“What do you mean?” He came in further, acting as though he didn’t care about the conversation.
“You know exactly what I mean. She confides in you, so you’ll know what’s bothering her.”
He went to the fridge, opened it, then frowned. “Did you really have to eat thelastone?”
Kenyon held it up. “There’s half left. You want to finish it?”
“No, thank you. The last thing I want is to risk contracting anything you all might have.”
I respected his sharp tongue, though his barb didn’t land. It took a lot more than that to get under my skin, especially when we had something serious to discuss.
“We’re not leaving,” I said.
“Why would I ever betray Yun by telling you all anything? You’re thecauseof all this.”
Thathad me sitting up straighter.
“Are you saying something’s happening to her because of us?” Kenyon asked around a mouthful of yogurt.
Kaidan focused on Ingram. “I warned you that you’d end up hurting her, that she’d destroy herself for you. I told you that was going to happen.”
“Don’t fucking blabber bullshit and just tell us,” Ingram snapped. “We’re fuckingherebecause we want to help, because we want to do something about it. So stop wasting our time and get to the god damned point already.”
Kaidan crossed his arms, finally appearing bothered by us. He turned his gaze to Shear. “Mr. Yorn.”
I didn’t know the name personally, but the immediate mental chill that rushed through the room said Shear did.
Shear rose as though to leave, but I grabbed his arm. “Sit down.” I pointed at Kaidan. “And you, get to the point.”
Kaidan pinched the bridge of his nose, his shoulders sinking in defeat. “You knew that once the Guild found out about her powers they weren’t going to just let it go.”
“They can’t break the contract.”
“No, but they can worm around it. They brought Mr. Yorn in.”
“And who the fuck is that?” Ingram asked.
“He runs Obsidian,” Shear whispered.
Which explained Shear’s reaction. Even I didn’t know much about Obsidian, never asked Shear about it, but his reaction told me enough.
“So he’s been sniffing around her?” Ingram palmed a dagger, rolling it around in his grasp, a sure sign he wanted to deal with the problem himself.
“Not sniffing around, no. He’s been experimenting and testing on her.”
“What?” I asked, sitting up straight. Rarely did something take me by complete surprise, but that sure as fuck did. “Not possible.”
“You know, of all the things I dislike about espers, I think the arrogance gets me the most. How can you say that isn’t possible? Are you with her every moment?”
“No, but—”
“But what? You’re certain that she’d tell you? You’re certain no one would ever get one over on you?” Censure filled his tone, as though he wanted to make damn sure we felt as small as he viewed us.
However, despite my immediate rejection, I hated that he might have been right. She had been away from us, doing training with other guides. I’d thought that we’d know, but would we have?
I wasn’t as sure as I wanted to be.
“How long?” Kenyon asked, instead of fighting the idea. Then again, he’d always been the best at changing his mind. Maybe he wasn’t as stupid as we said…
