Page 74 of Honour Bound
‘You cheated.’
A lock of bronze hair fell across his forehead. ‘How?’
‘You made my shoelace come undone with your damned Gift.’
‘And?’
I sighed. ‘Whatever. You can get your prize later. Let’s not lose Kirsty again.’
We caught her up quickly enough and trudged along beside her. For a while all that could be heard were our combined breaths. I could tell from the way that Byron kept glancing at Kirsty that he had something to say. She knew it too.
‘Will you stop doing that?’ she said eventually. ‘If you’ve got something to say, say it.’
‘When you lost your Gift,’ he said, ‘how did you feel?’
I could feel my spine stiffening.
‘I passed out. How do you think I felt?’
‘Did it hurt?’
‘No, not exactly. But I could feel it leaving me, like it was ripped away. At the time I didn’t know what it was and I blacked out before I could think about it.’ She considered her next words while I tried not to look guilty. I had a horrible feeling I knew where Byron was going with this and I really wished he wouldn’t but I had to listen. I needed to know exactly what damage I’d done. ‘Have you ever had chewing gum stuck to your clothes? Or your skin?’
‘I guess,’ he said doubtfully.
Kirsty shrugged. ‘Well, it was a bit like having chewing gum peeled away. Uncomfortable but not exactly painful.’
Byron pressed on. ‘And you have no idea what triggered it?’
‘Not a clue.’ She shot me a look. ‘You were there. Did you feel anything?’
I couldn’t meet her eyes. ‘No,’ I murmured, hating myself for the lie.
‘Did you see anything?’ Byron asked me.
I shook my head. ‘Nope.’
Kirsty eyed him, before asking the obvious question. ‘Why?’
He sighed. ‘I’ve felt it too.’
Her eyes went round. ‘You’ve lost your Gift?’
‘I’ve got two,’ he said. ‘And no, they’re both still there but one of them is sort of … less than it was.’
‘When? When did it happen?’
‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘I didn’t feel anything was wrong until the Artistry challenge. As soon as I tried to use it, I knew it was less than what it was.’
I swallowed. So the pause before he’d started playing wasn’t deliberate. I felt like a complete shit. I hadn’t meant to take his Gift, I hadn’t meant to take Kirsty’s either, but there was no denying that I had.
Kirsty absorbed this information, a worried expression on her face. ‘Have others had this happen too?’
Byron shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I didn’t tell anyone about it because I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it.’ He laughed shortly. ‘And I didn’t want anyone to think less of me.’
‘But if it’s happened to the two of us maybe it’s happened to others.’
He gave a grim nod. ‘Exactly. Perhaps they’re not aware of it yet or they think they’re the only ones and are too ashamed to talk about it.’
