Page 58 of Kingdom of Chaos
Talon’s eyes narrow, his expression hardening as he shifts closer. “Each of the members shared their power with me,” he says, his voice low but firm. “I’m the only living person in the Society who knows exactly what powers every one of them possesses.” He holds my gaze, unflinching. “And I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that Imogen doesn’t have shadow magic.”
“So maybe you used it without realizing?” I’m grasping at straws, because nothing seems to be adding up.
Talon flinches and I frown, not understanding that reaction. He heaves a sigh and there’s meaning there I can’t even start to interpret.
He gazes skyward, clearly warring with himself about something. I wish he would just make up his mind, because it’s hot and sticky out here, and frankly, I want to go back to sleep.
“I don’t have all my magic anymore,” Talon finally says, and I feel the blood drain from my face.
“That’s not funny.”
“I’m not trying to be. Ever since that last trial—” He shakes his head. “I’ve started to lose some of the powers I received through Shadow Striker. Shadow magic was the first one to go.”
I’m stunned into silence, my mind drifting back to the conversation I overheard between Imogen and Talon at Grimspire. The chilling glare he gave his cousin when she brought up his powers.
Now it made sense.
Emotion flickers across Talon’s face, just for a heartbeat, a flash of uncertainty, raw and unguarded. He looks lost. But then, just as quickly, a shield drops back into place and he’s unreadable again. He didn’t mean for me to see that crack in his armor.
I don’t call attention to it. He deserves that much. And honestly, with everything he’s been through, losing Shadow Striker, his family, and now his powers, it’s no wonder he feels unmoored.
I feel myself softening toward him, and that scares me more than I want to admit. Because part of me knows that if I open the door to Talon, even a little, I may never be able to close it again. And there’s no space in my heart for him when Becks is still there.
At least that’s the line I repeat in my head while I force myself to keep my guard up.
I look at Talon, unsure what to say. I can’t explain what happened in the swamp, but that doesn’t mean I suddenly have magic.
“I think you’re doing it by accident,” he says. “Like, out of instinct when yourself or others are threatened.”
“Talon—”
“I’m sure about this, Locklyn. I saw you do it in the training gym, and when I walked in on you and Imogen. And then again when we were driving. All those instances were you.”
I want to argue, but his argument settles over me like a weight I don’t know how to carry. I remember another instance he doesn’t even know about: what happened with Drake in his library, and the calculated gleam in the powerful dragon shifter’s eye afterward.
I shoved that moment deep into the recesses of my mind, chalking it up to exhaustion and stress. But when I let myself really think about it, I can still see the way the shadows in the room pulsed. And worse, I can stillfeelit. Just for a heartbeat, I was sure I was controlling them.
“I think when you bonded with Shadow Striker and it didn’t finish transferring completely, it somehow linked the two of us. Tethered us together, magically. Somehow my magic is transferring to you, and it probably won’t stop with just shadow magic.” Talon takes a step closer, his voice becoming soothing. “I know this is a lot, but we need to find out what else you can do. You need to be trained so you can protect yourself.”
My instinct is to deny it. To shove the truth away like I’ve done before. But this time, the wall I’ve built inside me doesn’t rise. A small, terrified part of me already knows he’s right.
My breathing turns shallow as I look up into Talon’s eyes. It’s hard to wrap my head around what he’s saying. I’ve finally made peace with the fact that I’ll never have powers. I’ll never wield magic. I’m human, and that means limits. Boundaries I can’t cross.
And now this.
I don’t know how I’m supposed to react. What I’m supposed to feel.
“Locklyn?” Talon asks, his voice surprisingly gentle.
I meet his gaze and find an emotion I don’t expect.Understanding. I’m not sure how this could possibly be a situation he relates to, but there’s a softness in his eyes that isn’t usually there. It steadies me.
“You’ve got this,” he says, and there’s so much quiet conviction in his voice, I almost believe it too.
I take a deep breath. The last couple of months have been a whirlwind. Competing in Chaos and nearly dying, learning my mom and dad aren’t my biological parents, finding out I’m human in a world where that makes me the anomaly.
I’ve uncovered secrets about myself and about entire worlds. So, really, discovering I might have magic shouldn’t be the thing that shakes me.
But somehow it is.
