Page 69 of Of Daggers and Deceit

I didn’t know, and my father’s gift didn’t come with an instruction manual or warning label.

I was screwed.

Deep breath, Raya. Get yourself under control. It’s just another gift.

I closed my eyes and focused in exactly the same way I would my gift, narrowing my attention to the feel of the gold against my skin. I gritted my teeth. In the quiet, I noted how cold it was, how it warred against the heat radiating from my skin. I noticed its weight and texture, light and smooth.

But there was something else I felt from it. It was so soft, I would never notice it in my day to day. But here, in the quiet, I felt it: the gentlest of vibrations against my skin, which strengthened the longer I focused on it.

My skin itched against it, my focus tightening on that buzz as I searched within me for that ember of my own power, determined to find whatever foreign power controlled the cuffs.

I pursed my lips in concentration, my skin beading with sweat. I could almost feel something flickering inside me, that hum that matched the cuff’s vibration, tiny and muted as it brushed up against the power of my own gift.

I gasped and felt the gold move like liquid running along my skin. But I didn’t budge, my eyes closed, my focus locked on that small, dull ember of something foreign nestled in amongst the power of my familiar gift.

But then, it snuffed out.

Just as I felt like I was getting somewhere, my eyes flew open, annoyed.

The daggers were, thankfully, no more. It was only my wrists adorned with those ornate cuffs. I huffed. Whatever I’d been close to grabbing onto was lost—for now.

My experiment wasn’t wasted, though. To some degree, it was a power of its own, which, even to a small effect, must respond to my emotions, given both this instance and last night’s. So, for now, I would treat it exactly like my own power.

Control my emotions to control it.

It was the only solution I could come up with.

“Raya?”

I blinked at myself in the mirror, trying to orient back to the room at the sound of Apple’s smooth voice.

“Raya? Bodhi’s waiting out the front with Hayden. They finished their training session early. We’ve got the rest of the day off to stay with family today,” she called again when I didn’t respond.

Shit. I’d lost track of time.

“Coming!” I yelled back. I ran to throw on some spare clothes they kept here for each of us before opening the door to a surprised Apple.

“Damn, girl, you can move quick when you want to!”

I managed to laugh, mirroring the brilliant smile she cast me. She pivoted and held out the crook of her elbow, which I gladly took.

“Those are so cool,” she commented as her hand swerved to touch the cuffs on my wrist. My other hand reflexively snatched hers, stopping her from venturing further. Shit.

She shot me a strange look, and I fumbled, “Ughhh, thanks. Family heirloom.”

She smiled again and nodded her head before turning ahead, the beads on her braids clanking together. Her hair was always so irritatingly perfect. Mine was as messy as it always was.

We walked in silence until a bubbling urge to ask her about her experience with the electricity last night began to override my mum’s usual warning.

“Are we going to talk about what happened last night?” I asked quietly, unsurely.

The shift in her expression from warm to something firmer disclosed far more than the words that followed.

“We are all mourning the loss of the Omegas last night. It was one of the worst nights we have ever had on the defence.”

“It was,” I confirmed. In so many ways she will never know. I didn’t miss her careful dodging of what happened to us as defence, about why we lost so many Omegas, but I was curious, and Apple was being far more controlled. You never knew who could be listening in on your conversation.

We turned, her grip tightening on mine as she entered the code to open the door to the stairwell. Up and up, we rose, the only sound between us the scuff of our shoes, our quiet breaths, and the clink of beads.

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