.
I hear her think, but I know she isn’t talking or sending it to me or whatever.
I can hear her thoughts.
She is thinking about how she likes standing close to me. How she doesn’t mind to touch my body.
I raise my eyebrow at her.
She blushes and nods, a serious expression on her face, her teeth on display. But now I know what she is thinking I can see the innocence under it.
Does she know I can do this? Is she also in my mind? Manes, this is hell. I need to get my thoughts under control. Now it is me who is starting to blush when I look at her plump lips.
No—I need to stop it.
I roll my shoulders and come to action, while I still feel the blush on my cheeks.
In one swing I take the sword off my back and toss it, and with a clattering sound it falls on the ground. Her eyes wide a bit as she looks at my sword. She takes her daggers out of her belt. AndI really mean daggers. Apparently, she hides more on her body than just one and throws them on the ground.
“What are they doing?” I hear Aiden huff. I don’t look at him and keep focusing my gaze on Eliane.
“They are having a silent fight, I think, a mind fight,” Kailey whispers. Fintan responds to that.
“Please let them be, you will have your own sensation later. Let them have theirs.” He chuckles loud enough for me to hear. I clench my jaw and sharpen my eyes. Eliane’s cheeks turn red. She had probably heard them talking too.
“Embarrassed they know we can talk and flirt with each other without them hearing, Honey?”I tease her. I can’t help but twist my mouth a bit.
“No need to act like a self-centered prick again,”she hisses.“And by the way, this is not me flirting. Jealous you will never see me flirt with you?She blinks her eyelashes innocently. I take a shivery breath and feel my heartbeat race. I react way calmer than my heartbeat tells me to.“Jealous? No, not me. But I can see the tips of your ear turning red every time you talk to me, Honey.”I smirk at her. Even though my mouth does not move, I tell her this with my voice low and raw. I can feel her anger rise, like I can feel an extra emotion. She balls her fist and jumps towards me. Great, I got her angry. But that is what I wanted. This girl has more in her shell than she shows me. A dagger flies past me, and I know the real fight has begun.
