in her throat—both with relief and wild fear. He was awake. He was okay.
It was time to talk.
His eyes opened, hooded and drowsy, though they fixed on her. He held her hand pinned to his forehead, before his arm slackened slightly, drawing her palm down the side of his face to rest against his cheek.
“Strange dreams…,” he murmured, voice hoarse.
“Here,” Veronyka said, tugging her arm free to grab hold of the tea. She’d had the presence of mind to have them send a warmer along with the most recent pot. Morra had also sent food—Veronyka had been there all day—but she’d had no appetite.
She held a cup of tea under his nose, and he drew back as soon as the tendrils of steam reached him, causing the towel on his forehead to slip off his face. He jerked his head side to side.
“Not that again,” he said, more alert now, and Veronyka held back a smile. Anyone who’d been the slightest bit ill or tired in the stronghold had been subjected to Morra’s pungent tea. “Water?” he asked hopefully, and Veronyka obliged.
Tristan emptied his cup before handing it back to her and scrubbing a hand across his face. He glanced past her, taking in his darkened room.
“What time is it?”
“After dinner,” Veronyka said, staring at the cup in her hands. Dread was a living thing inside her chest. Tell him tell him tell him.
“What happened?” he muttered, sinking back against his pillows.
Veronyka swallowed. “I… There’s something I need to tell you.”
The tone of her voice made him pause. He tried to sit up straighter, but his body was still boneless with exhaustion.
Veronyka blew out her cheeks, putting the cup on the side table and rubbing her suddenly clammy hands against her thighs. “Have you ever heard of shadow magic?”
His eyes flickered, and he nodded. “Morra has it, I think.”
A small wave of relief swept through Veronyka. This wasn’t going to be easy, but at least he wasn’t among the people who thought it some mythical ability, or worse, a superstitious curse. She didn’t have to convince him it existed, at least.
She only had to convince him to forgive her for lying about it—lying to him. Again.
“Yes, she does,” Veronyka said, sitting forward on her chair. She swallowed thickly. “And so do I.”
He continued to stare at her, his face surprisingly opaque. But just as Morra had promised, his mind reached out of its own accord, seeking her—seeking a foreign presence within its borders. She clenched her jaw and blocked him, but the surge of connection had been bright and powerful as a spark from a flint stone.
She could sense his wariness, his desire to draw himself in, even as his mind did the exact opposite.
“That’s how I was able to trick Morra when I first arrived. How I convinced her I was Nyk, not Veronyka. Nobody knows I have it except for her,” she continued, trying to read his expression again and failing. “And now you. And Val. She has it as well.”
He reacted to that news, a jump of his brows before they furrowed and his attention turned inward.
“That’s why you always felt strange around her,” Veronyka continued. “She was meddling in your mind.”
“She was?” he asked, voice flat. “How do you know that? Were you in there as well?”
“No, of course not! I mean, not on purpose…”
A spasm of anger or hurt flickered across his features, there and then gone, but she had seen it. She had felt it. And there was still more she had to own up to.
“I know she was in there because she was always in my mind too. She and I… we have a connection. A permanent one. It’s sort of like a bond, I think, but without all the good stuff like openness and trust. I never purposely went into your mind—I swear. It just started happening sometimes. The thing is, I have to guard against it constantly, and even then, sometimes it’s not enough.”
Emotion was rising in Veronyka’s throat, constricting her airways. He was pulling away from her. She could feel it through their connection. But she had to plow on, had to tell him everything if she ever had any hope of him trusting her again. She spoke faster, determined to get it all out, no matter how much it hurt to have him look at her the way he was right now… like he was looking at a stranger.
“It’s just like with animal magic. It can get away from