Page 45 of By the Moonbeam and the Mist
“That’s ridiculous,” I choked out. “You can’t possibly be insinuating that I’m a…”
I couldn’t get that final word out, though. As insane as it was to suggest Steeler was a faerie, as ludicrous as it was to believe that all his fellow pirates were faeries too, it was even worse to think thatIcould ever be one, thatIwould need a power inhibitor. There were no signs, no underlying magical urges—
Because Steeler had been smothering them all along.
Find out what those pills are for, Lexington had ordered me.
Oh, they’re to hide every last trace of an extinct lineage in my blood, I imagined reporting back.
Could I really expect the Good Council’s most ruthless Mind Manipulator to just smile and call it a job well done and leave me alone afterthat?
No. I knew, as if something inside me had snapped the truth into place, that the Good Council wouldn’t take kindly to power they couldn’t control. Wouldn’t take kindly to creatures thatmight grow stronger than them, that might wield the ability to overpower them.
No. This all had to be a mistake. Maybe Steeler had targeted the wrong victim, fed me pills that didn’t actually doanythingto me because there was no faerie blood in my veins to begin with. The memory of Lexington forcing my hands to ram themselves against my own throat… he would do so, so much worse, I knew, if he found out I wasn’t even fully human, and—
Across from me, Steeler’s eyes suddenly flew wide open. His hands whipped out from behind his back, rolling into fists.
“That son of abitch!”
Garvis was up in an instant, followed by Terrin, who cried, “What’s wrong?” just as the twins echoed the same.
“Coen saw a memory of Lexington hurting Rayna through his fractured Mind Manipulating lens,” Garvis explained immediately, panting with the effort it took to hold onto Steeler—to stop him from using his new Walking power, I realized with a jolt. Although… where the hell would he be wanting to whisk away to?
My answer came a moment later when Terrin growled, “Stop, brother. He’s Dyonisia Reeve’s favorite weapon. Killing him now will just kickstart a bigger war you’re not ready to fight yet.” He tugged on Steeler’s arm again. “This is why you wanted to give Rayna a second option, remember? So that she can protect herself from stuff likethat.”
At the sound of my name, Steeler’s shoulders deflated. His cut had ripped open again, and small bulbs of blood welled from the clots.
As much as I didn’t want to feel an ounce of pity for the male who had stalked and kidnapped me, the sight of that blood made the knots in my stomach twist with something like guilt.
Shaking that feeling away, I stood and forced my way through Garvis’s and Terrin’s frames until I was crossing myarms in the space of Steeler’s body heat, the fire casting his form in a flickering orange outline.
Let him think me fearless. Let him think me brave. Anything to get the most important answer out of him.
“Tell me, Steeler. Why did you bring me here?”
His eyes flashed at the use of his surname—with surprise first, then with something that seemed to match the knots in my stomach. But what did he want me to call him? Coco?
“Your mind holds sensitive information…Drey.” I didn’t miss the mocking way he saidmysurname. Nor did I miss how every other emotion seemed to dissolve in his voice in an instant, leaving nothing but those clipped, impassive words. “Our faerie blood is just one secret that could get us all killed. And since I can’t be around you one hundred percent of the time to guard your mind, I’m offering you the ability to guard yourself.”
Far-off thunder rolled through the floor in tiny vibrations. Lightning flashed outside those windows again, ferocious clashes of light and cloud and sea that reminded me how very far away from the Esholian Institute I was now. Only Dazmine would know who I’d marched outside to face, and even she would never be able to guess where Steeler had dragged me to.
But… guard myself? Of all the things Steeler could have kidnapped me for, offering me the ability to guard myself had not been on my list of potential torture techniques I’d have to endure.
“I don’t understand,” I began slowly. I had my knife and Wild Whispering, but how could anyone expect me to protect mymind? From Kitterfol Lexington? I couldn’t even stop Wilder from listening in on my thoughts.
Steeler bared his fangs again, this time in a genuine grin.
“How would you like to become a Mind Manipulator, Drey?”
CHAPTER
16
“That’s not possible.”
It really wasn’t. The Branding activation was random, with each inductee having an equal chance of acquiring any of the five magics when that stamp of bascite met our skin—a phrase that had been drilled into my subconscious since before grade school.
Before Steeler could respond, however, Felicity chippered, “Drinks are ready!” and bounded forward with mugs of steaming peppermint tea: two in each hand, one balanced on her head, and a sixth looped tightly through her tail.
