Page 71 of Honour Bound
I tilted up my chin. ‘No.’
Kirsty’s legs seemed to give way; if Byron hadn’t been holding her, she’d have sunk down to the ground. ‘It’s gone,’ she whispered.
Byron frowned. ‘What’s gone?’
A trickle of dread ran down my spine.
‘The girl is hysterical. Leave her be,’ Tipsania interrupted.
‘My Gift,’ Kirsty whispered. ‘It’s completely vanished. I can’t feel it any more.’ She raised her eyes to mine. ‘What did you do to me?’
‘She couldn’t have done anything,’ Byron said. ‘Your Gift won’t have gone anywhere.’ Something dark crossed his face. ‘It’ll just be the stress or something.’
Or something indeed. Had I really taken it all from her? I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek.
‘It’s gone,’ Kirsty repeated. ‘It’s really gone.’ And then she smiled.
I did a double-take. She was happy?
‘I can’t believe it,’ she said, shaking her head in awed disbelief.
Byron’s expression turned grimmer. ‘What happened?’ he asked me. ‘Why are you two together?’
I drew in a breath. ‘She was waiting in the trees for me. She tried to attack me then she, er, collapsed.’ It was sort of what had happened, I’d just omitted a few significant details.
‘I wanted answers,’ Kirsty mumbled. She was still beaming from ear to ear.
‘Are you sure your Gift has disappeared?’ I asked cautiously.
She nodded. ‘I think so.’ She pulled away from Byron and twirled round in the snow. ‘This is fantastic!’
‘You don’t seem upset.’
Kirsty continued to dance. ‘Do you have any idea how tiring it is to know when people are lying?’ she said in between spins. ‘It’s a shitty Gift.’
Tipsania folded her arms. ‘Whatever do you mean?’
‘When my mother told me she didn’t have a favourite child, I knew she was lying. When my fiancé told me he loved me, I knew he was lying. Ignorance is bliss.’ Kirsty looked at Byron. ‘Do you remember the Christmas ball? When you told me I looked pretty?’ Her mouth flattened. ‘I knew you were lying.’
Byron winced. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘It’s not your fault. You were just trying to be nice. And Iwaswearing a rather garish form of pink.’ I frowned. Garish pink was the best kind.
Kirsty didn’t pay any attention to me as she gazed meaningfully at Byron. ‘That’s the trouble with my Gift. I can tell when someone’s lying but I don’t know the reason behind the lie. And sometimes people don’t tell the truth because the truth hurts. People lie for all sorts of reasons. It’s not necessarily a bad thing.’
I pondered over Kirsty’s words. I could see what she meant. If she was going to be so thrilled at losing her Gift, I wasn’t going to feel any guilt about using it.
Kirsty turned to Tipsania. ‘Lie to me,’ she begged. ‘Say anything you like as long as it’s untrue.’ Tipsania looked at her like she was insane.
‘Go ahead, Tipsy,’ Byron murmured.
She sighed dramatically. ‘I have blue skin.’
Something deep within my veins buzzed. Lie. Duh. As I tried to absorb what I’d experienced, Kirsty gave a peal of laughter. ‘Brilliant! I felt nothing!’ She reached over and hugged Tipsania who stiffened, her arms remaining rigid by her sides. Kirsty tossed her hair. ‘I’m out of here, losers!’ She turned on her heel and marched away, a bounce to her step.
‘Er … Kirsty?’ I called. ‘Where are you going?’
‘There were only two reasons I had to compete,’ she replied over her shoulder. ‘One was to try and win so I could ask the Chieftains to put money into research for ways to stop our Gifts. But I was too far behind so it wasn’t going to happen. And it doesn’t matter because I don’t need to win any more to stop my Gift.’
