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I let out a quiet breath. "I think..." The words catch. I try again. "I think I've been waiting for the right moment." Nyra doesn't interrupt. "I kept telling myself...one more day. One more clue. One more answer." I laugh bitterly. "There was always another reason." She watches me patiently. Never rushing me. Never filling the silence. She has always been good at that. I turn toward her. "Can I ask you something?" I ask.

"Of course." She nods.

"Do you trust me?"

"With my life." The certainty in her voice almost undoes me.

"I wish you hadn't answered that so quickly."

"I don't."

I lower my eyes. "Because I'm about to tell you something that could change the way you see me."

Nyra's expression softens. "Eirea." She waits until I meet her eyes again. "I've already decided who you are. You'd have to try very hard to change my mind."

Gods. Why is she making this harder? I draw a slow breath. "You know my manifestation."

She nods. "Blood Echo."

"Everyone thinks I can read memories through blood." Another nod. "They're right." I swallow. "They're just...not completely right." Nyra becomes very still. I can almost see her curiosity pressing against her patience. She lets me continue. "I don't just see memories. I..." I search for the right words. "Live them."

Her brows knit together. "What do you mean?"

"If someone remembers fear, I feel it. If they remember grief, I grieve. If they remember twenty years, I can live twenty years."

The room goes completely silent. Nyra blinks once. Then twice. "Eirea..." She starts.

"I know." I stop her.

"No..." She whispers. "I don't think I do."

So I tell her. Everything. Not quickly. Not dramatically. Slowly. Carefully. As though laying pieces of glass across the floor between us. I tell her about Aldric. About the First Trial. About Blood Echo pulling me somewhere impossible. About the missing memory. About Rhyven losing Vyrael for those same impossible seconds. About Professor Neris. The hidden reports. The letters from every kingdom. The Silent Archive. The forgotten journals. The maps. The missing records. The symbol carved beneath Briar's Hollow. The silence in the forest. The old blood. The ward stone. The Council. I tell her about Cassian. About Rhyven. About Caelen. About why we couldn't tell anyone. About why I hated keeping it from her.

By the time I finish the candle has burned almost halfway down. Outside the Academy is asleep. Nyra hasn't interrupted me once. Not once. She simply listened. I look down at my hands. "I know you're probably angry."

"No."

I look up. "What?"

She shakes her head slowly. "I'm not angry." She says.

"You should be."

"Why?"

"Because I lied to you."

"You protected me."

"I kept something enormous from you."

"You kept something dangerous from me." She corrects me.

"That's not better."

"No." She smiles gently. "It's different. I kept asking myself why you looked so tired. Why you kept disappearing. Why Professor Neris suddenly started watching you differently. Why Corvell changed the entire Sky Wing schedule."

My eyes widen. "You noticed?"