Page 263 of Blade of the Nightking

I looked back at him blankly. He rested an arm across his knee, the knife dangling loosely from his fingers.

"I send my magic outward," he explained. "Wherever there’s a mind, I feel it."

I gaped, startled by another side of his magic I'd never imagined.

"How many?"

"Fifty or so."

"Fifty!"

One corner of his mouth twitched, and my heart galloped at the sight.

"Does that impress you, Eidra?"

"How?" I forced my gaze from him, sweeping the reeds fringing the marsh, half-expecting something to emerge from their murky depths. He didn't appear concerned, but I couldn't shake Thalassis's warning that the creatures had a taste for flesh. "How do you have such control over your magic?"

He dragged a forearm across his brow to wipe away the sweat.

"Centuries of practice."

"How did you learn?"

One dark brow lifted. "Are you asking me to tell an Eidra how to master her magic?"

"Yes."

"When this bond is broken, you'll stand against me. Surely you don't expect me to tell you how to fight me."

"Why? Are you afraid?"

His grin spread slowly. "You'll have to do better than that, Eidra."

My eyes found his mouth of their own accord, lingering there a heartbeat too long before I dragged them away.

I scrubbed a hand over my face, trying to gather my thoughts. "I don't know what’s wrong with it."

He set his knife aside but said nothing, waiting patiently.

I sighed. "I can't always touch it. Not every time. It's always... just beyond my grasp. And sometimes it acts on its own." I hesitated. "Like there's another person living inside me."

"There is."

He wasn't mocking me.

"What does that mean?"

"The Eidrae weren't born without emotion by chance. They were created to carry magic—the perfect vessel."

I frowned. "I don't understand."

He leaned forward, forearms resting on his knees, fingers laced.

"Emotion creates hesitation. Fear. Desire. Grief. Love.” His eyes touched mine. “Every feeling shapes the choices you make. The Eidrae had none of that. Nothing to interfere. Nothing for their magic to fight against."

The realization came slowly. "My magic..."

"... found itself inside a body unlike any it’s ever known," he finished. "Someone with thoughts. Wants. A will of her own."