Deadliest of Bonds: (The Blight 2), page 12
“I can read minds,” Ash said. “I’ll be able to figure out the right thing to do or say to make sure the guards are distracted.”
Fyreen choked on her mouthful of bread.
“What?” Leethan exclaimed, eyes wide.
“My magic. It allows me to read minds,” Ash clarified.
When her cough died down, Fyreen didn’t remember how to breathe. Ash could read minds. What exactly did that mean? Was this how he’d known she was the Princess? That they were looking for the Cup?
Everything was starting to make sense now. All those things they knew about them, it was because of Ash’s power.
She shivered. Ash had grabbed information from her mind.
“You messed with our minds?” Fyreen asked, her voice barely a whisper.
“No,” Ash replied in a soft tone. “I only picked up a few thoughts at the top of your heads, I never dug intentionally, I’m not that kind of person.”
“And we’re supposed to just trust you about this?” Leethan countered. “You’ve had unlimited access to our minds while we know nothing about the lot of you.”
Fyreen glanced at Thea who was eerily silent and she understood that Thea already knew. Whether Ash had told her or she’d somehow figured it out, she didn’t know.
“This is a lot to take in,” Ariella breathed.
“I know,” Ash replied, “and I’m telling you so you know you can trust me.” Fyreen frowned. She didn’t see how knowing this was supposed to help her trust him. “I’m not using my magic to look for information you don’t want to give me. I’m being transparent with you about what I can do. So you know I’m serious about helping you.”
“And you’re going to use your power to distract the guards then?” Ruelle said in a hollow voice that made Fyreen glance her way. She was paler than usual, and her heart squeezed in response.
Ash smiled with mischief. “Yes.”
“Do you also have magic?” Fyreen asked, turning to Sil.
Sil swallowed and glanced briefly at Ash who nodded. “I can control the weather,” she admitted.
Fyreen’s breath caught. Sil could control the weather. This was getting better and better. Although she really preferred that to reading minds. Much less intrusive.
“Since we’re on the subject of magic,” Thea intervened. Fyreen looked at her with wide eyes. “I can change into any animal I want. Which is one of the reasons why it’s useful that I get inside the palace. I can infiltrate places more easily and if things go south, it might come in handy.”
Fyreen blinked, surprised that Thea would reveal her power so easily. Her mind was spinning. Was she the only person here who didn’t have magic? Between the twins who were oracles and every other person here who had some special power, she suddenly felt very alone and useless.
Swallowing down her pride, she took a few deep breaths.
“I have healing magic,” Ariella added. “Now that we know what everyone can do, we can make a solid plan using everyone’s abilities.”
Her words didn’t help Fyreen feel better but she had to admit that she was right.
Ash nodded. “We now need a way to get inside once the guards are distracted.”
“And to catch Egene,” Thea added.
“We already have a plan for that,” Zéfan said, pointing at Zéna with his thumb. “Once we find him, Zéna can sneak up behind him while invisible and hit him hard enough to render him unconscious. He will not be able to use his powers that way.”
“And I can keep him in a comatose state with my magic afterward if necessary,” Ariella confirmed.
“And how exactly are we getting inside again?” Thea asked.
“If we arrive on Monday as planned and things haven’t changed, the gates shouldn’t be locked,” Leethan explained. “There are a lot of deliveries to the palace so they usually guard the doors but don’t lock them all the time because they need to open them often. In which case, just a distraction should allow us to slip inside unnoticed.”
“Good,” Ash commented.
“Alright, and the rest of us stay in one of your hideouts?” Ruelle asked Ariella.
“Yes, while Sil and I gather some supplies, Fyreen and you have to stay hidden. We can’t risk anyone recognizing you, especially this close to the palace.
“How do we keep in touch with you?” Fyreen asked. “Know when you’ll get back or if something goes wrong?”
“Leethan can keep me updated,” Ruelle replied. “That way we know if things take an unexpected turn.”
“How?” Zéfan asked, frowning. “How can you communicate?”
Leethan shrugged. “It’s a sibling thing,” he eluded. “But it works.”
Zéfan’s eyes narrowed but he didn’t add anything more.
“I can help too.” Fyreen turned to Sil, frowning. “If Ruelle tells us that you are in trouble, I can make it rain to inform Ash that you might need help.”
Ash nodded in confirmation. “I’ll be ready to intervene.”
“So, let’s do a quick recap,” Ariella suggested. “Tomorrow, once we reach the capital, Thea, Leethan, Zéna, Zéfan, and Ash head to the palace. Once we get there, Ash distracts the guards while the four of you become invisible and slip inside the palace. You find Egene and Kirion, informing the other team of any problems, and if it starts raining, Ash helps. Is that it?”
“When you say it like that, it sounds incredibly simple,” Leethan grumbled.
“It’s not going to be simple,” Thea said, her voice hollow as she tightened her hands on her canteen. “But we have to do it.”
Fyreen shivered, but Thea was right. A million things could go wrong. And yet, they had to do it.
“Let’s get some rest then,” Ariella said, rising to her feet and dusting her pants.
Fyreen sighed heavily and muttered, “Let’s.”
Chapter 17
“Thea?”
Thea groaned and rolled over, lifting her blindfold to see who was waking her up when she felt like she’d finally just managed to fall asleep. “What?” she croaked, her voice hoarse from sleep.
She blinked to see Ash kneeling next to her bedroll, his dark hair cascading dangerously close to her face. His scent invaded her senses and she forced herself to think about fresh bread before her thoughts veered into dangerous territory.
She was glad he’d kept his word of revealing his magic to everyone, and also surprised that her friends hadn’t reacted more strongly to it. But Ash had a way of being persuasive and trust-inspiring—something she really didn’t like in him. Along with the fact that they didn’t really have a choice but to trust him.
“It’s your turn to keep watch,” he whispered.
Thea slumped back down on her bedroll with a sigh, closing her eyes. “I’ll be up in a second.”
Ash retreated, giving her privacy and Thea made quick work of getting out of her blankets and tying Blessing around her waist. She approached him, running a hand through her tangled and probably dirty hair.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Yes, you can go back to bed,” she muttered.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Thea frowned and sighed. She wasn’t awake enough to play one of his games. She arched a brow, waiting for him to explain.
“I won’t sleep, so I could at least make use of my time. I can start teaching you how to block me. I figured I could make this easier for the both of us.”
“How is it going to make things easier for you?” she asked, unconvinced.
“Believe it or not, having you shouting in my head is not what I would call pleasant.”
Thea glared at him. As if it were her fault. “Whatever,” she grumbled. “Teach me then.”
Ash’s soft laugh echoed in the dark and Thea shivered, tugging her cloak around her body. He motioned for her to follow him as they stepped further away from their sleeping friends as to not wake them.
Once they were ready, they sat down on the grass and Thea looked straight at him. “What do I need to know?”
As it turned out, learning how to build a mental wall was far harder than Thea would have expected, which was saying a lot. She had never built a wall in real life, but she couldn’t imagine it being more draining than what Ash and she were doing.
He was patient, a good teacher, although Thea hadn’t doubted his pedagogical skills. But she had never been an assiduous student and patience was not her strong suit. This exercise required both patience and focus that she had trouble keeping up.
“It will be exhausting for me to be around you if I have to keep this shit up all the time,” she complained.
Ash only laughed it off and smiled. “Try again,” he asked gently, the words nothing like an order, but more of a request. After all, he was doing this for both of them.
Thea closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried again. She pictured a wall inside her head, one even higher than the ones surrounding the palace in Citadia. She built no door, no entry anywhere and made sure it surrounded her mind entirely.
“Ready?” Ash asked, and she nodded.
But as soon as Ash’s powers brushed against hers, a cool wave of air and water, her wall crumbled as if it had been made of paper.
She grunted in frustration. “It will never work. I can’t do it.”
Ash shook his head. “You’re expecting too much of yourself. It took me years to master this. You can’t expect to be able to build a solid wall in just a few hours.”
“Years?” she asked, eyes wide. “Years. You’re trying to teach me something that takes years. Just how long do you expect us to stay together?”
“It’s not about me particularly. My power is not unique, other people in the world might have a similar magic, and learning to protect yourself from magical intrusions inside your mind could prove useful no matter where you are.”
Thea gritted her teeth and sighed heavily. He couldn’t be more right, even if she doubted there were many people with magic at all, after the Blight. The fact that there were so many left was surprising enough. But she imagined she could use this to keep Rogan out of her dreams if needed.
Careful not to let that slip away, Thea nodded. Her shoulders were so tense she could barely move them, and her entire body felt heavy. Deciding to work on something as exhausting as this when she was already tired had not been the best idea.
Ash stood. “If it makes you feel better, you’re already really good for the little time we spent training. I don’t think it will take you years.”
Thea sighed. She didn’t know if he was telling her that to be nice, or if he really meant it. Either way, she was sort of relieved.
“How does your magic work?” Ash asked.
Lifting her eyes to his, Thea frowned. “What do you mean?”
Ash shrugged. “I’m just wondering. You can shift in any animal you want, that’s impressive. The rest of us only have one part from one animal to choose from. I’m curious.”
“What’s your twin animal?” Thea asked.
“I asked first.” There was a spark of mischief in his eyes that made her roll her eyes.
“Fine,” she conceded. “If I show you my magic, you show me your twin animal.”
Ash nodded. “Sounds like a fair deal.”
“I should probably stop making deals with you,” she mumbled.
Sighing, Thea let her cloak fall to the ground and grabbed the bottom part of her shirt, turning to the side. She could practically feel his eyes on her and the heat he radiated as he asked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m undressing, what does it look like I’m doing?” Thea lifted her shirt over her head, revealing her stomach to the night air. She still had a band of cloth around her chest, but the rest of her was bare.
“Like you’re undressing,” he confirmed, his voice hard. “What I meant was, why are you undressing?”
“Aren’t you curious…”
“I’m curious about a lot of things right now,” he breathed. She heard him swallow and glanced toward him, smirking as she unhooked Blessing from her waist.
Shimmying out of her pants, Thea shook her head and ignored him. She was about to throw them away when something fell in the grass, catching the moonlight—Ash’s ring. Thea picked it up and rose to meet Ash’s eyes, intending to give it back to him.
Instead, she bit the inside of her cheek not to laugh at the way he stood, fidgeting, his cheeks red and his hands spasming. “Have you never seen a woman naked then?”
Ash’s head cocked slightly and he avoided looking at her as he replied, “I’ve seen plenty, but I’m usually naked as well, or undressing them myself.”
Thea chuckled and stepped out of her pants to hand him his ring. She was only wearing undergarments now, and the cool night wind kissed her hot skin tenderly. “You can undress too if that’s what’s bothering you.”
Ash turned to her, his red eyes burning, and Thea shivered as she stood there, practically naked before him.
Nakedness didn’t bother her. She had to remind herself as Ash looked at her, his eyes trained on her face and his jaw hard as if it took every bit of his strength not to look at every inch of her skin. Not to taste every inch of her skin.
She swallowed. “Here,” she said as she extended the ring further to hide her own messy thoughts.
“If I get naked too, we’ll never make good on our deal.” His voice was low, throaty, hot.
“Then stop stalling,” she insisted, pushing the ring to him again.
“Keep it,” Ash replied when he finally saw what she was trying to give him. “You might need it.”
Thea narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t sure why she would need the ring in the foreseeable future but she didn’t have the heart to refuse him so she put it back in the pocket of her pants. Clearing her throat, she whispered, “Did you really think shifting wouldn’t tear my clothes off?” And then, Thea changed.
She shifted quickly, into her hawk form to be small enough not to tear her clothes, spreading her wings. She beat them to stay at eye level with Ash as he stared at her, jaw hanging low and eyes wide.
“Woah,” she heard him breathe.
Rolling her eyes, Thea shifted into a lioness, the transition as easy as breathing, and was again surprised by how quick and smooth shifting now felt. Ash blinked again and she huffed a scoff, stretching her back. She closed her eyes and nearly purred as she felt her muscles tense and relax all at once.
When she opened her eyes again, Ash was still staring, mesmerized. She shook her head and projected her thoughts voluntarily now. Stop ogling. It’s weird.
“I am weird, Thea,” he replied, his eyes never leaving hers. He took a step closer, his hand extended forward. Thea tensed but he didn’t touch her. Instead, he asked, “Can I…?”
He didn’t have to finish his sentence—and it was probably better that he didn’t since Thea knew very well what he was about to ask. Before he could try again, she shifted into fae form in a heartbeat, crouched on the floor. She grabbed her cloak and wrapped it around herself while Ash took a step back and adverted his eyes.
“I’m not a pet,” she grumbled, annoyed.
She knew that he had wanted to touch her. She didn’t really blame him because her fur did look soft and who wouldn’t dream of petting a lioness. But she wasn’t a real lioness and being stroked by someone was strange.
“Sorry,” Ash said, looking back at her now that she was covered.
Thea arched a brow and sighed. “How about you do good on your promise instead of being annoying?”
Ash cleared his throat and clasped his hands before him. “Alright then.” He tugged his shirt over his head and balled it in his hand, revealing the smooth lines of his chest.
Thea took a step back, trying very hard not to stare at the golden skin on display before her and the muscles that rippled. “I wasn’t talking about that promise.”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he rolled his shoulders and two wings sprung from his back.
Thea gasped and jumped back in surprise as a gust of wind ruffled her hair. Ash stood before her, two black, scaled wings framing his shoulders. Thea had never seen wings like these on any animal she had encountered before. The only wings she could summon were from her arms, not her back.
“Dragon.” The word flew past her lips before she could think too hard on it. Before she could truly make sense of it.
Ash nodded in confirmation.
His twin animal was a dragon. Thea didn’t understand how it was even possible to have an extinct, mythical creature as a twin animal. But there Ash stood, proud, taloned wings protruding from his back.
Thea wanted to ask those questions out loud, but she didn’t. Instead, she looked over his shoulder at the wings that rose there, proud and beautiful.
Slowly, she lifted her hand closer to the scales gleaming under the shivering moonlight. “Can I?” she asked.
Ash nodded, but his jaw was tight. Thea paused. He seemed reluctant for her to touch his wings, which she could understand since she had refused his request of petting her. Before she could ask, he spoke. “It’s just that wings are quite…sensitive. My body might react.”
Thea could have sworn his cheeks reddened as he spoke. But his words only made her want to touch him more. So, smirking, Thea reached out and brushed her fingers over the curve of his left wing. She had expected the scales to be rough to the touch, but they were not. Somehow, it was smooth and soft under her fingers.
Ash hissed low on his breath, the sound sending a shiver up Thea’s spine. Her eyes snapped back to him. He was looking right back at her, his jaw tense, and his pupils so wide that there was barely any red left in his eyes. Her belly tightened at the intensity of that gaze, and she trailed her fingers down his wing, curling her toes in the grass at her feet.
“Beautiful.” The word left her mouth like a promise.
The exhale that flew past Ash’s lips was shaky, as if he was doing his best to hold himself in check, to repress whatever emotions were swirling inside him, making him tremble with restrain.
Thea realized the inner struggle inside him and pulled her hand away, lowering her gaze. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
