Page 111 of A Dance With Fire
“I am not going to hurt you, Shula Azzarh,” he said, and his voice was deep and smooth. Like if melted chocolate had a sound, it would be what just fell from his lips. The scent of him enveloped her from a distance. Something nauseating, too spicy like sandalwood or hot peppers and something thicker as well.
“What do you want? I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m kind of busy at the moment.”
“Have you ever heard of the mating bond?”
Shula blinked at him. “Weylyn, I don’t think this is—”
“Have you?”
She shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably. “Of course I’ve heard of it.”
He cocked his head to the side and stared at her, the color of his eyes swallowed by the whites. He went immobile, like he was seizing standing up. Shula took a step forward, unsure if she should help him, but then the episode ended.
“Interesting…”
“What’s interesting?”
“The fact that you know nothing. That you can’t even see it yet.”
“What are you—”
But he didn’t reply, because he was already turning and walking away.
Shula held her breath and waited, counting his retreating footsteps until he was gone. Only then did she hurry and dig through her bag, pulling out a fresh change of clothes. Once she was dressed, she hurried back to camp, but there was no sign of Weylyn at all. He’d likely gone patrolling the area, but she couldn’t get their encounter out of her mind.
She sat next to Clay by the roaring campfire.
“Hey, Clay?”
“Hmm?”
“What’s Weylyn’s power?”
He froze. “I don’t think you really want to know.”
She thought back to the way his eyes seemed to roll to the back of his head, his immobility. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen him do that, and since all magic came with a price, she wondered if that was the price of his particular magic.
Whatever that may be.
Clay sighed. “Weylyn can read minds and communicate telepathically with others.”
Shula felt all the blood drain from her face. “What?” she hissed.
Clay nodded. “Why do you think everyone is so wary of him? He knows all our secrets, all our desires, everything. It’s why King Ashera keeps him so close. It’s also why he sent him with us, so Weylyn can report back to the king, mind to mind.”
Shula tried not to let the sliver of fear overtake her, but it was too late. Too many thoughts swirled in her mind. That meant that everything she’d ever thought, Weylyn knew about? He knew her past, her shame?
No wonder the others mistreated him. She would have said he didn’t deserve to be treated like cattle, but if he was openly eavesdropping into everyone’s minds…
“Yeah, exactly,” Clay muttered. “Told you.”
They spent the rest of the night in silence, Clay poking at the fire while Shula contemplated how hard it’d be to block her thoughts out from now on.
“Shula.”
She startled, looking up into Valerio’s eyes. The Seelie Prince worked tightly at his jaw. While Valerio was always so serious, she hadn’t ever seen him look so… grave. His hand held out to her, expectant and patient.
“Come with me.”
