Page 16 of Dark Gambit Reliance

She and Emmett had only two options. They could go back to the village, where they would be safe, or stay in Safe Haven and live in constant fear. Except, Kian might not give them the option to stay and force them to move back into the village. If that happened, she would have to convince him to get a new location for the paranormals.

Eleanor had invested too much effort into the program to give it up.

12

SOFIA

"That went well." Sofia entered the back seat of Emmett's fancy sports car and took Cecilia from Eleanor. "You were so good in the doctor's office." She tickled the cat's ear.

"She was." Eleanor sat behind the wheel of the fancy car. "How did I do playing the crazy diva who wants a cardiologist to check her cat's heart?" She eased into the traffic.

Sofia laughed. "You were hilarious. It was so hard not to laugh. I thought that you would thrall them to ignore Cecilia. That's such a nifty talent. I wish I had it."

"I can't thrall, remember? I can only compel."

"Why not? Marcel said that all immortals could thrall to some extent."

"Yeah, but those who transition as adults have a hard time doing it. Thralling needs to be practiced from a young age."

That was a shame. Sofia had hoped she would gain the ability once she transitioned, but apparently, that wasn't going to happen. Still, it wasn't a big deal considering everything else she would gain.

She was one-quarter Kra-ell, so maybe she would gain a slight compulsion ability.

The truth was that Sofia wasn't sure how thralling and compelling were different from each other. Eleanor had been the one who had dictated to the cardiologist what to write in his diagnosis, but Marcel had to thrall him to forget that he'd been told what to do. Then Eleanor compelled the doctor to take the test results of another patient and copy them to Sofia's file, and Marcel had once again thralled him to forget that the results weren't hers. If frequent thralling could potentially cause brain damage, the poor doctor might have suffered some. He'd even printed out everything for her to show her physician in Finland.

"Igor is going to flip when he sees the bill Riley sends him for your medical examination." Eleanor chuckled. "What do you think he will do?"

"I have no clue. Probably ignore it. Did you pay for it?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, it didn't come out of my own pocket. Kian will pay the credit card bill."

"Where to now?" the Guardian asked.

"I'm hungry," Eleanor said. "Can you look online for a place to eat?"

Asher pulled out his phone. "Anything specific that you have in mind?"

"Somewhere pets are allowed."

Cecelia lifted her ears as if she understood what Eleanor had said.

"I think she's hungry." Sofia smoothed her hand over the cat's back. "Should we give her another snack?"

Cecilia's ears twitched, and she tried to leap from Sofia's arms.

Sofia chuckled. "Now I'm sure that she understood what I said."

"Here you go." Marcel handed her a snack.

As the cat settled in her lap and started chewing, Sofia smiled. "I'm growing attached to this girl. I wonder if Anastasia would be willing to part with her."

Eleanor looked at her through the rearview mirror. "Where do you think you'll be taking her?"

"To your village. After I transition, that is."

"Are you sure that you will?" Eleanor asked. "I don't want you to get your hopes up and then get disappointed."

Sofia clasped Marcel's hand. "I strongly believe that I will." For Marcel's sake as much as for her own. "The Fates brought us together for a reason. Perhaps we are supposed to form a bridge between our people."

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