Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
I paste on a polite smile. “None taken.”
“Do you need more?” Misha asks me. “For whatever it is you want to show me?”
I shake my head. “No, that will do.”
“Thank you, Blake,” he tells her. “I will see you soon.”
“Don’t be a stranger,” she says. She nods at me, lowering her gaze. “Pleasure to meet you, Princess.”
“You too,” I say, and then Misha’s leading me away from her and to a quiet corner of the library.
He gestures to an upholstered chair, and I take a seat, watching as he pours a cup of coffee. He hands the steaming cup to me without adding so much as a splash of cream or a teaspoon of sugar. “So?” he asks, lowering himself into the chair across from me.
I cradle the cup in my hands and silently curse Jasalyn for what she described as an unhealthy obsession with coffee. I hate the stuff, but obviously Misha’s going to expect me to drink this. I take a sip, schooling my expression when the bitter liquid hits my tongue. “I’m surprised you allow coffee around all these books.”
He arches a brow. “They’re spelled. Protected from anything so trivial as a spill.”
“Oh. How . . . convenient.” I might have magic, but I spent the first sixteen years of my life in Elora where my kind of magic could’ve gotten me killed, so aside from shielding and learning how to use my skills as an Echo, I only used enough magic to make sure I knew how. The only place in Elora where magic is abundant enough to do things like spell a whole library is the Eloran Palace, and I’ve spent my entire life avoiding that place.
“You’re stalling,” Misha says, leaning back in his chair.
“Well, I’m not sure what I can share is helpful since anyone could see you two have a friendly relationship and respect each other.”
“You’re telling me you can pick up on the kind of relationship two people have?”
I set my cup down on the small glass side table. “I guess. If they’re in the same room and interact in any way, I can sense how they feel for each other. I didn’t think it was magic at first, just growing up and being more aware of the people around me.”
Misha leans forward, hands on his knees. “But you think it’s magic now. Otherwise you wouldn’t have brought it up. You just don’t want it to be magic.”
I blow out a breath. I realized my gift wasn’t just about observation the time a man came to my mother’s house from the Eloran Palace and I knew she loathed him, despite the fact that everything she said and did was welcoming and kind. “Sometimes I feel like I know more than I should.”
“Like an empath,” he says.
I shake my head. “If I were an empath, wouldn’t I know what you are feeling right now?”
“Not necessarily. Empathic gifts come in many forms.”
He’s right, and I know that, but Jasalyn wouldn’t. Or if she did, she’d likely deny connecting her own gift to a known kind of magic. In truth, my gift is an empathic magic, but not one most are familiar with.
“Tell me what else you got out of that interaction with Blake. What else did you learn?”
“She respects you, as a king and a male.” I clear my throat. “And sometimes she thinks you two might be friends, but she doesn’t know what to do with that, given that she’s just a scholar and you are her king.”
“Fascinating.” He props his ankle on the opposite knee. “What else? Give me something impressive, Jas.”
I worry my lip between my teeth. “The worst thing about sensing the things I do is that it feels intrusive.” The same is true for being an Echo in general. When I think of how the shadow queen would feel if she knew she’d spilled her fears and love to someone pretending to be her sister, my gut twists with guilt. “Those emotions aren’t mine.”
“But they can be helpful to know. And when they aren’t, you can block them. I can teach you how.”
I bite back a smile. Misha is incredibly skilled at mental magic and blocking, but my life has depended on my ability to block even the most gifted faerie from a young age. I could probably teach him a thing or two. “I suppose it can be helpful.”
“Tell me what you just learned about me—what it is you feel guilty knowing.”
I meet his eyes and hold his gaze. When he and the former queen first dissolved their marriage, the queen spoke freely about their decision, citing kings from Wild Fae history who had taken on second or even third wives when the first was unable to give them children. She was choosing to step down and make way for a new queen who might succeed in giving the king an heir. While the kings she spoke of had only dissolved their marriages once they found their new wife and Misha hasn’t yet, the court seemed to accept this explanation. But now I wonder if it was truly about the child alone. Misha wants a family. He wants love.