Page 57 of This Shattered Star

“None of them.”

“Impossible. You’re lying.” Only Maverick had access to that kind of magic.

“You asked for the truth. That is what I’m giving you,” she replied, her voice unwavering. “I can plant images into people’s heads. Incite pain, as well as hear their thoughts. I did the former to Darion and his friends, and the person that attacked Kodhan during Strength.”

They’d all had a certain glassiness to their eyes. Acted like they were seeing something—like they wereterrified—of something others could not. It had beenher.Her magic. Planting things into their heads. Planting pain.

Hard earth pressed between my shoulder blades. I couldn’t back away any further.

“Please, don’t be afraid.” Rivulets of water fell from her hands as she raised them carefully.

“Have you ever tampered with my head? My thoughts?” I choked.

She shook her head vehemently. “No! No—I would never! I only… I only took away your pain. During Strength.”

It clicked then. The reason why I could move so easily during the final part of Strength despite my burnt and shredded thigh. Theia’s magic had served better than any tincture or salve.

Swallowing thickly, I pushed myself out of the water, only to sink against the trunk of the wisteria tree, its hum wrapping around me like an embrace. I wouldn’t run. It wouldn’t matter, not when Theia could grip my mind faster than I could escape.

Theia did the same, but kept her distance, sitting on one of the roots a few feet away. She wrapped her arms around herself, thick droplets of water pelting the grass beneath her.

“The king must know. Hehas to know.”

“He does not. Andhe will not.” A confirmation melded into a warning. No matter what Kodhan claimed, I knew what her tone implied. This was the kind of information one took to their grave, willingly or not.

“Kodhan’s father pulled many strings for me to be here,” she said, her words careful, deliberate. “The king believes my element is water. Not too far of a lie—the human body is mostly composed of water, after all.” She pretended not to notice my shudder. “Truth be told, I came to find you earlier because I overheard Darion’s thoughts as he passed by our rooms. He and his friends were planning on breaking into your room and killing you for what you did to Leyah.”

I wrapped my arms around knees. Not entirely surprising. But my fingers pressed hard into my skin, likely hard enough to bruise. “Why would you even bother?” I now owed her a life debt, too.

“Bother with what, protecting you?” Theia scoffed. Like my question was ridiculous. “Perhaps because I simplywantto.”

“Never mind, I shouldn’t have asked,” I sighed, shaking my head. “I know well enough it is because Kodhan told you to.”

Her expression quickly hardened. “I make my own choices, Eloise. So does Brannon. We love Kodhan—but he’s hardly one to tell us what to do.”

I laid a frank stare onto her. “So you will simply turn a blind eye when he decides to take my life.”

“Is that really what you think? After everything, you’re still convinced he’ll kill you?” Her ensuing laugh had me wishing I could disappear underneath the wisteria’s roots.

“He came inches away from slicing my neck open on the first night we met, Theia,” I seethed. “He dangled me over the edge of the platform like it meant nothing. Like mylifemeant nothing.” With a calming breath, I willed the humming at my back to keep me from exploding. “He has made his motives very clear since the beginning.”

She was convinced of her false narrative, and I couldn’t blame her. If someone thought as poorly towards Gideon as I did towards Kodhan, I would defend Gideon until my final breath.

The hardness in her face softened. She shuffled down the tree’s root until her leg almost brushed mine. Shoulders drooping, she admitted, “Kodhan is prone to saying things he doesn’t mean. He’s also prone to acting before thinking, and turns to anger before anything else. His magic can do that to him, that impulsivity. That anger. Though he’s been an idiot—that much I can agree on.”

Silence followed. Her eyes left mine, the petals around us too tempting not to admire.

Letting my head fall back, I gazed up at the stars peeking through slimmer branches. “I won’t argue with you. Not here.”

“All I’m saying is that there is more to the story.”

“Clearly.”

“Talk to him.”

“As if talking to him is so easy.”

“I mean it. Just try.”