Page 33 of A Touch of Stars and Stones
“Have you ever gone on a run? Have you ever held a sword or spear? Thrown a punch?”
“Alright, alright. Fair point.” She turns her head.
“Then, there are usually history lessons. About our Orders. About the Triune’s that have come before. And then we practice.”
“Practice what?”
“We see what we can control, influence, or do with our gifts. Both alone and then with others. It’s hard to explain. We spar one-on-one, but when we touch, our powers combine, sometimes to enhance, sometimes to form something completely new. And then we have to work to control that. To put it to use. We’ve started one-to-one, which is easier. But the goal is to find the third person to work with.”
“That sounds…”
“Intense. Challenging. Draining. It is all of those things.” I don’t pretend. She deserves the truth. “Especially at thestart. We’re not even at the first trial.” I leave out frustrating, infuriating, and boring.
“Please tell me that we’re safe in these trials. That we won’t have to…”
“Kill each other? No. But we can hurt each other, I suppose. It depends on what tasks they set us.”
“Let me guess, your father might have a part in that?”
Seems like she doesn’t like him either. “Well, the Warrior trial, yes. There are four trials. One for each Order.”
Another hit of that uneasy feeling settles over me. I risk another glance at her. The moonlight shines down, lighting up her face. She’s not looking at me, though. She’s looking out into the Ember, so I continue with more knowledge I can give her.
“We’re tested to see how we work together. Sometimes, it’s a mental challenge, sometimes physical, to put our learning into practice.”
“Why did you leave so abruptly earlier? In the food hall.”
I tilt my head back up to the sky and think about how to construct that answer.
The truth seems fair. She’s shared with me, so I should share in return. “You had your hands full with the Custodians.” I don’t give it to her, though.
“No. You didn’t like that we touched. You didn’t like what I saw. Is that my gift? To see visions from others?” She lies back in the sand next to me and tilts her head. I can feel the heat of her stare and the weight of that question.
“I don’t know.” I turn to face her, hoping that she knows that to that question, I’m being truthful.
We stay like that, far past what would usually be a comfortable amount of time. Her eyes search mine, but I search hers in return.
The wave of anxiety is replaced by that heat—that pull I feel when she looks at me. At dinner. In the food hall.
It’s addictive. And I like it. And it’s growing into something that I want to be familiar with. Something I want to lean into.
And touch.
Fuck.
eleven
. . .
Ever
Idon’t know if he can hear my heartbeat, but it’s racing.
The world as I know it has been turned upside down and shaken so hard that my mind has come loose, I’m sure of it.
But here. Now. With Ten, it all seems to fade into the background.
His eyes stay anchored to mine, and the warmth in them infuses throughout my body, even though it’s the middle of the night. Or it might be just the way I respond to him. Stars above, he’s handsome. Devastatingly so when he grins at me, setting my pulse flying. Despite my current state of questionable sanity, it’s clear that Aten’s holding back. I might not know much about him, but I can already tell that. He’s got his own secrets to choose to share, and that’s fine. I’m still learning mine.
