“But then, couldn’t a seeker also become a reader and the other way around?”
“Yes,” he replied simply. So simply, that my suspicion piqued.
“But then it wouldn’t matter whether someone was a reader or a seeker then, everyone has a weighted regardless.” Everything was finally connecting in my mind.
“You really are smart.” Throughout our conversation, I hadn’t noticed that he had shifted closer to me, and now our thighs nearly touched. His breath tickled my neck. I felt as if something stretched between us, pulling us to one another. “Perhaps magic heightens the ability of one to find the other, and perhaps when one is merely a seeker and the other only a reader, they find themselves more compatible than those who have mastered both, or neither.”
My gaze flickered to his lips, which were now much closer to mine than they had been when he started the story.
“What are you doing?”
The sudden sound of a third voice jolted us both out of the trance we had been in, both of us spinning to face the owner of the voice, which was none other than Astrid, her arms crossed over her chest.
“We were just having a chat.” Leif beamed, confidence lacing his voice in a way I could only dream of.
“You know the rules.” Her voice was firm enough that I had already pulled my feet from the water, not bothering to dry them before slipping on my socks and the boots I had been issued upon my arrival here. Leif didn’t have any of the same urgency; his feet still dangling beneath the water.
I was halfway to Astrid before either of them spoke again.
“Viscount Adis doesn’t own me.” The words were Leif’s.
“That’s debatable,” Astrid shot back.
I rushed through the exterior door, the dark interior of the compound swallowing the rest of their conversation.
CHAPTER 12
It was midnight by the time the sleeping draft had Markos asleep at our door. Without speaking, we both pulled on our soldier jackets over our undershirts, which were starting to look more brown than white. We took turns washing them and hanging them to dry at night, but with only one set each, and no soap, there was only so much Collum and I could do.
We made our way down the hallway, careful to step over the sleeping guards that appeared every few feet.
It had been three days since my conversation with Leif, and I didn’t know why, but I hadn’t disclosed what I had learned with Collum. I had thought about it, thought about questioning her regarding why she hadn’t told me. But just like with the black book still hidden in my cell, something told me not to. Something told me that what had happened between Leif and I was private and to be kept secret.
Though it was apparent Astrid already knew.
The kitchen was already full when we arrived, and I gazed around, searching for Astrid, who wasn’t present—something that immediately set off a warning in my mind. But like everything else I had started keeping to myself, I kept this too.
Leif was there though, leaning against the wall on the other side of the room, his arms crossed lazily over his chest. Though the light was dim, I could still spot the glimmer in his light blue irises as he glanced my way. Nerves buzzing, I took the same place I had during the last reading, leaning against the back wall, expecting he would come to talk to me. But he didn’t. In fact, he kept his gaze pointedly away from mine.
My heart slumped.
“Welcome, everyone, to another reading,” Collum said at the front of the room. She made quick introductions, then started talking about her coven. I let her words become background noise as I took in her posture and the way her gold-rimmed eyes lit up as she talked about herself and her coven. Something panged in my chest.
“Hi.”
I jolted my head to the side so fast I nearly bumped noses with Leif, who was now standing next to me. My eyes widened.
“Sorry,” he whispered. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
I fought to turn my gaze to the front of the room, to ensure Collum wasn’t upset that we were talking again.
“Here.”
Before I could ask what he meant, his large, warm hand encircled mine and he pulled me through a door on the back wall.
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, as it was much darker in here than in the kitchen, and when they did, I took notice of all the bags of grains and dried vegetables. Combine that with the strings of onions and herbs hanging from the ceiling, and I knew this had to be some sort of food storage room. My shoulders relaxed.
“That’s better.” His voice was a bit louder as he nudged the door closed, leaving a crack so a small bit of light could filter in. “I don’t want your cousin getting upset again.”
