I stood, rubbing my face as I did. “I think you know already,” I said. When she continued to feign confusion, I took a deep breath. “Emma and I were attacked by the wraith this afternoon. But you already know that.”
She did a good job of faking her surprise. She gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. “I thought I sensed something through the bond, but I never would have thought…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “Are you all right? How did you get away?”
“I’m all right,” I said. “Thanks to you.”
She stiffened, shifting from foot to foot with unease. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “I wasn’t there. I was at home, taking care of a few things.”
I walked over until I was right in front of her. My hands rested on her shoulders to stop her from fidgeting as she worried her lower lip with her teeth. She stiffened for a moment, but then angled her head so she was looking in my eyes.
“Rachel, I know you were there,” I said, trying to keep my tone gentle. I cupped the back of her neck, my thumb running up and down. “I could sense you through the mating bond. I could feel your fear, and that you were trying to do something to help us. And I felt your relief and exhaustion after we got away.”
Biting her lip, she glanced away. I could hear her heart thundering as she wrestled with herself.
“Whatever it was, you saved my life,” I prodded, when she remained silent. “What did you do?”
She shook her head. “Nothing,” she muttered.
My eyes closed. How was I supposed to make her trust me? I needed to know what she had done, if only to be prepared for what might happen in the future.
“I know you were there,” I repeated. “And that’s okay. Honestly, I’m impressed that you were brave enough to come after me when you sensed something was wrong through the bond. I just want to know what happened.”
Her leg jittered, and her fingers tapped against the side of her leg. She glanced anywhere but at me. I waited, not pushing her even as I desperately wanted to know what the hell had gone on there. After a long moment, her shoulders sagged as she relented.
“Okay, I was there,” she said. “But I didn’t do anything. I saw the flame, which must have been Emma—”
“Emma told me she’s never conjured so much as a spark,” I interrupted, holding up my hand. Her mouth clamped shut. “She doesn’t think it was her, even on an instinctive level.”
“Then it must have been someone else,” she said.
A burst of anger flashed through me. “Why are you lying about this?” I growled. This was the sort of thing I needed to know. Why the hell had she kept it from me?
That frustration dissipated when I looked closely at Rachel, her stricken expression as she stared at me. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. She swallowed, and a realization that should have been obvious finally struck: she was terrified. Whatever she had done, she was afraid of what would happen if she told anyone.
Without thinking twice, I reached out to her, pulling her in as my thumb swiped beneath her eye. My hand cupped her cheek, and she leaned into it.
“It’s okay,” I said. “You can tell me. I’m not going to judge. Especially since whatever you did saved my life. And if you want to keep it secret, then I won’t tell a soul. You can trust me.”
I saw that hesitation in her gaze at those final words. She had trusted me once before, and I had thrown it back in her face. I had spent weeks trying to build up her trust, but the memory of that day when we were kids would linger on no matter what. I remained quiet, worried that anything I said right now might scare her off, like a doe startled by the crack of a branch.
After a long moment, she nodded, more to herself than to me. She took a deep, shaking breath and finally brought her eyes to meet mine.
“It was me. I felt you were in danger, and I wanted to do something. I don’t even know how I did it. It was sort of just instinctive.”
I let out a breath, allowing the knowledge to sink in. I had expected it the second I sensed Rachel nearby, but hearing it from her own lips was something else entirely. She waited anxiously for my response, as if afraid I would turn on her now that she had confessed.
“How long have you known about your powers?” I asked. If she had known for years, since we were kids, I couldn’t imagine the burden she felt shouldering that secret for so long.
“It started after the mating bond,” she said. “Just little things. It got stronger after we had sex.”
After we had consummated the bond, then. My mind went back to the Oracle, who had warned me to keep careful watch over her. Did she know? Or at least suspect? Unease at that possibility rippled through me. If she had known that, what else did she know?
Rachel stepped out of my hold, hesitating before she spoke. “I won’t blame you if you hate me,” she said.
I stared in disbelief. “What are you talking about? Why the hell would I hate you?”
Shrugging, she glanced away, unable to meet my gaze as she managed to choke out. “I don’t know. For being a witch? For lying to you about it?”
I shook my head in bewilderment, scoffing in disbelief. She glanced away until I tilted her chin up so she had to look at me.
