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I open my mouth to argue, but he puts up a hand to stay my words.
‘Enough, Grey, please. I know you and Dane think I’m callow in some ways, but?—’
‘We don’t think you’re callow,’ I mutter.
He sighs. ‘Yes, you do. But it doesn’t matter. I need to tell you something.’
The serious timbre of his voice has me shifting in my seat. ‘What is it?’
‘I wasn’t sure at first, but it’s my skill. It’s getting?—’
‘Stronger?’ I interrupt in a whisper.
He looks taken aback. ‘Yes. I never told Varrik or anyone, but I used to be able to get ideas sometimes. Ideas that weren’t mine. I never said anything because it didn’t always work, and I ...’ He looks down. ‘I didn’t want him to be disappointed when it didn’t, I suppose.’
I stare at him, trying to understand what he means, but the more he says, the more confused I become. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘I hear others’ thoughts,’ he says. ‘Not always, but sometimes. The point is, if someone lies to me, I know it.’
‘But your skill was always invisibility,’ I say inanely.
He nods. ‘Yes, but even in that, I only went transparent. I could still be seen unless I was in the shadows. But that’s got stronger, too. I can’t be seen at all now, Grey. Not if I don’t want to be, not even in the full daytime. You’ve finally found your beast. Dane’s magick is … fucking terrifying to behold. Why do you think we’ve all suddenly got much more power in our skills than we did before?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘We were never at high levels. We were mediocre at best. And our strengths were nothing compared with the likes of Fiana, Vern, and Rikoth. I think we’d surpass them now.’ He takes another sip of his drink, and his eyes practically drill holes into mine. ‘At home, we’d have a place at the high table if we showed Varrik what we can do … If we did.’
‘Why would we not?’ I ask.
He’s silent.
‘We should get back to the room,’ I say. ‘Dane wants us in the council chambers tomorrow. He thinks Reyn is planning something. He wants you to practice with her.’
‘Fine, but I do it on my terms, and neither of you interfere. And a pox on you both if you’ve told her lies about me that make her unwilling to let me play with her.’
‘We haven’t told her lies. We’ve just … made her aware of the way your mind works.’
‘Fuck’s sake, Grey. Tell her I’ll gut her if she turns her back on me, why don’t you?’ He snorts. ‘Luckily, I laid the groundwork with her years ago when I was actually the callow youth you accuse me of being now. I doubt there’s much you can say that would turn her against me, to be honest.’
I don’t like what his gloating implies. Is this part of his plan to break her? We told him he couldn’t make the Harbinger care for him, but what if he can make the human? I take a long drink, trying to work out why I care if he treats her badly.
But I do.
‘Be careful in your games with her,’ I say carefully, trying to gauge his reaction. ‘I know what she is, but she’s not as strong as you think.’
Kallum downs the rest of his pint and slams the tankard hard on the table, but when he speaks, he doesn’t sound angry. ‘I’m not going to hurt her,’ he says quietly. ‘I’d never have hurt her. Not really. Not even for that wager we made.’
I roll my eyes even as I feel an inordinate sense of relief wash over me. ‘What about that demon you sold her to?’
‘I told you. I saved her from him!’ he exclaims.
‘What about the … whipping in the forest? She could hardly sit down, Kallum.’
He lets out a breath. ‘I know it sounds like a lie, but she needed it … She will again.’
I shake my head. ‘What do you mean, she needed it? Females don’t just seek out pain, you know.’
‘Well, she does, or at least, she did that day in the forest.’ He grimaces. ‘I’m not going to do it again until she asks, but she will ask, Grey. She’ll beg me. Soon. She’s not what we thought, and,’ he looks around as if he’s afraid Dane is going to jump out of the woodwork. ‘I don’t know if we should be taking her back to Varrik,’ he says so quietly that I almost don’t hear him.
