I huffed. “You’re very good at that,” I stated, before I thought better of it.
He cocked his head. “Good at what?”
“Not revealing what you’re thinking.”
He grunted, and I wasn’t sure if that meant he was offended or complimented.
I grinned again, not sure what else to do. It was the typical fallback on my part. Smile. Laugh. Find humor. See the positive side. For full seasons, it was how I’d dealt with my problems. Usually, it worked, and no matter how difficult a conundrum was or how awkward a situation appeared, my sheer determination to see the bright side shone through, and those around me began to share in my good nature.
But Kole didn’t even crack a smile, and I had the most ridiculous urge to begin babbling. Unfortunately, that was exactly what I did.
“Are you going to cuff me too and let the kingsfae pick me up?” As soon as I said that, I wanted to smack myself. Kole hadn’t made any further conversation about my illegal use of travel to this area, and while Imperial Council Warriors weren’t known to deal with petty crimes and so forth—the kingsfae had that pleasure—it didn’t mean that he couldn’t if he chose to.
I held my breath, my stomach suddenly heaving. I’d ridden my carpet over the Wood’s canopy after all, even if the distance had been short. But because of that, if Kole chose to enact the law that forbade non-royal fae from flying haphazardly above the tree line, he could have me arrested, and then I wouldn’t be able to hunt the Stone and save my uncle. None ofmy preparation would amount to anything, and all because of my stupid need to?—
“It’s fine,” he replied. “I won’t arrest you or report you.”
“You won’t?”
“Like you said, you were trying to help. In situations like this, I tend to look the other way.”
My heartbeat calmed a little. “Thank you,” I breathed.
“You’re welcome.”
At my feet, one of the males suddenly twitched. Kole glanced downward, a lock of dark hair falling across his forehead. He toed the male, who still showed no signs of regaining consciousness despite his involuntary jerks. “How did your magic do this?”
His question was asked calmly, but it struck me that I’d been so caught up in the past few minutes of speaking with Kole that I’d forgotten to release the would-be murderers from my hold.
I immediately sucked all of my psychic magic back inside me, then slammed my Shield down hard and fast, just as a new fear began to grow. Granted, I hadn’t completely taken control of the would-be murderers’ minds. I hadn’t turned them into catatonic puppets ready to do my bidding, but still...
I avoided the urge to twist my hands together.
“Um... I...” I stalled, trying to figure out what to say because nobody else could do what I could, not that I knew of at least. Sure, plenty of fae in my kingdom had psychic magic. Some even had similar magic to mine that allowed fae tocontrol others with verbal commands. Mistvale was the land of mental powers after all, but the depth of my magic, the utterstrengthof it and how it operated so covertly, with no words being spoken, and the other fairy not even being aware of what I was doing, was entirely unheard of.
Little did Kole know that if I wanted to, at this very instant, I could shred through his Shield, wrap my magic around his mind, and completely overtake his free will. All while just standing docilely in front of him.
Just the tiniest flick of my magic would have this warrior, this feared male of the Imperial Council, be a slave to my bidding. If I’d wanted to, I could have had him killing fae left and right, or had him trailing dutifully after me as my personal bodyguard and companion. I could totally andcompletelyovertake him if I chose to.
And it wasn’t just him that I could do that to. It waseveryone. I had yet to meet anyone whose Shields repelled me. Even scarier, I could overtake dozens of others at once. Perhaps even hundreds at once. Maybe even thousands. I didn’t know because I’d never fully tested it, but my magic felt bottomless.
And that kind of power terrified fae.
Only my aunt and uncle knew that I possessed such strength because power as strong as mine only created terror and doubt in others. And if fae began whispering that I had aspirations to use my magic to control the realm, I could be subjected to potent potions that subdued my strength, dulledmy senses, and essentially turned me into a mindless, drooling imbecile. Just a shell of the fairy that I’d been.
So I hid my magic, never using it to its full capabilities, and truthfully, I had no desire to anyway. I’d never once had aspirations to use my magic to hurt others. Just the thought had my smile wiping clean.
Yet other fae didn’t know that. History had shown that magic as strong as mine had always been viewed as a threat, not an asset.
I swallowed the thickness in my throat and reminded myself that Kole hadn’t seen the extent of what I could do, just a snippet.
The warrior looked at me intently, his gaze as weighted as a mountain. “What did you do with your magic for this to happen?”
I reminded myself that acting insecure would only heighten his interest, so I shrugged nonchalantly. “I stopped their minds from communicating with their limbs.”
“And you must have made their minds sleep too if they fell unconscious like this.”
“Well, yes, that too, I suppose. It all rolls together.”
