She interrupted my whirling thoughts with a sigh. "I shouldn't say that. Not like you exactly. But I am special. I can sense magic without the use of a gauntlet. And I can sense that you have a ton of it."
I swallowed hard, again not sure what to say. If she could sense it, there was no point in denying it, but I was also not entirely sure that I wanted to agree with her so readily.
She could sense magic without a gauntlet, and I could wield it without a gauntlet. What a powerful duo we could make.
"I’m Collie," I said carefully.
Throughout our conversation, our voices had lowered without me even realizing it. If there guards stood outside the door, then no matter how quietly we talked, there was nothing we could do to prevent them from listening in on what we were saying, but that didn't mean we had to make it easy for them.Besides, giving her my name was the least I could do if we were going to build any sort of trust with one another.
She seemed like someone who could help me escape. Even Legacy, who wasn’t overly cruel, was my enemy. She would not help me escape, but this girl might.
If I took her with me.
My mind finally made the connection to why she was here. Not because she was a prisoner, but because of what she could do. They wanted to know whatIcould do as well.
"You're here to see if I have magic," I said. "To see if I would be useful to them the way you are."
She flinched, and I realized belatedly that what I'd said could be construed as cruel.
"I didn't mean that unkindly,” I said. “Was only thinking out loud. You have to do what you must in order to survive. No one can blame you for that."
Not even me, as much as I wanted to. If they learned that I had magic, even without my gauntlets, this would go very poorly for me indeed. There was not one situation I could think of that didn't involve pain, death, or both, and lots of it.
If they tried to turn me to their side, they would want me to prove myself, and I was not about to kill any of my compatriots to save my own skin. Or they would decide that I was too dangerous to live, which meant I would die.
“I’ve already told them,” Varna muttered, her cheeks flushed, and I choked on what was left of my spit.
Her shoulders hunched, as if she were trying to hide within herself.
“Pardon?” I asked.
“The red-haired one, Legacy. She can tell if you’re lying if she touches you. I didn’t want to lie to her.” Her voice softened with something like fear, and I nodded slowly.
Of course she wouldn’t want to risk lying to Legacy and risk her own life.
“How long have you known?” I asked.
Varna shrugged, gesturing to the wall next to us. The wall with the small hole in it.
“Since the moment you were brought here. They always bring new prisoners to the cells next to me so that I can tell them if there’s anything useful about them. Magical or otherwise. I was able to sense you when you were still unconscious when they were dragging you in.”
I wanted to point out that I had been at least partially conscious when they were dragging me in, but now was not the time.
Varna seemed eager to talk, and I was more than happy to listen. Not just because I was learning something useful from her, but also because she seemed desperate for the company, and I hadn’t had much good company these last few days either. Perhaps we both had something to gain from this conversation, beyond just the sharing of information between two prisoners.
And exchange information we did.
We talked for hours about anything and everything we could think of, anything that might be useful to one another. The whole time we kept our voices low just in case anyone happened to be listening to our conversation. I highly doubted that anything we spoke about would be useful to those holding us captive, but I wasn't about to take that chance.
Finally, I couldn't stand the suspense any longer. Varna seemed to know more than I did about this place, perhaps because she had been here longer. Although the more suspicious part of me whispered that perhaps there was more to it. I had hung around Ehuna long enough to grow suspicious, something I couldn't shake even now.
Whatever the reason that Varna knew more about this place than I did, I would take advantage of it.
"Does Legacy have to kiss someone to tell whether or not they're telling the truth?" I cringed, immediately regretting asking that question.
Varna cocked a dark brow and frowned, coiling her chains loosely around her hands in what looked to be a nervous tic. "No. Perhaps it helps, but she's never felt the need to do that with me."
I guessed I was just lucky, then.
