on them, too, if they muttered a sigh or dared to glance my way. Mom scowled at me, her disappointment clear in her stormy eyes.
“You don’t believe me either.” It wasn’t a question. Her expression said it all.
“I feel the truth you heard what you did, but I believe what you heard doesn’t mean what you think it does.”
I returned her scowl. “A convoluted way to say you don’t believe me.”
“Alexis,” she said, “you are an Amadis daughter. You have—”
“Really? You’re going to lecture me about responsibilities now? I did what you asked me to do, even when I didn’t want to, and for no reason. I don’t want to hear about responsibilities.” I glared at her, but she had no response. “Just go. Please. I need to be alone.”
She pressed her lips together, then nodded before slipping out the door. Owen followed her without a word.
As soon as they left the suite, I noticed a considerable difference in my head. It was like pulling a cotton ball out of my ear, but more like a big handful of it out of my head—my mind immediately felt lighter and more open. Although I’d had this telepathic gift for less than a week, for most of that time I’d been with only Tristan and sometimes Owen. I realized now how used to them I’d become—I could easily tune their thoughts out without having to think about it at all. When there were others nearby, that one part of my brain had to work harder to hold my mental wall up. And when there were several people or a crowd, it took immense effort, especially when under stress, such as at the council meeting.
If I wanted a clear head, I’d have to spend the rest of my life with Tristan and Dorian and forget the rest of the world. An attractive idea at the moment.
Tristan opened his arms to me, and I rushed into them. He held me tightly, his muscles hard underneath my body. I leaned my chin on his shoulder, and he stroked my hair as we held each other in silence.
“They’ll come around,” he finally said. “They just need to get used to the idea of there being a traitor. It must be difficult for them to wrap their heads around it.”
“I can see that with Owen. He has such a strong belief in the Amadis. But my mom? She’s never trusted the council, but now she’s defending them.”
“I’m not so sure about that. I think she might already believe you. I imagine she’s trying to be more objective, though, now that she’s taking her place as second.”
I supposed that sounded reasonable. Mom took her responsibilities seriously, especially to the Amadis. After all, she kept secrets from me my entire life because of her loyalty to the Amadis, regardless of how much she did or didn’t trust them.
I pulled away to see Tristan’s face. “So you believe me?”
“Of course.”
“Because you really do or because you’re supporting your wife?”
He rolled his eyes. “Rina asked you to listen for a reason. We already knew betrayal was a strong possibility—we just didn’t know who or how. There’s no reason for me not to believe you. I hope there’s more to it, but I trust you.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“You work with Rina, learn better control, and try listening again.”
With a sigh, I pulled away and walked over to the balcony, noting how things changed so quickly since standing in the same place only a few hours ago.
“So you think I’ll ‘hear’ better—differently—if I have better control. You really don’t believe me, do you?”
Tristan came up behind me, and his arms encircled me. His breath fluttered my hair.
“Of course I do, my love, but if you can listen again, maybe you can find out more. Something we can use to convince Rina—”
“She’ll never believe me, Tristan. Not when she doesn’t want to hear it. And I don’t think I can stand to be in the same room with her.”
“But if you don’t master your power, we may never know the truth. Even if Rina doesn’t want to believe you, we can find out on our own if we have more information.”
“You mean, go searching for this girl?”
“If she exists, definitely. If we have a daughter out there, we will find her.”
I leaned against him, suddenly feeling exhausted, the strain of the last several days, the lack of sleep, and last night’s tossing-and-turning catching up with me. I had no energy to