Page 97 of Reflections of Peonies
A sense of foreboding filled me. “Or hewas.”
Finn frowned, glaring out over the water. “He still is.” He sounded sullen. “At least until we can test your bond with Kiania.”
He was going to talk about Kiania? My fists tightened over my knees. “What about—”
“Damen is taking everything personally, so he hasn’t thought this through. What this bond has potentiallychanged,” Finn continued. “I’ve been doing research myself over the last few days. You’re a strategist. You always have been. But you’ve never been clairvoyantbefore.”
“What in the world are you talking about?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“‘What should you do if you think you’ll be used in a cannibalistic ritual,’” Finn quoted. “Because of recent events, I’ve started reviewing your past browser history.”
“That isnothow I phrased it!” I couldn’t believe he was bragging about this now. “And it was a real concern!”
“Why?” Finn asked. “What made you think something like that would happen?”
“I had reasons!” I snapped. I didn’t need to explain myself.
My heart was racing as I panicked. What else had I searched? Did he know about my illegally acquired reading material?
Would I go to prison for downloading pirated comic books?
Although the phone was in his name, if justice were served, Finn would be the one to suffer.
“Focus.” He snapped his fingers in my face, and I leaned back. “This is why we’re discussing scrying. If you can see the future, then we need to figure out how. Because right now, it makes no sense.”
“How does it not make sense?” I argued. “I’m always right!”
“Mu is logical.” Finn pointed at me. “However, some of your conclusions do not follow logical thought patterns.”
How dare he. “I’m still right.”
“For example, when Damen said you thought they were monks, and I thought—”
I’d slapped my hand over his mouth, and my face engulfed in fire. “Hetoldyou?”
Finn’s cheeks darkened, and he jerked away from my touch. “I heard them talking about it. He thought it was funny, especially since Tu was a priest. He said—”
“Miles was a priest?” I gasped, covering my own mouth. “But he’s a witch!” How could this be?
“He had also taken a vow chastity at one point in time.” Finn shrugged. “That’s why Damen and Titus were going to use your assumption to annoy him.”
“They’re picking on Miles?” My racing heart began to slow. And, for a moment, it felt like we were back in high school again—gossiping together on the roof of the school.
“And Titus too,” Finn reminded me. “He found out aboutThe Hobbit,and Miles admitted that he suggested you read it.”
“What’s wrong withThe Hobbit?” Was there something I was missing?
“This is exactly why you need to focus,” Finn said. “You’re already going off on a mental tangent. But without learning to harness your abilities, you won’t be able to determine what is part of your power and what you should ignore.”
I frowned. “Brayden said I need to compartmentalize my emotions. I can’t trust what I feel because I don’t know if it’s me. Now you’re saying I can’t believe in what Ithink.”
“No,” Finn answered. “You need to know how to sort your thoughts. To determine which items need to be followed up on.”
“But I research everything,” I pointed out. I was already one step ahead of him.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know.”
“Is that aproblemfor you, Mr. Stalker?” I couldn’t keep the disdain from my voice. Why was he acting as though he was the one inconvenienced here? “No one asked you to sort through my search history.”
