She’d felt sick ever since her conversation with Eyden. All the words she had been holding in and all the words she did say that weren’t true... But she knew in the end, none of it should matter. Eyden was a loose end she needed to cut. And so she had. Nevermind the knot in her stomach and the tear in her heart.
“I barely drank anything, but it seems you never stopped,” she replied, eyeing his jacket pocket that now hid his flask.
“What can I say, I like to bring the party everywhere.” Rhay’s cheeky grin didn’t quite reach his eyes. Lora wondered again what his deal was. A party boy who was also one of the king’s advisors and might have had an affair with Karwyn’s fiancée—an interesting, dangerous combination.
Rhay took a step forward and gestured to the black wall next to him. “This is a fire-resistant wall. You can light it up and it won’t spread and burn down the building if you lose control.” The other walls were made of grey stone. One of them held a glass cabinet with different weapons. The wall opposite it held different targets.
“Come on, love,” Rhay continued. “The sooner you get the hang of it, the sooner we can finish this and get a drink.”
There is no way out of this.But Lora had agreed to train, so she had to try. Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the wall. Her hands balled into fists as she imagined the wall in front of her going up in flames. She could feel the power coursing through her veins, burning her up from the inside, but once again, it didn’t want to leave her.
She turned to Rhay. “I can’t do it.”
Wordlessly, Rhay walked closer. He had an intense look in his ocean-blue eyes that almost made her take a step back, but she remained rooted in place. His dark eyebrows drew together as he held Lora’s gaze.
“Well, little Adelway, seems to me you’re not that untrained after all.” He looked at her quizzically. “Karwyn told me your mother didn’t want you to attract any attention, so she forbade you from using your fire. But apparently, she had no issue teaching you how to block mental powers, did she?”
“What?” What did he mean bymentalpowers? An ice-cold feeling took over her body, making her shiver.
“I can’t read you,” Rhay replied as if that explained everything.
“What the hell are you saying?”
“Your emotions. Karwyn must have told you I’m an empath. It’s what makes me such a great teacher. Your power is linked to your emotions. Except your emotions are better hidden than Karwyn’s sense of humour.”
Lora took a step back on instinct.An empath.Bloody hell. What had Karwyn been thinking? How was she supposed to hold up her end of the bargain if Rhay could read her true emotions? Or was that the point? Maybe Rhay was Karwyn’s spy after all.
Rhay studied her closely. “You didn’t know.”
“No. Karwyn and I haven’t had a lot of time to…catch up.”
“Plus, he’s not really chatty, I get it.” Rhay took a seat on a mahogany bench next to the black wall and eyed the spot next to him. Lora sat down. “I know it might go against your instinct, but you need to let down your walls. This will be much easier if you let me in.”
It would certainly not be. Lora settled for a truth and said, “My mother didn’t teach me anything. I wasn’t trying to block you.”
He studied her again, seemingly trying to read her both with and without his powers. “Whichever the case, take a deep breath and relax. Let me read you and I promise I will help you spark that fire.”
What if I don’t want to?If she was honest, it was a relief that she couldn’t get herself to release that fire. Lora squeezed her eyes closed anyway and tried to clear her head. If she felt nothing, there was nothing for him to find.
Rhay let out a frustrated sigh. “By Caelo, you’re not making it easy, love. Did Karwyn ever try to read your thoughts?”
Lora stopped breathing. Her veins burned, like glowing anxiety flowing through her. Karwyn could readminds?How did she ever think she had a chance against him? The weight of hopelessness seemed to drag her back under.
“Open your eyes, Lora,” Rhay said, and then she felt his cool fingers on her chin, tilting her head up. She forced her eyes to open and was met with a look of concern that was either real or Oscar worthy. “I would help you feel better, but somehow, you’re still blocking my powers.”
Running a hand over her face in exhaustion, Lora said, “I didn’t know mental powers were this common.”
“It’s not common, love. We’re special.” This time, his grin seemed very much true. “If I can’t read you, then I’m pretty sure Karwyn can’t either, but I will ask him later. You’re getting more intriguing by the second, little Adelway.”
Lora glared at him. “I’m not intriguing. And I thought I told you not to call me ‘little Adelway.’”
“How about this, I’ll stop calling you that if you tell me what you feel when you try to use your powers.”
She turned away, staring at the ceiling instead. “I hit a wall. I’m not used to embracing them.” It wasn’t a lie. Not completely.
“When was the last time you used them?” Rhay asked.
Lora moved her head, her gaze landing on the weapon cabinet. The bow and arrow reminded her of Elyssa. The sword reminded her of the guards who had captured her at River’s Point. And the almandine dagger…it reminded her of pushing the edge into a living being until blood stained her hands forever and irrevocably. Kelvion, the blood trafficker, had deserved it, but it had made her the executioner in his story. The dagger hadn’t killed him, but her fire must have. What did that say about her?
