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Alex looked at her hand again. “Please tell me that won’t happen? The last thing I need is to become some kind of half-Meyarin, half-human hybrid.”

“I can’t be certain, of course, but I doubt you’ll suffer any adverse effects aside from the colour of your scar,” Darrius assured her. “Though, I’m amazed—the blood-bonding ritual is supposed to Claim a person for life.”

“Then how was I able to break through it?”

Darrius smiled and said, “I believe you may have used your gift.”

She blinked at him. “Huh?”

“It’s not uncommon for someone to awaken their gifting under stressful circumstances,” Darrius told her. “And from the sounds of it, your situation was particularly challenging.”

Alex almost laughed at his description. ‘Challenging’ didn’t even come close.

“So, I really have a gift?” she asked, excited to finally learn what it was after all this time.

“Yes, and it’s a very powerful gift,” Darrius said. “One that is at once much more and much less than we desire. It’s a gift that every person is given but many make light of, and very few actually use to its full potential.”

“And it is…?” Alex prompted.

“Can I ask a question first?” Darrius said, and she had to stifle her groan. “When you first met Aven all those months ago, how did he make you feel?”

Alex raised her eyebrows. What sort of question was that?

“I don’t know,” she said, thinking back and trying to answer honestly. “He was very attractive, but I guess that’s the Meyarin part of him. He definitely caught my attention.”

“But what did youfeelwhen you were around him?” Darrius clarified.

Alex knew exactly what he was getting at. “I wanted to please him, to do whatever he said. I think I was pretty much willing to do anything he asked. Is that something all Meyarins can do?”

“No,” Darrius answered. “They’re all enchanting, as you would remember from the picture I showed you months ago, but Aven Dalmarta has an unnatural amount of charisma—much more than most of his kind possess. Even under normal circumstances, it’s very difficult to defy him.”

Alex thought back over her interactions with Aven.

“You, however, were able to resist his allure. On more than one occasion, if I’ve heard correctly,” Darrius said. “Such continued resistance is beyond admirable—it should have been near impossible. Which only confirms my theory about your gifting.”

“And?” she pressed. “What is it?”

He smiled at her impatience and said, “I believe your gift is your strength of will, Alex. Your willpower.”

She couldn’t help but be disappointed. Willpower? Seriously? Most people had that, to some degree.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“I’m positive,” Darrius said. “There’s no other way you could have disregarded his direct order while Claimed and broken out of his hold. I’ve never heard or read of anyone being able to do so. And as I already mentioned, the fact that you were able to stand against him before then shows that even when your gift wasn’t fully awakened, it was still protecting you, at least to a small degree.”

He took in her expression and cocked his head. “You’re upset?”

“Well, it isn’t what I expected,” Alex admitted. “I wasn’t even convinced that I’d ever develop a gift, but if I did, I was kind of hoping for something… cooler.”

“Cooler?” Darrius repeated. “How so?”

“Like being able to fly, or shape-shift, or make chocolate appear out of thin air,” she explained. “You know, something exciting. Everyone can have willpower—it doesn’t seem like much of a gift.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Darrius said. “Your willpower gift means that you will always be in control of your decisions—no matter the circumstances. You can never be manipulated or controlled byanyone. Most people have to train their entire lives to reach the same level of mental security that you now have without even trying.”

Alex thought about what he said for a moment before she realised something. “When I came back after the Kaldoras break, my Core Skills professor couldn’t read my mind anymore. Could this willpower gift have something to do with that?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “Having a gift of willpower means that you won’t ever have to worry about your thoughts or emotions being read, stolen, or manipulated. Nor will anyone ever be able to force you to act physically without your consent. Which again brings us back to Aven and why he couldn’t control you after your gift asserted itself.”